SocialFinance.ca produces a weekly round up featuring social finance related news, insights, job openings, and events. We source the content for these round ups from Twitter, an RSS reader, and directly from our community of social finance practitioners. Below is our round up for the week of August 22, 2011.

Last Week on SocialFinance.ca

Tina Crouse posted Worlds Colliding on August 17, 2011

Beth Coates posted There Are No Free Lunches on August 19, 2011

Canadian and International News

Canada’s impact investment firm Sarona Asset Management has committed $3.5 million to the Aureos South-East Asia Fund II LP, a private equity fund that invests in small and medium sized companies across South-East Asia.

The International Forum on the Social and Solidarity Economy, taking place in Montreal in October, intends to bring together people and ideas in order to move the social economy forward. The forum will be organized around the following themes: territory and local development; innovation and collective entrepreneurship; solidarity finance and trade; work and employment; food security and sovereignty. Learn more about the event and register now!

MaRS Discovery District and the Toronto Enterprise Fund are having a Procurement Information Breakfast to discuss how small and medium sized businesses, specifically social enterprises, can participate in and leverage the 2015 Toronto Pan/Parapan Am Games. Visit the Eventbrite page for more details.

The Global Health & Innovation Conference is accepting abstract submissions for presentation. This is the world's largest global health conference and social entrepreneurship conference. It annually convenes 2,200 leaders, changemakers, students, and professionals from all fields of global health, international development, and social entrepreneurship. Confirmed speakers for this year include Sasha Dichter, Director of Business Development, Acumen Fund and Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, Director of Earth Institute and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University and Special Advisor to Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon. Interested in presenting at the conference? Submit an abstract for consideration. Deadline: August 31.

The bill to introduce B Corps in Califorina, AB 361 (CA Benefit Corp Legislation) passed the CA Senate 21-6 recently. Now it is onto the Assembly for a concurrence vote. Jesse Finfrock has an overview of the bill in California Lawyer Magazine.

The UK government is adding social investment to its Big Lottery Fund (BIG) funding priorities, according to proposed new guidelines.

Luke Miller Callahan interviews Jed Emerson, getting his thoughts on Blended Value and Measurable Impact Investing in an extended conversation that you can see (literally) at GroAction.

Learning and Best Practices

Investor Spotlight: Nanno Kleiterp, CEO of Dutch development finance institution FMO, shares his perspective on impact investing with the GIIN community.

Geoff Mulgan of NESTA offers a balanced assessment of social enterprise, placing the current state of the sector in the context of decades of hope.

The key to successful social impact bonds are robust intermediaries that can bring stakeholders together and manage the project, says Steve Goldberg of Social Finance USA.

Patrick Dodson and Ian Gill propose a modified social impact bond to fund indigenous entrepreneurs in Australia.

Elaine Cohen profiles the upcoming Global Impact Investing Rating System, developed by B Lab, that will launch soon - Don't just invest, impact!

Pierre Omidyar shares the story of Omidyar Network - how it evolved from a family foundation to an impact investor.

Kimberly Parker wonders whether program evaluation can help grow impact investing in the Columbia Social Enterprise blog.

Simon Zadek argues that the current debates around financial market reform are a window of opportunity for embedding responsible investment as a fundamental element of the system.

Steve Wright believes that delivering value is more important than generating profit, and that an economy should be at the service of humanity, not the other way around. Read more of his thoughts on the intersection of money and meaning on the SOCAP11 blog.

Andrea Courey explores social innovation, the new paradigm changing the world for the better.

Jennifer Neutel asks Rosa Lee Harden, executive producer of SOCAP11, about what she's looking forward to most at this year's conference.

Antony Bugg-Levine says we shouldn't get too excited about the Jumo-GOOD merger; it's part of a changing world that does away with the traditional bifurcation of profit and purpose.

Elizabeth Henderson covers the growing interest in pay-for-performance contracts (referred to as 'social innovation financing') in Massachusetts.

Upcoming Events

SOCAP 11: At the Intersection of Money and Meaning
September 6-9, 2011, Ft. Mason Centre, San Francisco

Workshop: Call for Participation:"Socially Responsible Investment and Canadian Extractive Industries"
September 10-11, 2011, University of British Columbia (UBC)

Impact Investing Summit
September 20-21, Washington D.C.

International Forum on the Social and Solidarity Economy (FIESS) (Program)
October 17-20, 2011, Palais des congres, Montreal

Slow Money - 3rd National Gathering
October 12-14, 2011, San Francisco

2011 European Venture Philanthropy Association Conference: Venture Philanthropy as a Catalyst for Societal Change
November 16-17, 2011, Turin, Italy

Did we miss any news, insights, or events? Use the comment form below to add to this round up. Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/benimoto/603815615/

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