Aim: There is a growing body of literature that recognizes the importance of Social Enterprises (SE) to improve the welfare of society. Few empirical studies have attempted to investigate what are the challenges SEs face and how they manage them. A number of researchers have reported that SEs often have a negative connotation. The aim of this study is to investigate challenges social enterprises face in Sweden.Method: The study adopted a Qualitative approach. Primary data is gathered by interviewing 10 managers of social enterprise from 5 different SEs in Sweden. The interview was made in three different locations, Gävle, Uppsala and Tierp. De-coding the qualitative research data through content analysis, an interpretive analysis was used classifying the data concerning responses by highlighting important messages.Findings and Conclusion: SEs face diverse challenges: Funding, Public Image, Sales, Network and Cooperation, Governance/Structure, Leadership and Management. One of the more significant finding to emerge from this study is that, the foundations-access to finance is one of the critical challenges on which the fate of each SE depends. Most of the times, societies do not acknowledge the role of social enterprises and the values they bring to the society. From this, SEs cannot attract support of any kind. SEs lack the understanding and significance of marketing. Making people understanding SEs’s role, would provide them with a positive public image and thereafter support.Suggestions for future research: The study has a small sample size and results cannot be generalizable. A natural progression of this work is to analyse: Challenges on SEs with focus on Society, The impact of Society on SEs, Public identity of SEs and importance of Society.Contribution of the thesis: Dependency on fundraising, grants and donations are heavily connected with widespread lack of understanding the impact of SEs on society. SEs managers should apply different marketing tactics to communicate their role in welfare of the community.

There is an increase in the consideration of ecosystem services (ES) within the planning, policy, and research sectors. The increase in sectors working with ES is leading to an increase in scale mismatches, where ecosystem services are being mismanaged, leading to problems. Using a combination of methods these scale issues were investigated. A systematic review of both scientific and grey literature was undertaken which analysed 112 documents and led to a survey of 72 subjects who were working with ES across different sectors, and finally 19 in-depth interviews were undertaken, in order to understand fully the scale issues, and potential solutions being used. The systematic review found that a lot of ecosystem service scientific literature was based on, or had connections with, the global issue of climate change, this was in contrast to the survey that found that both researchers and those in policy are working at a regional spatial scale or below. The in-depth interviews attributed this to many factors including the pressure to publish in high-impact journals, and applying for funding. The survey found that the different sectors are working at different scales, and where they do work at the same scale, the definition they place on that scale term is different. The survey and in-depth interviews found that funding can influence the extent of a project and funding timelines lead into the temporal scale of a project. Funding can encourage collaboration with stakeholders and between sectors in order to pool resources and expertise. Alongside clarity of terms used and expectations for the project, collaboration was also put forward as one of the methods which can alleviate scale mismatches.

This thesis investigates the pre-seed funding process for technology start-ups. Furthermore, it aims to investigate, how the process of acquiring pre-seed funding is, and which challenges entrepreneurs are facing during this process. The data of this thesis were collected through semi-structured interviews with tech start-ups that recently have gone through the funding process and where therefore able to contribute with perspectives of the pre-seed funding process. After analysing the data from the interviews, we investigated how entrepreneurs experience the process of acquiring early-stage funding. We found that the pre-seed funding process for tech start-ups first of all is time consuming. The applications to funding-organisations takes up valuable time for the start-up. Furthermore, entrepreneurs should consider the framing and pitching of the business when applying for funding. The entrepreneurs face several challenges during the process, including limitations on how the money can be spent. Many of the funding programme applications are very bureaucratic and demanding, and some startups require external assistance just to fill out these applications. The lack of network for early-stage entrepreneurs is a challenge, when applying for funding for the company. For entrepreneurs, credibility is also an important part when applying for early-stage funding. These are the areas this thesis will touch upon, as they are central aspects to processes and challenges that entrepreneurs are facing during the pre-seed funding phase. Since this thesis comprises a small group of tech start-ups from Uppsala and Stockholm in Sweden, it is not able to say anything about the possible differences in the pre-seed funding processes in other countries. However, this study gives an initial view about the process of acquiring pre-seed funding in these cities and should stimulate for further research addressing this subject in Sweden and abroad.

Magister Artium (Sport, Recreation and Exercise Science) - MA(SRES) / Despite government’s formation of financial support grants such as the Operational Excellence Programme to provide much needed assistance, South African elite athletes have not been performing to expectation at recent international championships, such as the Olympic Games. International experiences demonstrate the importance of a well-structured and implemented funding support system to improve elite athlete performance at international levels. This has led to questions of how to improve this situation for elite South African athletes who receive funding support from the South Africa Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee and to revisit the implementation of the funding support for elite athletes. This study will take, experiences of South African elite athletes as well as sport managers into consideration and will also look at international lessons of experience of the funding support of elite sport to provide improved options for financial support and elite athlete development. Using qualitative research methods, this study explored the underlying factors regarding funding support of elite athletes in South Africa based on experiences and perceptions of elite athletes. Within the context of the study, elite athletes would refer to senior track and field athletes and senior swimmers who had been a part of Team South Africa and represented the nation at international competitions. Data was collected in three ways: a) A literature review in the form of an analysis of the high performance policies of: the National Olympic Committee of South Africa and the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee that has governed elite sport in South Africa post 1994 and the policies that govern high performance funding support within Athletics South Africa and Swimming South Africa; b) interviews with eight preselected elite athletes to discuss career performances and funding support received and c) interviews with four coaches/managers of the preselected elite athletes to discuss their perspectives on the funding support their athletes received. Strict ethics considerations were also adhered to insofar as written consent was obtained from all participants beforehand, as the intended interviews would be either audio recorded or video recorded. Pseudonyms were also used for participants with the assurance that participation was voluntary. The eventual findings of the study brought to light that the implementation of the funding support provided by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee was good in theory but not necessarily so in practice. Overall, participants were grateful for the support received but felt that certain changes needed to be considered going forward for the improvement of future performances.

