Mark January 24, 2012 in your calendar as the date when impact investing went mainstream in Canada. Today RBC, the largest of Canada’s Big Five (banks), has joined the growing ranks of major global institutions like Deutsche Bank, and national leaders like Vancity and le Chantier de l’économie sociale in demonstrating real leadership in impact investing.

The bank has just announced a $20 million commitment in an impact investing strategy that will include the creation of a new $10 million RBC Impact Fund and the allocation of $10 million from RBC Foundation’s assets into socially responsible investment (SRI) funds. It is the first initiative of its kind announced by a major financial institution in Canada.

 READ MORE

Share:  

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Sharing insights from the recent Slow Money gathering in San Francisco, Adam Spence highlighted three key takeaways in Part 1 of this post. In particular, he noted the multitude of local impact investment opportunities in Ontario, and wrote about innovative impact investment models being used in the sector. In this post, he writes about getting foundations involved, and the growth of a ‘Slow Money’ coalition.

 READ MORE

Share:  

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

A few weeks ago, over 700 attendees from five countries and the vast majority of US states met at the third annual Slow Money National Gathering. There are a number of insights gleaned from the National Gathering, offering lessons for careful consideration amongst social finance practitioners in Canada.

 READ MORE

Share:  

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Social Innovation Generation (SiG) @ MaRS is hiring a manager to drive forward B corporation business development and impact metrics activities. Based out of the prestigious MaRS centre in Toronto, the Manager for B Corporations and Impact Measurement will support the development of the B Corporation community in Ontario, coordinate a Social Impact Metrics Advisory Group at MaRS, provide thought leadership and training on social impact measurement, and act as an in-house resource to support the work of the social innovation practice at MaRS. This role requires experience and ability in business and partnership development, interest in working with ventures with a double or triple bottom line focus, and relevant experience in metrics and measurement, especially in the social venture sector.

 READ MORE

Share:  

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

There is certainly a buzz in government circles across the country about the potential for social finance. This week, the Social Innovation Generation (SiG) at MaRS team was invited to present at an engaging Lunch and Learn session with representatives from the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH). The session was led by Sumera Nabi, Senior Policy Advisor in the Housing Policy Branch at the Ministry, who presented an insightful and in-depth overview of social finance. The noon hour discussion featured excellent questions and valuable perspectives from committed and experienced public servants working in affordable housing.

Check out the presentations below from the SiG team members who presented at the session on topics related to Social Finance and Affordable Housing. It is exciting to open a dialogue on the application of social finance in an area that could have tremendous positive impact for Ontarians currently living in poverty.

 READ MORE

Share:  

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Are you a highly motivated individual that is interested in working on the cutting edge of social finance with eminent institutions including MaRS, the TMX Group Inc., the Government of Ontario, Social Innovation Generation (SiG), and global leaders in social finance?

The Social Venture Exchange (SVX) is introducing a new Social Finance Fellowship program open to current graduate and undergraduate students, as well as working and retired professionals, to support venture and fund analysis for the pilot phase of our exciting project in 2011.  This may be your opportunity to use your skills to help local ventures tackle wicked social and environmental problems and to support the development of social finance in Canada. 

 READ MORE

Share:  

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

There is a great deal of momentum building following the release of the landmark report of the Canadian Task Force on Social Finance. It provides a focused roadmap with seven key recommendations to mobilize new sources of capital, develop an enabling tax and regulatory environment, and build a pipeline of investment-ready social enterprises.

We wanted to look at the current pipeline to find the clogs and to determine whether there was sufficient capital demand for immediate investment opportunities.

 READ MORE

Share:  

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Impact investments, also known as community investments and mission-related investments, aim to solve social or environmental challenges while generating financial return. Presented in October as part of the Lunchbox Speakers Series at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, this presentation addresses impact investing in the global and local marketplace. It attempts to serve as a helpful and informative introduction to the industry.

The presentation outlines the evolution of the marketplace, where it is today, and what it might look like over the next five to ten years. It also assesses the size of the marketplace, highlights key players, and raises important questions about capital supply and demand as well as intermediation in the Canadian context.

 READ MORE

Share:  

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

There are a number of long-standing enterprise forms in Ontario (and Canada) with a mission to achieve positive social or environmental impact, including co-operatives and non-profit organizations. You may be familiar with producer, housing, or worker co-operatives, from Organic Meadow to the Urbane Cyclist in Toronto. You may also be familiar with non-profit (charitable) social enterprises, from Goodwill Industries to Habitat for Humanity Restore.

Can a for-profit company solve social and environmental problems? If these good companies can exist, can they be economically viable (even profitable) while meeting their mission? This is the premise of the benefit corporation, an emergent form of sustainable for-profit enterprise with a defined mission to generate demonstrable, positive social and/or environmental impact.

 READ MORE

Share:  

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

In a few weeks, illustrious movie supervillain Gordon Gekko will make his somewhat less than triumphant return to Wall Street. He will likely return humbled, then reveal his true self (ie. Greed is good) before changing his ways or getting caught. It could go either way, but it’s predictable. At Social Venture Exchange (SVX) project, we are looking for the anti-Gordon Gekko’s of the world who have a new motto: invest for good.

We want to understand the local investor interest for impact investing. To this end, we are building a basic profile of institutional investors and asset owners/managers in Ontario and determining their level of current activity and potential interest in impact investing through detailed survey profiling via the Social Finance Census.

 READ MORE

Share:  

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

A great debate on the Census is raging from coast to coast. We rarely experience such storied excitement, intrigue, and interest in public policy matters, from abrupt but principled resignations, to heroic acts to save swimmers from drowning, to headline news in the venerable New York Times. [It does seem oddly Canadian that we would shift our focus from "lakes and beer" to the Census.] We have decided to ride this wave of popularity to launch the first ever Social Finance Census.

 READ MORE

Share:  

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

If you read the title of this post, don’t worry. This post isn’t about an old man in a bathtub, quantum physics, or floating continents.

It’s about a different kind of displacement.

There has been a building level of awareness and literacy on impact investing in the past few weeks, given increasing news coverage from outlets from the New York Times to Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill’s News and Observer.  [We’re still waiting for front page coverage in the Financial Post, or the Globe/Toronto Star’s Business section.]

 READ MORE

Share:  

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

There has been a great deal of recent discussion on impact investing: the zen-like space where investments have a financial return and demonstrated environmental or social impact.  Some may tell you that these opportunities exist just beyond the misty mountains of Pandora, in the lush, green Shire where Frodo and Bilbo Baggins play hacky sack.

In response to some of these critics and to build literacy and understanding at a local level, we need to make impact investing a bit more tangible.

Impact investing opportunities are very real, with living, breathing models in place around the world.  Accordingly, there is tremendous potential for local success through our social venture exchange project.  We are currently exploring the how, but this may give a first glance of what is possible.

 READ MORE

Share:  

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

In the somewhat fantastical world of social enterprise, social finance, and social innovation, it is easy to get lost in the dazzling newness of the emerging space and the excitement of growing discussion about the possible.

But we cannot forget why we are doing this work.  The why helps to anchor us with a clear purpose and focuses our vision.  It may also help us achieve more than just a few lines in newsprint, a paragraph in a blog, or the full focus of “an interesting magazine article.”  [Note the Bill Young reference.]

So why are we working towards the creation of a social venture exchange?

 READ MORE

Share:  

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•