Nova Scotia faces a difficult situation in which less than 2% of investment capital placed in mainstream RSPs, mutual funds, and stocks remain in the province. The rest of the investment capital ends up supporting companies operating in the rest of Canada and internationally. Faced with the challenge of match-making local investors with local companies, the CEDIFs were born.
For the last 10 years, Chris Payne has headed up an innovative program to drive hyperlocal investing in the province of Nova Scotia. Chris doesn’t use the term ‘hyperlocal investing’, but it seems apt. Nova Scotia’s Community Economic Development Investment Funds (CEDIF) offer unique opportunities to help local farmers and small businesses gain access to capital on a county-by-county and town-by-town basis, and sometimes even more local than that.
SocialFinance.ca exists to track the big stories of social finance in Canada. Strangely, one of the biggest success stories of social finance in Canada has managed to avoid the spotlight, and as a result, has gone under-reported on this platform. That is the Government of Nova Scotia's Community Economic Development Investment Funds (CEDIF).
A special edition of the Making Waves magazine has been launched, titled "Capital for Communities". This edition explores the the central question of access to finance for community-based initiatives. Most nonprofits, social enterprises, and co-operatives identify capital as their key constraint, and when it is available, it if often not in the right form to meet the needs of these organizations. These organizations, and the respective sectors that they represent, continue to be undercapitalized related to the needs and pressures being placed on them, particularly in this economic environment.
This issue draws on perspectives from across the country in understanding and addressing the issue of access to finance. The articles range from a mapping of the financial ecosystem of the social economy, the challenges of financing social ventures, the importance of intermediaries, examples of how institutional investors can be engaged in social finance, and lessons from Quebec's experience with developing innovative social finance instruments. Collectively, these articles provide an excellent, multi-dimensional understanding of the key issues and opportunities around delivering more capital to communities.
Holly Gordon from The Halifax News Net reports in her article "Investing in Green", the announcement of a second offering of shares and a new community program from Fusion Halifax and the Farmer's Market Investment Cooperative. Shares for the soon to be built Seaport Farmer's Market are selling for $50 each.
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Your Guide helps social entrepreneurs learn how to attract financing for their social ventures.
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Your Guide to Social Finance
SocialFinance.ca hosts an online guide that helps social entrepreneurs learn how to attract financing for their social ventures.
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