News

New SE Project Launched in Preparation for the Pan Am Games

Social Enterprise Toronto and the Toronto Enterprise Fund have announced that they will be working in conjunction to assist social enterprises in bidding for and winning procurement contracts with the Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Pan Am/Parapan Am Games, as well as with other procurement opportunities.

This project is titled the Social Procurement Project, and aims to increase the capacity of social enterprises competing for business opportunities arising from the build-out, operations and sponsorship of the Games.

For more information on the Social Procurement Project,
click here to read SET’s article on the project.

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Canada draws on UK experience to scale up social investment

Ontario has begun mirroring successful tactics first implemented in the UK to improve Social Investment within its own borders.

In March, at the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing’s Impact Ontario conference, Katie Hill, the Social Investment Advisor to the City of London Corporation and highly successful social entrepreneur, and her colleagues, were invited to share their experiences on social investment in the UK with Canadian investors, policy makers and implementers, and social entrepreneurs. Katie Hill uses her experience and knowledge to show insights into the Canadian Social Investment world, and how it is drawing on the UK for inspiration.

Social Enterprise organizations in Ontario and the UK stand to gain a great deal from each other. Both UK and Canadian Social Enterprises list access to finances as a driving barrier to continual growth. A new demonstration fund has been announced in Ontario, similar to funding currently available to UK enterprises. The fund is intended not only to assist with finances for organizations, but also to encourage private investment from the finance sector, something that the UK has quite a bit of experience with already.

By looking to similarities and differences between the UK and Canada, and the globe as a whole, there is a great deal of knowledge to be gained from sharing experiences. Building off of knowledge gained through trial and error will help social business to grow, and in turn help address the growing needs our societies face.

Click here to read the article Katie Hill wrote for the Guardian…

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SE in the News: Parkdale Green Thumb Enterprises

When Maggie Griffin applied for a job at Parkdale Green Thumb Enterprises nine years ago, her doctor cautioned her it would never work.

“He said, ‘You won’t be able to do that. The stress will be too high,’” says Griffin. “If you’re involved in the mental health system, your doctor will quite often say you can’t work. And it’s not true — it’s really not true.”

Griffin is living proof. Today, she manages the Green Thumb project, a social enterprise business. The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health refers some, but not all, of Green Thumb’s employees.

“With all of the stigma that comes with mental illness, many people get the message that this is it — don’t expect a lot out of your life,” says Dr. Sean Kidd, a CAMH researcher.

Kidd says business initiatives such as Green Thumb represent a shift in the way mental illness is treated.

To read the remainder of this thestar.com article, please click here.

For more information about Parkdale Green Thumb Enterprises, please visit their website.

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Many great highlights at ImpactOntario

ImpactOntario drew a standing-room only gathering of participants on March 18th, which included world-changing Ontario ventures and world-leading investors and intermediaries. As activity and interest in social enterprise continues to grow in the province so too does the support for social enterprise development through the government of Ontario.

In Minister Eric Hoskins’ (Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Employment – MEDTE) keynote address he announced a call for proposals as part of the launch of the new $4 million Social Enterprise Demonstration Fund (SEDF). For more information, in both English and French, and links to the ministry’s program guidelines, please visit the SEDF website.

Also featured at ImpactOntario was the new informational video on social enterprise in Ontario produced by MEDTE.

Just before Minister Hoskins’ address, SEontario.org was also presented to ImpactOntario participants by Paul Chamberlain, the Canadian CED Network’s Ontario Director.

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Social Ventures to Make Pitches at ImpactOntario

ImpactOntarioImpactOntario is a landmark conference that, on March 18th from 8am – 5:30pm, will be bringing world-changing Ontario ventures together with world-leading investors and intermediaries. Designed to support deal flow and impact investing opportunities through pitch sessions, one-to-one meetings and plenary panels, ImpactOntario aims to increase capital directed to profitable ventures with a scalable, sustainable impact.

Are you interested in identifying impact investing opportunities, learning about impact investing from social innovators and thought-leaders, exploring innovative cross-sector funding opportunities, networking and engaging with a group of forward-looking investors, scaling your impact and diversifying your portfolio, and/or being a part of the global momentum? If you’re nodding yes to anyone of these you should be heading to MaRS Discovery District in Toronto, for ImpactOntario on March 18th.

ImpactOntario will spotlight ventures across a variety of industries including:

  • Inclusion
  • Health & Wellness
  • Sustainability
  • Education & Technology

Learn more and register >

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A Great Day for Social Enterprise in the GTA!

Social Enterprise Toronto Conference 2014: Trends & OpportunitiesSocial Enterprise Toronto (SET), a network of nonprofit social enterprises in the Greater Toronto Area, held its first conference January 29-30. The sold out event started with a tour of 5 member social enterprises on the first day (Free Geek Toronto, Working For Change, Out of This World Cafe, Windfall Brides and Furniture Bank), while the second day was dedicated to networking, plenary presentations, workshops, and a procurement roundtable (view the program here).

