Amsterdam Impact

Amsterdam Impact is the City of Amsterdam's impact-entrepreneurship programme, running since 2015 with roughly €2.5 million per four-year phase, working with Impact Hub Amsterdam, Social Enterprise NL and other partners to strengthen the ecosystem for companies that create both financial and societal value.

The programme supports civil servants and knowledge institutions building the impact-entrepreneurship ecosystem, SMEs transitioning to impact-driven business models, impact startups and scaleups seeking growth, organisations buying social through procurement, and investors seeking peer exchange, structured around 6 pillars and 18 measures in its 2019-2022 phase.

Activities include the Integrated Capital Network (co-developed with Impact Hub Amsterdam and Generous Minds) and funding-pitch lab events, the Amsterdam City Fellowship connecting social entrepreneurs to health-related city challenges, a Social Entrepreneurship Education Map of 62 programmes, and the Buy Social Campaign with shopping routes, Buy Social events, Impact Days and Social Saturday.

Average revenues of Amsterdam social enterprises rose from €693,771 (2015) to €1,151,305 (2017); Buy Social events generated 520 contacts and 34 deals; sales by 12 social entrepreneurs in the I amsterdam Store grew from €35,000 (2016) to €125,000 (2018, €235,000 total); and Social Saturday was adopted nationally with 160 activities across 16 municipalities. In November 2024 the programme held its first 'Scale Your Impact' event and published a new annual Impact Report.

Key learnings note that early-stage social entrepreneurs face a capital gap because finance providers focus on later growth phases, and that programmes should never start from scratch but build on existing, like-minded, non-linear ecosystem efforts. Recommendations for replication, drawn from 2019 OECD guidance, include clarifying the conceptual framework, formally recognising social enterprises, promoting impact measurement, developing entrepreneurship skills, improving market access and ensuring long-term institutional support.