Looking Forward To 2009
Happy New Year from socialfinance.ca!
We've seen tremendous excitement and energy in the Canadian social finance space in 2008, and 2009 looks like it will build on this success, and challenge us to do more to creatively harness finance for social good.
Novermber 2008 marked an important time in the social finance space in Canada. The Social Finance Forum, hosted at MaRS by Causeway, solidified its standing as Canada's premiere social finance event. In the leadup to the event, and from the conversations that continued after, there were many reasons to be optimisic for the coming year. As Tim Draimin and others pointed out, we have a good idea of what's going on in the social finance space in Canada, and we're seeing more credible investments in the sector. Clearly, we still have some way to go on the policy front, but we do have models and experiences to draw on from other jurisdictions. Socialfinance.ca was launched at the event, and despite only being a few months old, has become a focal point for ideas, conversation and resources around social finance in Canada.
Around social entrepreneurship and social innovation more broadly, there are encouraging trends that signal more activity in the various regions across the country. The Social Entrepreneurship Summit built on its success from the previous year, and the other events held as part of Entrepreneurship Week in November 2008 have raised the profile and interest of social entrepreneurship in Canada. Other catalysts include increased youth engagement through universities, activity through the Centre for Social Innovation, Ontario provincial government interest, and increased presence and dissemination through social/mass media.
Socialfinance.ca will continue to work closely with existing and new partners and contributors to advance the development of the social finance marketspace in Canada. The site will be rolling out new features and functionality to make it easier to access content, keep up to date with the latest developments in Canada and outside, and interact with the community of individuals and organizations that are committed to harnessing finance for social good. Get in touch with us to find out how you can contribute to this exciting space!
Here's looking forward to 2009!
