Study Programmes 2015-2016
GEST0379-1  
Social Companies Funding
Duration :
30h Th
Number of credits :
Master in population and development studies (120 ECTS)6
Master in labour sciences (120 ECTS)6
Master in labour sciences (60 ECTS)6
Lecturer :
Sybille Mertens de Wilmars
Language(s) of instruction :
French language
Organisation and examination :
Teaching in the second semester
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite :
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Course contents :
Social enterprises financing is crucial for the development of their activities and the achivement of  their goals. Generally, social enterprises face the same financing needs than traditional companies. However, they face particular difficulties in access to resources (need for partially non-market resources, need of patient capital, etc.).
Conversely, they have privileged access to certain sources of funding (public funding, philanthropy, socially responsible investment).
By linking financing resources to the benefits social enterprise produce for their stakeholders (financing mix theory), this course offers students:
  • The basic rules in business finance
  • The discovery of innovative business models adapted to the pursuit of social objectives through economic activity
Learning outcomes of the course :
T
At the end of this course, students will have learned to
* Understand the economic rationality of social enterprises financing means and gain a thorough working knowledge on it * Understand using practical cases large basic rules of business finance, and also apply to social enterprises * Acquire the ability to design the financing of a social enterprise as part of an adapted business model .
Prerequisite knowledge and skills :
Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
The course is structured in ten sessions divided into four parts. I. * Four lectures aim to discover the role of social enterprises and the theoretical framework of the financing mix. * II. During two lectures, students are confronted with practical business case they are required to solve using the software HannaH (by ID-Soft), financial forecasting software and budget monitoring. In doing so, they develop their ability to design the financial tables of a business plan. * III. A social enterprise tour is planned (Cera-SOWECSOM Tour) on Feb 18 2016. * IV. Four seminars allow students to discuss specific issues related to the financing of social enterprises. The provisional themes for this year 2015-2016 are: marketization, the new philanthropy, social impact assessment and innovative business models.
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :
The course will take place in the second semester (thursday 4.30-6.30 pm) - building N1 room to be confirmed
Recommended or required readings :
The course is based on a reading list submitted at the beginning of the course (items available on lol @) and two reference books:
Young, D. (2007), Financing nonprofits, putting theory into practice, Altamira Press, Lanham.
Mertens, S. (2010), La gestion des entreprises sociales, Edipro
 
The ppt presentations of different theoretical sessions will be posted on the platform.
The event will also be posted and students will have free access to the support-software HannaH (by ID-Soft).
Methodological materials for the development of a Business Social Plan will also be available.
Assessment methods and criteria :
The students will be evaluated on the basis of
  • Their participation in practical exercices (30%)
  • An oral exam (70%) during the session on theoretical content + current stakes.
Work placement(s) :
Organizational remarks :
Students have to enroll on the platform Lol@ (HEC-ULg) in order to obtain all the required information. 
Contacts :
Coordination : Sybille Mertens Cera Chair- Center for Social Economy HEC-Management School - University of Liège - B33/box 4 - 4000 Liège Tel : + 32(0) 4 366 27 51 - smertens@ulg.ac.be
Financial forecasting : Michel Marée
(m.maree@ulg.ac.be)