Resources

This guide is a reference tool on the social economy. It was designed for people developing educational activities on the social economy to provide them with reference materials and tools that will help them master the concepts they will be presenting.

Ce guide est un outil de référence sur l’économie sociale. Il est conçu pour que les intervenants qui organisent des activités de sensibilisation à l’économie sociale puissent s’y référer et s’outiller pour maîtriser les concepts qu’ils vont présenter.

Thinking about starting a social enterprise? This guide will give you some of the information you need to see if a social enterprise is right for you.

Carrefour de l'information sur l'entrepreneuriat collectif.

Répertoire détaillé sur des pistes de financement pour les entreprises sociales, coopératives et privées en Ontario.

MaRS works with an extensive network of partners to help entrepreneurs launch and grow the innovative companies that are building our future.

A wide variety of social enterprise resources and learning materials for all stages of SE.

Legal Structures and Incorporation for social enterprises in Canada

The SROI Canada Network provides social value creators, evaluators and investors, the language and tools to express social return on investment. SROI Canada builds a broad-based understanding of how social value is created and provides opportunities for every level of practitioner to build their own skill in relation to SROI.

Greg Overholt is confident that Social Enterprises can tackle many of the challenges today's world by leveraging commercial principles to maximize social impacts. In his talk, he presented 6 tangible steps on how to start and grow your social enterprise by sharing his story of starting his organization.

The Ontario Non Profit Network has a list of resources and information for Social Enterprises. It includes legislative frameworks, The Social Enterprise Strategy, and more.

A small rural municipality and a small city board of education are both see running a social enterprise as an effective strategy to fulfil part of their mandate. This session discusses the many ways any social enterprise and its local government can benefit each other.

From financing a building to building a community, these two models of shared space provide lessons and inspiration for anyone thinking of developing or working in these kinds of settings.

The enterprise types developed by these two organizations range from cafes to recycling, woodshops to casual labour and so much more. Creating multiple enterprises is a proven strategy to scale up the impacts of social enterprises in communities.

Support social enterprise business growth and achieve local social goals through the purchase of products and services on a dynamic marketplace

A new, cutting edge Aboriginal e-Commerce website www.kitigan.com provides authentic, original, high quality Aboriginal art, gifts and crafts at competitive prices and is designed to support Aboriginal artisans, particularly those with low-income, to develop a portfolio and reach a global market.

A new project that helps non-profit organizations and social enterprises in Southwestern Ontario to sell their products and services online. The revenue they generate from these sales goes back into providing non-profit services in their community.

Carrefour de l'information sur l'entrepreneuriat collectif.

Steps to improve structures across Canada through legislative and administrative structures reforms.

Recommendations for the 5 pillars of social enterprise development.

The social economy as a vehicle for public policy in Canada.

10 myths about social enterprise: changing perceptions about procurement rules, practices and processes

The fundamentals of social finance, including emerging finance tools, models and structures.

A summary of the two-day Policy Forum, was part of the Third Canadian Conference on Social Enterprise. It was co-hosted by the Social Enterprise Council of Canada (SECC), the Social Innovation Generation program at the MaRS Discovery District (SiG@ MaRS) and Causeway Social Finance.

Update on the province’s social enterprise strategy [2015]. The report highlights the outcomes and key deliverables that have been achieved, including the Social Enterprise Demonstration Fund, which enables 11 non-profit intermediaries to provide support and funding to social enterprises across the province.

Workspace to explore, incubate and validate social enterprises in London & Area

Pillar supports nonprofit organizations and social enterprises in fulfilling their missions in our community. They provide leadership, advocacy, and support through the promotion of volunteerism, professional development and networking opportunities, and information sharing. They focus on London Ontario.

Ce guide est un outil de référence sur l’économie sociale. Il est conçu pour que les intervenants qui organisent des activités de sensibilisation à l’économie sociale puissent s’y référer et s’outiller pour maîtriser les concepts qu’ils vont présenter.

This guide is a reference tool on the social economy. It was designed for people developing educational activities on the social economy to provide them with reference materials and tools that will help them master the concepts they will be presenting.

Social Entrepreneurship Evolution (SEE) is an emergent pan-northern collaborative whose focus is to support the infrastructure for Youth Social Entrepreneurship (YSE) with an emphasis on collaboration, shared measurement and collective impact.

Georgian College’s Centre for Social Entrepreneurship (CSE) is engaging non-profit organizations and other stakeholders in this new social enterprise network to foster collaboration and innovative problem-solving at the local level.

An overview of the development of social enterprise within the context of the Social Economy and a summary of key supports for social enterprise in the province of Ontario.

The social enterprise (SE) sector has grown significantly in Ontario over the last few years, but social entrepreneurship has struggled to sustain a community focus and serve those who face the greatest barriers. This report brings together half a year of conversations with SE managers and other stakeholders...