Helen Burstyn, Special Advisor for Ontario’s Office for Social Enterprise, provided a lunchtime address that highlighted the provincial government’s new strategy to support the development of social enterprise in Ontario.

Anne Jamieson, Senior Manager with the Toronto Enterprise Fund, moderating the social procurement roundtable
Anne Jamieson, Senior Manager with the Toronto Enterprise Fund, moderated the social procurement roundtable

An important component of the SET Conference 2014: Trends and Opportunities, was the roundtable discussion on social procurement. The delegates sitting on the panel presented on a number of exciting opportunities for social enterprises to get in at the ground level on contracts with the City of Toronto, Metrolinx, and the upcoming Pan Am Games. Read more about this round table >

SET also released its own report, Thriving or Surviving, a comprehensive study on social enterprises in the GTA. The report is based on interviews with social enterprises and helps move SET’s strategic plan forward in investigating key strategic issues relevant to operating social enterprises in the GTA. SET also announced that they will be extending their membership to the broader Golden Horseshoe Area. Become a member today!

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Social Enterprise Roundtables for Open for Business (OFB) Process

Please join us at one of six regional community roundtables to have your say in contributing to a vibrant Social Enterprise Sector in Ontario.

Pillar Nonprofit Network, with the support of Ontario’s Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Employment (MEDTE) will be hosting regional roundtables to gather information from social enterprise practitioners, intermediaries, investors and anyone else who is interested in both the nonprofit and for profit side of social business. This information will be used to report on pressing issues for the sector, including identifying administrative and regulatory burdens that may be preventing social enterprises from starting up and scaling up. The following points are the objectives of this process:

  1. To better understand the social enterprise sector and its priorities and have a coordinated approach
  2. To canvass the sector and agree upon the issues that should be raised
  3. To identify priorities that meet the Open for Business (OFB) Roundtable criteria and set stage for official OFB Roundtable process*
  4. To share knowledge, share solutions and have transparent exchanges

*The top priorities will be put forward to government in a formal OFB process. OFB roundtable criteria include zero cost to government, no new legislation and feasible within 60 days.

 

We’d love you to join us **with your laptop, tablet or smartphone** and be a part of this conversation to make our province a leader in social enterprise development. It is a great opportunity to engage and have your say.

The following are the different roundtable locations and dates.

December 9, 2013 | Toronto (English)

December 10, 2013 | Ottawa (English)

December 18, 2013 | Sudbury (English)

December 18, 2013 | Thunder Bay (English)
Both Sudbury and Thunder Bay are happening at the same time, via video conferencing between the two locations

January 9, 2014 | London (English)

January 15, 2014 | Guelph (English), Cooperatives

January 16, 2014 | Ottawa (French)

Register now for one or more sessions!

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“Inspiring Innovation”- New report on social enterprises in Ontario

How much do you know about social enterprise in Ontario?

The Canadian Community Economic Development Network has released the first provincial study to focus exclusively on social enterprise, giving a big picture look at just how much impact SE is having on communities in Ontario. For example, in 2011, these enterprises generated over $143 million in sales, employed at least 5,355 people and paying over $117 million in wages and salaries.

This baseline data now sets benchmarks to follow SE’s growth here, and will support future platforms such as an online database and marketplace.

Read the full report: “Inspiring Innovation: The Size, Scope and Socio-economic Impact of Nonprofit Social Enterprise in Ontario”

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Read all about it! 3 New Projects

We’ve added three exciting projects to the site, covering trendy totes, a friendly cafe and an innovative food coupon program.

Coupons for Hunger: Coupons For Hunger generates economic value by delivering an Employee Engagement Program (EEP) to small businesses for a fee. This program allows small businesses to give back to the community without spending significant time or money and to obtain a tremendously attractive social impact metric to report on.

EcoEquitable: Located in Ottawa, EcoEquitable is a non-profit social enterprise that creates employment for immigrant women using their existing seamstress skills to make a range of trendy totes from locally donated textile refuse.

Out of this World: OTW is an alternative business located in downtown Toronto within the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH – the largest mental health and addictions facility in Canada) and has been operating for seven years.

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Are you coming to the Social Enterprise World Forum?

The Social Enterprise World Forum is taking place on Canadian soil this year, in Calgary from Oct. 2- 4, 2013.

sewf2013 2Over 1,000 Canadiana and international participants are expected to talk about their work in the social enterprise space, including hundreds from Ontario. Over the next two months we’ll be profiling Ontario participants eager to share their stories of why and how social enterprise is changing the way they work.

We’re looking to interview you so contact us @seontarioweb or oser@theonn.ca.

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