The Government of Canada will soon be launching a program to help social purpose organizations improve their ability to participate in the social finance market.

The Investment and Readiness Stream is a two-year grants and contribution program that will make up to $50 million available, beginning in spring/summer 2019, to partners experienced in social innovation and social finance.

Through the Investment and Readiness Stream, the Government of Canada will fund various delivery partners who will offer services, supports and funding to a broad range of social purpose organizations. It is anticipated that a large portion of funding under the Stream will be reserved for delivery partners who have the networks and mechanisms to directly support social purpose organizations. These delivery partners could use the funding to provide additional services or grants to social purpose organizations. The remaining funds will be used to strengthen expert service providers who can offer specialized knowledge and services to social purpose organizations to move along the investment-readiness continuum, and to support partners who can help address system-level gaps.

The Investment and Readiness Stream was announced in the 2018 Fall Economic Statement as part of a larger $755 million Social Finance Fund, both of which were inspired by the Social Innovation and Social Finance Co-Creation Steering Group’s Report, Inclusive Innovation:  New Ideas and New Partnerships for Stronger Communities.

In order to better inform the Government’s approach on how best to invest these funds, you can provide your input through a questionnaire.

To help you complete the questionnaire, a Discussion Guide has been developed, and is available here.

Review the Discussion Guide

Complete the Questionnaire

The deadline to complete the questionnaire has been extended to June 30, 2019.

To learn more about social innovation and social finance, consult a public inventory of case studies (available only in English) prepared by researchers at the University of British Columbia Sauder School of Business and the Université du Québec à Montréal, which promotes understanding about the concepts of social innovation, social finance, social economy and social enterprise.

Read more

• Announcement of the Social Finance Fund
• Fall Economic Statement (see p.37)
• Recommendations of the Co-Creation Steering Group
• Sector Recommendations for the Investment & Readiness Stream of the Social Finance Fund
• sisfs.ca – the website of the non-governmental members of the co-creation steering group
• Exploring the Opportunities of Social Innovation and Social Finance plenary session video from EconoUs2018

SOURCE: The Government of Canada