Social Finance Round Up: Update on Community Contribution Companies in BC

By Nabeel Ahmed - June 04, 2012 - Comments

Categories: Community Investment Green Investment Public Policy Responsible Investment British Columbia International

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 June 4, 2012.

Recently on SocialFinance.ca

Shizu Okusa published From the Frontlines: Going Bananas in Mozambique on June 1, 2012
Farooq Shaikh published Akhuwat: Linking Social Development with Interest-free Microfinance on May 31, 2012
Allison Langille published Making Microfinance Work in Canada on May 30, 2012
Jonathan Sundqvist published Giving Is Not Going Away on May 29, 2012
Allison Langille published The Youth Social Innovation Capital Fund Launches With Pitch Competition on May 24, 2012
Charlie Kuhn published Doing Well And Doing Good: Measuring The Results Of Impact Investing on May 23, 2012
Jo Reynolds published By the numbers: Capital for communities and opportunities on May 22, 2012
Jocelyn Ling published How to Create an Impact Investing Movement on May 21, 2012
Jonathan Sundvist published More Than Just Impact on May 18, 2012
Hadley Nelles and Adam Spence published A Home for Social Finance in Social Housing on May 17, 2012

Canadian and International News

Update on Community Contribution Company: Bill 23, Finance Statutes Amendment Act, 2012 (BC) was passed into law in May, by Royal Assent. Included in this Bill is the new social enterprise hybrid legal structure called the Community Contribution Company (or C3). BC is the first province to hold such legislation. Read the text of the Bill.
Goldman Sachs plans to channel investments totaling $40 billion over the next decade into renewable energy projects, an area the investment bank called one of the biggest profit opportunities since its economists got excited about emerging markets in 2001.
Seattle's Social Innovation Fast Pitch (SIFP) 2012, a fast-pitch investment forum highlighting New Ideas for Social Impact, launched last month. Apply to participate by June 28, 2012.
AdvisorShares launches an exchange-traded fund with a focus on sustainable investment under the ticker symbol GIVE.
Social Finance UK published a new report on financing public service mutuals, a 'significant and exciting opportunity for improving publi service delivery.' Download full report [PDF].
ANDE released its 2011 report on small and growing businesses (SGB), revealing progress and strides in building a new kind of investment community that is committed to both social and financial returns. Download full report [PDF].
A new guide published by TrustLaw, entitled “Strategies to maximize your philanthropic capital – a guide to program-related investments”, seeks to help overcome barriers to using PRIs by providing a basic reference for private foundations and legal advisors about regulations, processes and documentation requirements. Download report [PDF].
Social Innovation Europe released a report on crucial financial conditions for the success of social innovations in Europe, asking 'where do we want to be in 10 years?' Read: Financing Social Impact - Funding social innovation in Europe - mapping the way forward.
New working paper from the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, reviewing international instruments being used to finance renewable energy in developing countries: Financing Renewable Energy in Developing Countries.
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), a coalition of 200 progressive companies with combined revenues of $7tn (£4.4tn), has published a report called 'Changing Pace', with specific advice around how to accelerate the pace of tackling social and environmental problems.
A new crowdfunding industry report provides insight into market trends, composition and crowdfunding platforms. A complimentary abridged version is available online for free. Download the full version by June 8, 2012 to avail a 75% discount (code: 316L7P19).
A new government report in the UK demonstrates the value of credit unions and potential benefits of expanding the sector in the UK - but also highlights the need for more government support. Download report [PDF].
Fairtrade is launching a new fund which will meet producers’ demand for long term loans. The Fairtrade Access Fund will launch in Latin America later in the year and expand into Africa and Asia in a second phase.
Intellecap Impact Investment Network (I3N) signs partnership agreement with global investor network Toniic.
Accion International launches $10 million investment vehicle, Venture Lab.
Social Asset Measurements has received a contribution from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program to support SAM’s development of an in-house, cloud-based financial proxy database. SROI organizations interested in sharing their financial proxies and indicators are welcome to contact Social Asset Measurements Inc. for further information.
The Guardian recently hosted a live Q&A on investment readiness for social enterprises - the highlights are available for anyone to skim through.
The Investment & Contract Readiness Fund, designed to help charities and social enterprises win public sector contracts and attract investment, went live with £10m in May. Apply for funding now on the official website.

Social Finance Learning and Best Practices

Financial innovation can save the world, argues David Bank in the Atlantic.
The Wall Street Journal offers a number of tips for tapping into crowdfunding platforms, with the recent JOBS Act in place.
Tavia Grant writes about microloans for mental-health patients in Ontario through Rise Asset Development.
Social enterprises will only scale successfully by focusing on people: building the right skills, bringing in talent from other sectors, and learning from failure, say Andy Dale and Isabelle de Morhlhon, 2012 On Purpose associates.
Daniela Barone Soares explains how Big Society Capital is focused on funding intermediaries, not social enterprises per se - and the implications thereof.
David Bornstein explores the dawn of evidence-based policymaking in the United States, and its implications.
The Really Truly Transformative Potential of Impact Investing by Ben Thornley: "For the first time, in a systematic way, impact investing provides an alternative to the axiomatic idea that the value of capital ought to be measured solely by the risk-adjusted financial return that it can generate, regardless of costly externalities and/or non-financial benefits that are unaccounted for."
Joe Ludlow of NESTA shares his views on impact investing and why he believes it is becoming a global movement: complex social problems, social innovation and impact investment.
Kristin Dacey of the Inter-American Development Bank thinks about how to take impact investing to the mainstream.
Harry Hoare looks at a number of barriers to funding preventative programmes in an excellent post at the Social Finance (UK) blog.
Cooperative financing and community land trusts keep rents affordable and homeownership within reach, claim Miriam Axel-Lute, John Davis, and Harold Simon.
Mary Teresa Bitti interviews Allyson Hewitt and Ilse Treurnicht on promoting social innovation at MaRS.
Logan Yonavjak talks about the need to catalyze retail investment to finance the missing middle, and suggests a number of avenues for making it happen.
In the New York Times, Felix Mormann and Dan Reicher talk about how to make renewable energy competitive, for it still needs subsidies.
Thea Garon conducts a literature review of social investment, focusing on the problems of achieving both profit and social return in microfinance.
Jeff Skoll, president of eBay and major Canadian philanthropist (the only Canadian to sign The Giving Pledge) gets profiled by Tavia Grant in the Globe and Mail.

Jobs

ZooShare Biogas Cooperative, a non-profit renewable energy co-operative in Toronto, is currently seeking to add committed and dynamic individuals to join the Board of Directors.
Social Finance (US) is looking for a Managing Director, Capital Markets. Apply by August 15, 2012.
The International Youth Foundation is looking for a Program Manager, YouthactionNet, to oversee the IYF Global Fellowship Program for Young Social Innovators and manage a portfolio of country programs.

Events