Social Investment Guidelines

How to submit a successful social investment

• Be explicit about the business objectives for social investment.
• Run the programme in a business-like way with objectives, performance measurement and reporting.
• Work closely with external stakeholders and the businesses in developing and implementing social investments.
• Invest in projects which will bring a lasting benefit to communities.
• Focus on `enabling, facilitating, and empowering’ rather than on `giving’.
• Aim for sustainability – for activities that can continue when Shell support comes to an end.

Preliminary assessment of projects

• Be lawful
• avoid all suggestions of improper business conduct
• Be made to not-for-profit organisations (and in some cases, government organisations)
• Be consistent with Shell sustainable development commitments
• Make particular efforts to enhance the capacity of poor and marginalised communities
• Seek synergy with other Shell social investment programmes

The Shell social investment program does not support or provide funding for:

• Support individuals or organisations in a position to directly benefit Shell’s interests
• Be made for political purposes
• Promote commercial organisations (though commercial organisations may be contacted to deliver social investment services)
• Be made to Shell employees or relations, except in the context of employee volunteering or similar programmes with clear and transparent rules
• Be made in a way that benefits only one, or a few.

Questions for Guidance

Note: These are questions for guidance only. They will help form the basis of a preliminary assessment of the proposal and should be used by you to help determine suitability or not of your project.

Consultation– does the project arise from meaningful consultation with project beneficiaries? Will the proposal attract broad community support?

Empowerment/strengthening local capacity – does the project empower organisations and communities to sustain themselves?

Leveraging and catalysing support- How far does Shell's support attract or open access to other resources?

Partnership – Does the project bring public, private, non-governmental and community organisations together?

Strategic Development - Is the project part of a strategic development plan and does it have longer-term and wider regional impact, beyond the direct outputs that result from Shell’s support?

Project delivery – Does the project partner have a proven track record? If not, what additional support is required to build their capacity and encourage sustainability?

Evaluation of benefit – How will you evaluate the outcomes and longer-term impacts of the project for the beneficiaries?

Obtaining recognition –Who will recognise this project as responding to issues of concern to them?

Avoiding dependency – Does the proposal create dependency on Shell for funding? What is the proportion of the requested funding compared to the overall project costs?

Shell people and other resources – What are the opportunities for the involvement of Shell people’s skills and resources?

Let us Know more about your Project

If you believe your project may meet our guidelines, please email us with a brief outline of your proposal (200 words maximum). You will receive a reply within two weeks advising either of your lack of suitability or inviting you to submit a more formal proposal.