Read the report here.

This market research report analyses the financing needs and market potential for establishing a Social Investment Fund dedicated to social economy organisations in Romania. It combines context analysis and EU benchmarking, a demand-side needs assessment (surveys, interviews and focus groups with Romanian SEOs), and a supply-side assessment (national and transnational focus groups with investors) to understand how a future SIF could effectively bridge persistent access-to-finance gaps for social enterprises, NGOs, cooperatives and other social economy entities.

The research was intended to clarify whether there is sufficient, concrete demand for repayable social finance in Romania, what types of instruments and ticket sizes SEOs can absorb, and how investors perceive risk–return profiles and impact requirements in this emerging market. Its main findings confirm both strong unmet financing needs on the side of SEOs and a growing, but still fragmented, appetite among national and European impact investors, who stress the need for patient, impact‑driven capital, flexible instruments such as quasi‑equity, robust impact measurement frameworks and embedded non‑financial support (legal, financial, business and impact advisory) as key conditions for a viable Romanian SIF.

This is an activity implemented under the AFIN EU‑funded project “AFIN Social Investment Fund,” financed by the European Commission.