Ecosystem Map

In recent years, we social innovation and social enterprise experts have realised that to spread the sustainability mindset – and thus change – we need conversations and collective thinking. A ‘place’ where people with similar values can meet, where they can share their aspirations, ideas and struggles. A community where people from different backgrounds, sectors and industries can come together. As part of the Focus on Impact project, we have launched a series of conversations to explore the needs of people committed to sustainability, learn some good practices and lay the foundations for a diverse community. We spoke to professionals with strong national and international experience in sustainability, who, although coming from different backgrounds, have been involved in making the economy and society more sustainable for years, in corporate, funding, grant, ecosystem building or civic/social entrepreneurial roles. Thanks to these occasions and countless one-to-one conversations, we now have a clearer idea of what we were thinking.

The development of the ecosystem map was therefore preceded by a broad stakeholder consultation, so it truly reflects the ideas of an open and value-oriented community. The discussions confirmed that we face many gaps in sustainability and social/environmental impact generation, also in our daily work. One of the most important of these was the lack of community, which is a barrier to new collaborations, to learning new tools and methods and good practices, and to developing a common language across sectors.

What does the map show?

The term “ecosystem”, as a basic concept in ecology, is nowadays also commonly used in everyday life, mostly to describe systems where different actors interact with their immediate environment. This is no different in the case of a structure in which representatives of different sectors appear, interact, interconnect and generate different processes and effects. They do all this while being aware of the influence of their own environment – direct and indirect – on themselves and their partners.

The Focus on Impact project map shows an ecosystem of like-minded people, with good practices, methods and tools that are already in place and could be launched in the future. The system also includes those who are currently less effective or efficient in social, environmental and economic value creation processes, or who are excluded from local, regional, national and international networks, but whose mission would place them there.

The ecosystem map as a guide to the Forum Institute’s projects and services

Based on the Focus on Impact ecosystem map, the Forum Regional Development Centre has developed its first set of services targeting individuals, SMEs, local and regional authorities and social/environmental impact funders. Our service package is called SIGNIFINANCE and aims to inspire, build community and provide market-based services.

We will inspire individuals, small and medium-sized enterprises and municipalities to make impact-oriented decisions about how to allocate their financial resources and to work together to finance larger-scale projects. This package will include the “Felvidéki zebra” podcast, to be launched in 2023, targeting the Hungariancommunity in Southern Slovakia on social/environmental issues, including SigniFinance topics, and the promotion of the theme on the Forum Institute’s various online and offline platforms and events, such as the civil conference planned for November 2023.

Community building is planned at several levels, primarily by connecting Hungarian social/environmental impact financers in southern Slovakia. In this community they can meet regularly, exchange experiences and develop. This regional community will be linked to existing communities in Slovakia and Hungary. In this area, we are building a partnership with the Pontis Foundation’s Impact Talks programme, and we will continue to work with the Hungarian project partner Fruit of Care and the Central Danube Development Agency Nonprofit Ltd. who work with very similar target groups and objectives as the Forum Regional Development Centre.

Our market-based services include consultancy on defining the themes and objectives of impact investments, identifying potential partners and measuring impact.