Social Pitch Open Arena

The Third Sector in Southern Italy designs social innovation every day, often with limited resources and few chances to meet the business world. SàFF Social Pitch Open Arena exists to build a bridge, inside the Festival, between those working in local communities and those who can help them grow: companies, foundations and impact investors. At stake are a €5,000 grant and a fundraising mentoring programme.

The challenge is to turn your project into a story told with the tools of cinema — a logline, a director's vision, a production plan — and to bring it, through a multi-stage selection, onto the Festival stage.

Social Pitch is the result of a collaboration between Apogeo ETS, ELIS Innovation Hub, UniCredit, Fondazione MUTO and Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II – Department of Social Sciences.

Six words mark the days of the Festival — Narrative, Culture, Care, Desire, Value, Happiness — and define the thematic areas each submitted project must relate to.

Who can apply

Applications are open to Third Sector organisations registered with RUNTS, social enterprises and social cooperatives whose registered and operating offices are both in a Southern Italian region — Abruzzo, Molise, Campania, Puglia, Basilicata, Calabria, Sicily, Sardinia — including consortia and networks.

On the Festival stage

The 15 finalists take the SàFF stage across the three Open Arena days, 5–7 October, to present their project to the Jury. On 8 October the closing session proclaims the three winners, before an audience of corporate decision-makers, investors, institutions and foundations. Regardless of the outcome, all of them receive a professional video recording of their pitch, free to use for their own communications and fundraising.

Applications open on the ELIS One Square platform

26 August 2026

Applications close

17 September 2026

The 15 finalists are announced

21 September 2026

Open Arena - pitches before the Jury

5–7 October 2026

Closing session and awards

8 October 2026