Socialfinance.ca, colleagues at MaRS Discovery District and SiG are pleased to invite you to participate in the 3rd annual Canada Day at the Social Capital Markets conference.

Social Capital Markets 2011 (San Francisco Sept 6, 7, 8, and 9) marks the fourth year of the preeminent social finance conference globally. The event brings together 1200+ leading thinkers and practitioners from across North America and abroad to discuss trends and opportunities tied to fields of impact investing, social entrepreneurship and social innovation. This year, themes cover social innovation design, capital and philanthropy (themes outlined below).

The conference also provides an opportunity for Canadian delegates to connect, share, and brainstorm ways to develop the social finance market north of the border.  In past years, it has been customary for delegates to enjoy organized dinners, networking events and workshop sessions while participating in the conference.  This year will be no different.

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You know that anxious feeling you get when you’re watching your favorite sport or activity and you wish you could jump in there and be a part of the action? But instead, you think it might be easier to just sit back and watch things unfold…

We are at an inflection point in the trajectory of social impact bond development in Canada.  Awareness and general knowledge about SIBs continues to increase - governments, non-profit service agencies, and some impact investors are keenly following global developments and wondering how they can parlay the model in our political and economic environment.  As true Canadians were are keenly observing, thoughtfully processing, and even offering support - but not enough support to get us off the sidelines.

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I recently returned from the Social Capital Markets conference in San Francisco where I introduced the Social Impact Bond model to the global impact investor community alongside a distinguished panel. My role representing Social Innovation Generation was to share the R&D that is happening in Canada and to explain why we are supporting this exploration. Our office has been working with numerous partners and now with growing momentum behind us, I feel it is an opportune time to share some of our thinking.

The Social Impact Bond (SIB) model was pioneered in the UK by an organization called Social Finance (no relation to SocialFinance.ca) and by innovation thought leaders like Geoff Mulgan and Arthur Wood. The crucial details that drive this model are found in a comprehensive report by Social Finance UK, Towards A New Economy: Blended value creation through Social Impact Bonds.

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Causeway Social Finance and SocialFinance.ca are pleased to invite you to participate in the 2nd annual Canada Day at the Social Capital Markets conference in San Francisco.

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“The question isn’t how do we give better?  It’s how do we solve social problems better?”  (Antony Bugg-Levine) 

Over the course of two days at MaRS (April 6-7) Antony Bugg-Levine, Managing Director of the Rockefeller Foundation and leading visionary behind the impact investing movement, imparted his vast knowledge on many impact investing related subjects to over 200 people interested in the field. Though he is a native South African, Antony has close family ties to Canada and showed he is a kindred spirit, demonstrating a keen understanding of our Canadian context. 

Impact investing addresses deficiencies in our current system that attempts to solve the world’s most pressing issues – accessible education, clean water for all mankind, disease prevention, food security, etc.  People are starting to realize where the traditional system (foreign aid, charity and government intervention) fails and where new labour and market-based approaches can help.  Impact investments can seed innovation to solve these challenges while generating a financial return at the same time. For the new generation of wealth and socially responsible consumers, this makes for a very exciting proposition.  

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This coordinator will be responsible for the overall management of the socialfinance.ca website. Key activities will include website management, content sourcing and management, partnerships, outreach and general website sustainability.

In addition to the site-related tasks, this person will also have responsibilities associated with supporting the work of Social Innovation Generation more broadly to advance social finance in Canada. This could include conducting social finance research to monitor trends, supporting social finance events, and producing communications that may be used outside of socialfinance.ca around the broader topics featured.

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There have recently been significant inroads made in creating new sources of financing for non-profits and social ventures in Canada. Causeway, a program of Social Innovation Generation (SiG) and an organization incubated at MaRS in Toronto committed to catalyzing the social finance marketplace, hosted two discussions over the past month to flesh out the development of potential investment vehicles.

In this discussion I will provide context for these conversations and offer resources for further understanding. I will continue to use this blog platform to chronicle the main developments of these funds in an attempt to keep you and the mounting number of social financiers up-to-date.

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The Social Venture Exchange (SVX) project is an initiative of the Ontario Association of Food Banks (OAFB), the TSX (an entity of TMX Group Inc.) and Social Innovation Generation (SiG) at MaRS. The goal of the project is to develop and pilot a social venture exchange that will provide a platform to assess and attract sustainable financing for ventures with a social mission, from enterprising non-profits to for-profit social businesses.

The Social Venture Exchange Project Coordinator is responsible for coordinating activities related to the feasibility study for the project, with a focus on research, stakeholder engagement, and project administration.

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ACCESS Community Capital Fund

Development Manager

The ACCESS Community Capital Fund (ACCESS) assists small and emerging businesses gain access to financing when it is not available through conventional sources. ACCESS is a Canadian registered charity that operates a community loan fund through the provision of loan guarantees. The fund was created by investments from socially minded individuals, organizations and businesses. ACCESS has developed strong community partnerships and is seeking to expand its mandate across the greater Toronto area. For additional information please visit us at www.accessccf.com

Position:

Reporting to the volunteer Board of Directors of ACCESS, the Development Manager is responsible for expanding the geographic scope of ACCESS and the volume of community-based lending through the development of chapters in Toronto. The position will work closely with the key stakeholders of ACCESS, including community organizations and related agencies, fund investors and the committed team of ACCESS volunteers. Actively involved in all aspects of the daily operations of ACCESS, the Development Manager will be integral to delivering upon ACCESS’ key strategic goals in the area of microfinance

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Welcome to the launch of the Causeway/Ashoka/socialfinance.ca Social Finance Blog Series! It's with great pleasure that I kick-off this initiative bringing national practitioners and thought leaders together to provide a comprehensive perspective of what social finance is, what it does, and what it could do.

With new social finance models popping up nationally and globally it is imperative that we take notice of the trends and foster the discussion within our own networks of influence.

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