17:00 to 18:00 GMT (London Time)

COMMUNITY SHARES, U.K.
Community shares are an increasingly popular form of capital for enterprises serving a community purpose such as shops, pubs, community buildings, renewable energy initiatives and local food schemes. Jim Brown, consultant and Strategic Adviser to the UK Government’s Community Shares Unit, will outline progress with these shares and discuss the Microgenius crowdfunding platform which the Unit uses for brokering community share offers.

ioby CROWD-RESOURCING, NEW YORK, USA
Erin Barnes, co-founder and Executive Director of Brooklyn-based ioby (derived from the positive opposite of NIMBY) will talk about the crowd-resourcing platform that facilitates a mix of crowdfunding and resource organizing – local people help get neighborhood projects off the ground with money, volunteer time and connections. She will also talk about the potential (and limits) of crowd-resourcing and about what makes for successful campaigns and projects.

About The New Barn-Raising

The New Barn-Raising is an initiative to encourage the exchange of international best practice around sustaining community and civic assets such as parks, recreation centers, libraries, neighborhood stores, senior centers, museums and theaters. These are places and spaces characterized by a high degree of accessibility, popularity and sense of belonging to 'the people'.

The term New Barn-Raising refers to how different groups (business, citizens, foundations, non-profits groups, politicians, social entrepreneurs, social investors, taxpayers and unions) can all pull together to support assets.

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CIFAR’s national dialogue series around social change continues with its next event in Vancouver.

In partnership with the Museum of Vancouver and the BC Ministry of Social Development and Social Innovation, CIFAR brings together international researchers and community leaders for a symposium dedicated to exploring the evidence and developing ideas about how to build happier communities.

This afternoon discussion at the museum will be moderated by Al Etmanski and takes place in conjunction with the exhibition Stefan Sagmeister: The Happy Show, which officially opens April 23, 2015.

More information

11am - 12pm Eastern Time

Join Liz Mulholland, CEO of Prosper Canada for an interactive one-hour webinar to discuss findings from a new report looking at emerging ideas on best practice in financial counselling for people living on low incomes.

The report, Financial Counselling for People Living on Low Incomes: International Scan of Best Practices, summarizes research undertaken in response to growing demand from low-income consumers for personalized financial support to help them tackle financial challenges like debt, difficulty accessing benefits, and financial planning for the future. Different jurisdictions have taken different approaches to meeting this demand, but practitioners and other experts in Canada, the US, the UK, and Australia share some similar views when it comes to their thoughts on best practice.

Liz will explore key findings from the report and their implications for future work in this area.

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Sign up early. Space is limited.

12pm to 1pm Eastern Time

This webinar will explore potential models for creating an enabling environment and architecture for social finance in Canada. This will include looking at effective facilitation as well as incentives for retail investors and financial institutions which will unlock significant capital to tackle Canada’s most critical social and environmental challenges. We will have an overview of replicable models for attendees interested in starting a fund and we will also provide a greater understanding of the opportunities and challenges involved in the development of social finance investment funds.

Format: 30-minute presentation followed by 30 minute Q & A session

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About Derek Ballantyne

Derek Ballantyne joined New Market Funds as a Venture Partner in January 2015. Mr. Ballantyne is CEO of Community Forward Fund, a registered investment fund manager overseeing a loan fund for non-profit and charitable organizations working across Canada. Mr. Ballantyne also works with Encasa Financial Inc., a mutual fund with close to $500 M in assets of non-profit and related entities. Mr. Ballantyne worked with Build Toronto as CEO from 2009 to 2011, a start-up municipal development corporation designed to leverage value from surplus City of Toronto assets. Prior to this Mr. Ballantyne was CEO of Toronto Community Housing from 1998 to 2011, Canada’s largest housing corporation. In this capacity he was responsible for the development and redevelopment of an extensive portfolio of affordable and market housing. Prior to this Mr. Ballantyne worked for over 10 years with affordable housing agencies as a senior executive and Board Chair. Mr. Ballantyne has recently participated in the launch of a new impact investment fund in affordable ownership housing, and assisted in the development of other social finance ventures.