Early stage social enterprises particularly desire grant funding. Grants provide scaffolding at the early stage and help organizations fortify their double bottom line in their early days. Grants make up the bulk of funding flowing to fledgling social enterprises in Asia.

• Two-thirds of surveyed social enterprises consider grants the most preferred type of early-stage funding.
   

• Among social enterprises that receive grants,social enterprises at the very early stage build most of their budget from grants, with dependence waning as they mature and learn to stand on their own feet.
   

• Grants also prepare social enterprises for receiving private investment. Several successful social enterprises we interviewed shared that early-stage grants allowed them to grow their valuation before reaching out to private investors.