Support for small- and medium-sized enterprises is critical to the success of any economy. But long-term, sustainable success requires support and investment in enterprises that will generate not only economic profitability, but also social development and environmental sustainability.

MaRS has a history of enabling local economic success by creating opportunities for homegrown entrepreneurs to connect with new funding sources. The newly launched MaRS Centre for Impact Investing is continuing this tradition by hosting an introductory pitch session on December 14th for its social entrepreneur clients in need of strategic support and investment capital.

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There is growing interest amongst investors to align their investments with positive social and environmental impact. Dubbed impact investing, the strategy is already being employed by a number of family offices, family and charitable foundations, community banks, and investment funds. But for most investors, how to do so practically remains a key question. If you are an investor or an investment advisor/manager looking for answers, or simply interested in learning more about the growing impact investing field, please join us for a free webinar on Thursday, October 27th, from 12pm to 1pm (ET).

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Tonya Surman, Co-founder and Executive Director of the Centre for Social Innovation (CSI) in Toronto, is a dynamo. Dedicated to fostering innovation and positive social and environmental change through collaboration, Tonya has been practicing what she preaches for over 20 years. Her current venture, CSI, is an innovative collaboration space whose mission is to catalyze, connect and support new ideas that make positive change in the world¹. The mission’s latest manifestation is in the form of a unique social capital-raising tool, utilized towards the purchase of the organization’s second location – CSI Annex.

A 36,000 square foot building located near Bathurst and Bloor, CSI Annex will be the future home of nearly 300 organizations focused on creating a better world. Like its predecessor, CSI at 215 Spadina, CSI Annex is not only a shared workspace, but also an innovation hub, incubating social and environmental organizations and helping increase their capacity to affect positive change. But there is one key difference between the organization’s two locations. And that is in the creative deal structure that has allowed CSI to complete the purchase of its new building.

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This is the first blog in a series of Good Ventures, Good Deals blogs by the Social Venture Exchange (SVX) for SocialFinance.ca to showcase the breadth and depth of the social venture sector (for profit and not-for-profit) in Ontario, highlighting innovators, their business models, their commitment to social and environmental justice, and their successes and challenges in accessing capital to advance their mission. The blogs will also highlight social finance or impact investment deals to demonstrate to investors, ventures, service providers, policy makers, and the general public the positive social and environmental impact such investments have enabled, while generating multiple bottom line returns to the investors.

Small-Scale Can Be Successful and Sustainable: 

When Petra Kassun-Mutch (formerly Cooper) set out to start her own dairy, her goal was to revive small-scale cheese making in Ontario. By starting her own dairy, she wanted to prove that small-scale cheese making could be a successful and sustainable business. She wanted to see Ontario on the map for artisan cheeses, and she took it upon herself to do so.

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"New communication technologies tend to strengthen democracy", mentions an article in last week’s The Economist. Interestingly, the particular claim was also evident during a conference I attended on CSR and Social Media held recently at the Sheraton in Toronto.

Social media is democratizing information, and in light of this, organizations will be well-served if they are able to utilize social media tools towards achieving their CSR goals. The conference was packed full of learning and interesting speakers, and below is a summary of some key takeaways from the event.

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