Carrefour de l'information sur l'entrepreneuriat collectif.

The SROI Canada Network provides social value creators, evaluators and investors, the language and tools to express social return on investment. SROI Canada builds a broad-based understanding of how social value is created and provides opportunities for every level of practitioner to build their own skill in relation to SROI.

This webinar previewed the key findings from the 2012 Social Enterprise Survey for Ontario. As the first research of its kind in the province, this webinar offered significant insights into the burgeoning trend of social enterprise within Ontario’s nonprofit and charitable sector.

What's the real impact of Ontario's social enterprise on individuals, on communities and on the economy? Paul Chamberlain of Canadian Community Economic Development Network reveals some surprising stats on what nonprofits are producing in the social enterprise space and gives the first big picture view for the province.

This report that critically examines the state of social procurement in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), through the lens of global social procurement movements. Its focus is the potential role of a social procurement intermediary – a broker or matchmaker between suppliers and purchasers

REDF commissioned a first-of-its-kind jobs study to evaluate the impact of social enterprise for people facing barriers to work and its benefits for society. These are the exciting findings from the Mathematica Jobs Study final report.

Social Purpose Enterprises: Case Studies for Social Change presents case studies of twelve organizations that operate in a growing niche within the Canadian social economy: market-based entities supported by a nonprofit organization and operated for the benefit of a workforce who lives on the margins of society.

Update on the province’s social enterprise strategy [2015]. The report highlights the outcomes and key deliverables that have been achieved, including the Social Enterprise Demonstration Fund, which enables 11 non-profit intermediaries to provide support and funding to social enterprises across the province.

The report that follows outlines the rationale and theory of change that have informed RSEC’s
work. It shares project accomplishments, key learning, and the voices of rural stakeholders
who were involved in RSEC project activities from 2012 to 2015

This report looks at how Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs), or community benefits clauses, could be used for a proposed pilot project, and for the Tower Renewal program more generally.

Information about what a co-op is, how to start a co-op, support, development, and more.

Carrefour de l'information sur l'entrepreneuriat collectif.

Portal of regional information and issues, tools for research and publication, and directory of social enterprises and support agencies.

An online marketplace for social enterprise in Quebec. Un marché en ligne pour l'entreprise sociale au Québec .

Support and services for economic development in the Francophone and Acadian communities in Canada.

Social enterprise through a Francophone lens

Connecting, supporting, and growing social enterprise (SE) in rural Ontario

The Rural Social Enterprise Project sought to contribute to the resilience and resource development capacity of rural nonprofits by promoting knowledge, skills and supports for social enterprise development.

A process to help organizations articulate rural ‘assets’ and rural ‘wants’ and ‘make their case’ to decision-makers

This Social Enterprise Toronto (SET) research report, published in 2014, is based on in-depth interviews with 32 social enterprises, and focuses on three distinct areas: Marketing Practices and Needs; Food-based Social Enterprises; Start-up Stories.

Find out what a workers' co-operative is from the members of Your Local Market Co-operative Inc. in Stratford, Ontario.

This workshop focuses on shared ownership as a business model. Peter Cameron, workshop leader and On Co-op’s Co-op Development Manager, goes into detail about the history of co-operatives, distinctive features and benefits of the co-operative model, and the various types of co-operative enterprises.

This workshop focuses on how employees can become owners of their own co-operative venture. The workshop is geared towards baristas, telemarketers, clerks and other employees who have the skills and network to start their own business, but who are currently working low-paying jobs with little autonomy.

Building on the theme of employee empowerment, the final workshop in the series focuses on how to transform an existing business into a successful and sustainable co-op through succession planning, otherwise known as “buying out the boss”.

A guide to what a co-op is, their history, what examples exist today, and more.

Pistes de financement pour les entreprises sociales, coopératives et privées en Ontario 2014.

An online community and information hub for social finance and impact investing in Canada. It is full of various resources, from policy, to social finance 101, and beyond.

Access to mortgages for non-profits, charitable organizations and community-based organizations performing social good in their local communities. Loans are also available for Social & Affordable Housing Initiatives, and Social Enterprises.

Provides access to loans and financial coaching; tools organizations need to help them assess their current financial picture and implement plans for their future, and multiple case studies.

Provides access to low-cost capital to registered charities with projects of social benefit who are unable to obtain financing from conventional sources. They also provide technical assistance/organizational capacity building grants to ensure loan recipients are successful in their ventures.

Impact Investing – How to achieve social impact by providing a loan

The fundamentals of social finance, including emerging finance tools, models and structures.

The what, why, who, and the how of social finance in Canada.

This paper is intended to provide a foundation for collective action and discussion on the topic of nonprofit financing.