This study investigated whether the funding of section 21 schools improves the quality of teaching and learning in six schools in the Mthatha Education District, in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Despite the large funds that are pumped into schools by the Department of Education, the schools appear to be under resourced, underdeveloped and therefore underperforming. The researcher used the theories of school improvement to ground this study and to investigate whether the schools improve or not, and are offered support where necessary, as they are continuously being funded by the Department of Education. The study had these objectives: To investigate how the funds are spent by Section 21 schools in the Mthatha district of Education: to assess whether the SGB manages the spending of funds and whether there is any collaboration between the Principal and the SGB in financial issues and: to evaluate whether Procurement procedures are followed when purchasing. Systematic random sampling, amongst 6 schools, has been conducted. A questionnaire was administered to the school Principals, 2 Finance committe members, 1 Educator and 1 learner and SGB chairpersons from each of the 6 schools. Thus, both qualitative and quantitative methods of inquiry were used in this study. 3 Junior Secondary and 3 Senior Secondary schools were considered in the sample. The findings that emerged were a lack of capacity, on the part of SGBs to monitor recurrent allocations as stipulated in the South African Schools Act (No 84 of 1996). Another factor that emerged was that schools still need training and workshops on procurement procedures. Also evident was that there appeared to be little evidence of collaboration between principals and SGBs, especially in financial matters. Finally, recommendations and suggestions were made that schools need to be provided with a series of workshops on procurement procedures and policies. SGBs were to be capacitated so that they could be on board on financial management. The principals were to be encouraged to cooperate and be transparent on financial matters especially since, as stipulated in SASA, as an official of the Department of Education, the principal has a responsibility to advise the governing body when they issue instructions or act in a manner that contravenes departmental instructions or policy.

This thesis is concerned with specifics reporting and funding of non profit-making organizations. It describes foundations and endowment funds, civic associations, public benefit corporations, church legal persons and universities. It is aimed at reporting, financial planning, budgets and funding sources of non profit-making organizations. It presents tax implications and accounting issues of non profit-making organizations. Practical part is about five selected public universities. It evaluates their economies during three years and numbers and evolution of their students and employees. It is also concerned with funds, which represents their own sources of funding of non profit-making organizations.

The essay deals with the options for community project funding. Its initial section identifies the most important differences between regions and principles of the regional development strategy in the Czech Republic. It also characterizes specific problems of the Ústí Region, especially the Litoměřice region, which is one of the regions enjoying the concentrated government support. The essay also characterizes the "prominent municipality of the region" and outlines a project to resolve the issues partly as well as individual activities, risky activities, a time schedule and a project budget. The following section is devoted to the analysis of selected options for municipal project funding, i.e. funding from own municipal resources, credit or subsidy funding. Final chapter of the essay suggests the most suitable method for funding of the outlined project.

The diploma work is focused on financing of cultural monuments which are privately owned. The paper defines the notion of cultural monuments and obligations of the owner resulting from the legislation. Included are the general conditions for obtaining grants. Funding of restoration of cultural monuments can be obtained from the state budget, municipal budgets, EU funds and EEA / Norway Financial Mechanism. Another option is to cooperate with socially responsible companies. The findings were applied to the cultural monument Jarošův mlýn and the specific options applicable to this monument are suggested. The biggest obstacles to obtaining the grants are mentioned.

The main aim of the Master's thesis is to summarize the current structure of the sport funding from the Czech state. The work analyses its failures and points out the main factors that rank the Czech Republic among three worst financing states in the European Union in terms of the absolute and relative amount of the funds supporting psychical activities. Firstly, the theoretical part of the thesis summarizes the history of the sport in the Czech Republic and its social importance. To create the basis for the analyses included in this thesis, this part introduces the definitions of the non-profit organization and the civil association. Secondly, the practical part deals with the detailed analysis of the mentioned funding, which takes the form of state's direct and indirect subsidies.

The theoretical part focuses on financing options from theatres from public sources. It deals with resources from the budget of Municipality of the City of Prague, as well as the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic. This list is then transferred to the practical part, which deals with the use of these options in Prague's Archa Theatre, which has long maintained the highest rating among theatres in Prague and top position among alternative theatres in the country. The work does not aim to assess the effectiveness of the current grant system or criticize the system of financing culture in the country. The aim is to create a list of potential funding sources for a theatre from public budgets and assess the effectiveness of the acquisition of these resources to the Archa Theatre. The work also deals with the management of Archa compared with the Municipal Theatre Jablonec nad Nisou.