12:00pm to 1:00pm Eastern Time

Speakers: Brenton Caffin, Nesta and Tim Draimin, Social Innovation Generation (SIG) National 

Social change is difficult.  For years, organizations, networks and communities have been funded to deliver defined programs and services leading to individualized outcomes.  But these same organizations and networks are seeing the increased complexity and connectedness of the problems communities.  Complex problems require a different set of skills, leadership style and tools.  How do we gear up effectively for social impact?  What tools are needed in the tool kit for communities to navigate wicked problems and social dilemmas? 

Nesta is an organization that has been focused on sparking innovation in the UK.  It's range of activities have included sparking policy change, impact investing, developing new models for inclusive economic growth and citizen engagement in public service delivery.  In 2013, Nesta began developing a DIY Toolkit to help individuals and organizations scale social change.  

Join Brenton Caffin and Tim Draimin in a conversation about the DIY Toolkit, the lessons Nesta is learning about scaling social impact and how you can benefit from these tools and resources.                                                     

About Brenton Caffin

Brenton is Nesta’s Director of Innovation Skills, leading Nesta's work to help people and organisations get better at innovating for the common good.

Brenton is an innovative and strategic thinker and regularly presents to and advises national and global organisations, including UN agencies, on a wide range of issues relating to social and public sector innovation. He is an advisor to the Adelaide Festival of Ideas and former board member of the global Social Innovation Exchange and the Institute for Public Administration Australia.

From 2009-2012, Brenton was the founding CEO of The Australian Centre for Social Innovation, and previously held executive positions with the South Australian Department of the Premier and Cabinet, Government Reform Commission and WorkCover. He began his career in the Australian Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, later consulting to Australian and British governments on public policy, performance improvement and change management. Brenton was also previously seconded to the Home Office Strategic Policy Team.

About Tim Draimin

Tim is the Executive Director of Social Innovation Generation (SIG) National.  SiG is a partnership of The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, Toronto’s MaRS Discovery District, and the University of Waterloo.  SiG acts a catalyst for strengthening the enabling ecosystem for social innovations to be able to go to scale and generate whole system change.  In 2010 SiG convened the Canadian Task Force on Social Finance, a blue ribbon panel that proposed a seven-point agenda for mobilizing private capital for public good influencing federal, provincial and municipal policy across Canada.

Tim was the founding CEO of Tides Canada Foundation and serves on the boards Trico Charitable Foundation, Social Innovation Exchange (SIX), Partnership Brokers Association (PBA), and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Grand Challenges Canada (GCC). Tim is a senior advisor to the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing (CII).

10:30am to 5:30pm Mountain Time

The Alberta community renewable energy (RE) workshop brings together valuable stakeholders in Alberta who are developing renewable energy resources with community ownership and/or involvement by residents, local businesses, their municipality or public institutions. Primary objectives for the event are:

• Capacity-building to foster success stories of community RE in Alberta, taking learnings from Canadian jurisdictions with best practice experience;
• Taking stock of Albertan efforts for community RE and the barriers faced under status quo policy; and
• Creating a common understanding of the policy solutions to existing barriers and taking initial steps toward building policy consensus among community RE stakeholders.

The Pembina Institute

The Pembina Institute is working to solve today’s greatest energy challenges — reducing the harmful impacts of fossil fuels while supporting the transition to an energy system that is clean, safe and sustains a high quality of life. We provide our expertise to industry and government leaders, and we advocate for a strong, science-based approach to policy, regulation, environmental protection and energy development.

Calgary Economic Development

Calgary Economic Development is an opportunity-maker, helping to spark and fuel Calgary’s growth. Their job is to connect people with resources that can help them grow their careers or businesses, thrive in new locations or markets, and feel at home in our community. They offer a wealth of information to help everyone succeed and they tirelessly promote Calgary, in Canada and around the world. They are exhilarated about their role in shaping and sharing Calgary’s story and are proud to be part of the energy.

People, Power, Planet Partnership (PPPP) and TREC

TREC Renewable Energy Co-operative is a social enterprise that develops community-owned renewable energy projects, supports the Community Power, Aboriginal Power and Social Finance sectors and advocates for a 100% renewable energy future. The People, Power, Planet Partnership (PPPP) was formed to assess, document and share the experiences and lessons of community energy developments across Canada and beyond, with the goal of increasing the level of awareness and rate of implementation of such projects nation-wide. PPPP is an academiccommunity collaboration between York University and TREC, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Register for the Alberta Community Energy Workshop

Objectives

The workshop is organized with three objectives in mind:

1. Capacity-building to foster success stories of community RE in Alberta, taking learnings from Canadian jurisdictions with best practice experience;
2. Taking stock of Albertan efforts for community RE and the barriers faced under status quo policy; and
3. Creating a common understanding of the policy solutions to existing barriers and taking initial steps toward building policy consensus among community RE stakeholders.

Audience

The community energy workshop brings together valuable stakeholders in Alberta who are developing renewable energy resources with community ownership and/or involvement by residents, local businesses, their municipality or local public institutions. These include co-operatives, shared-investment projects, municipal and publicly funded projects, as well as initiatives and public programs that support these efforts. To ensure a broad engagement we have invited stakeholders from:

• Local, regional and provincial government
• Economic development organizations and regional economic partnerships
• Renewable energy developers, energy retailers, and utility companies
• Project champions (including co-operatives, citizen initiatives, and local businesses)
• Associations and networks with specific interest in co-ops, housing & clean economy
• Finance (including credit unions, impact investors, etc.)
• Consultants with specific interest in community energy

Download the Alberta Community Energy Workshop Agenda

12pm to 1pm Eastern Time

Innoweave is pleased to partner with Accelerating Social Impact to host an Introduction to Social Enterprise webinar.

The webinar will provide an overview of the Social Enterprise module, and will review concepts and basic approaches associated with social enterprise. It will also provide an overview of the Innoweave Social Enterprise workshop. Upcoming workshops can be found by visiting Innoweave's Events Page.

Register for the Introduction to Social Enterprise webinar

The workshop which builds on this webinar, will help leadership teams of 3-4 (including board members) get greater clarity on how to:

• Assess the market for their potential product or service
• Identify potential customers
• Develop potential pricing structures
• Identify next steps to become launch-ready

The content for this module was developed by enp.

SOURCE: Innoweave

12pm to 1pm Eastern Time

The Developmental Evaluation webinar will provide an overview of module, including how DE helps community organizations increase the impact of their work by providing real-time data and feedback to help them develop and adapt an intervention as it unfolds. 

Register for the Developmental Evaluation webinar

Please apply by March 13th, 2016

It will also provide an overview of the Innoweave National Developmental Evaluation Workshop which will be hosted on June 7th and June 9th, 2016. Please visit Innoweave's Events Page to find out more.

The workshop on November 7th and 9th, 2016, which builds on the Introduction to Developmental Evaluation webinar, will help leadership teams of 3-4 (including board members) get greater clarity on:

• Further explore the purpose and major characteristics of developmental evaluation (DE)
• Assess the suitability of their intervention and the readiness of their organization to using DE
• Develop a preliminary DE scope of work for their initiative.
• Identify possible next steps for developing a budget and implementing DE.
• Develop a plan for success

The content for this module was developed by SiG@Waterloo and Here to There.

Source: Innoweave