MaRS is where science, technology and social entrepreneurs get the help they need. Where all kinds of people meet to spark new ideas. And where a global reputation for innovation is being earned, one success story at a time. Key to those success stories are our clients, the entrepreneurs and innovators we serve, and the employees who support them.
3pm Eastern Time
Contrary to popular belief, entrepreneurship is not a solo sport. “Backbone organizations” such as incubators, accelerators, co-working spaces, and local first alliances are crucial hubs for building capacity and community around local economy innovation. To be most effective, these backbones require an ecosystem of partners to sustain the organization as well as support the entrepreneurs they’re incubating.
In this webinar, Kelly Ramirez, CEO of Social Enterprise Greenhouse in Providence, RI, will share her comprehensive model for mapping ecosystem assets. The model identifies a range of potential partners to build pipeline, increase business acumen, expand the market, provide capital, and more. Kelly is joined by Donovan Woollard (Radius Ventures, Vancouver) and moderator D’Artagnan Scorza (Social Justice Learning Institute, Los Angeles), who offer their own expertise building backbone organizations to serve social enterprises.
Source: BALLE
1pm to 2:30pm Eastern Time
Register by 9a.m. ET on Monday, April 27, 2015 to receive log-in information.
Published in January 2015, Dollars & Sense: Opportunities to Strengthen Southern Ontario's Food System encompasses the first research of its kind in Canada on the economic and environmental impacts of food production in southern Ontario, where roughly 98 percent of the province's food is produced. This keystone report, produced by the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, the Metcalf Foundation, and the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation, looks at a number of scenarios to study the potential impacts of shifts in food consumption and production.
Join two of the report's authors, Dr. Rod McRae and Dr. Atif Kurbursi, and moderator Beth Hunter, Program Director with the McConnell Foundation, for a special 90-minute webinar on April 27th to discuss their findings and understand the research process behind Dollars & Sense and its extensive background reports. This webinar will be of particular interest to policy makers, community leaders, funders, academics, and others who want to learn more about this new resource and how it can inform government policy discussions. This conversation is an opportunity to deepen understanding of the findings, discuss policy options and implications of the research in other regions.
This event is free for all to attend thanks to the generous sponsorship of the Metcalf Foundation, the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation, and the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation.
12:00pm Eastern Time
Homelessness is a major issue in Canada, affecting 200,000 people every year and costing $7 billion to the economy. If we include people who are vulnerably housed (those in unstable, poor-quality housing or couch surfing) as many as 520,000 Canadians lack safe, affordable and supportive housing.
In 2014, the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing's (MCII) SIB Advisory Services team determined that an alternative funding mechanism could help mobilize capital to address homelessness in Canada. They released these findings in a report titled "Housing First Social Impact Bond Feasibility Study."
Now that the concept feasibility is established, the next step is launching a Housing First SIB. With the support of the United Way Innovation Fund, the MaRS SIB Advisory Services team is offering pro bono technical assistance to potential outcome payers through a call for partnerships.
This webinar will walk interested parties through the problem of homelessness in Canada, the SIB model as it might apply in this case, and through the process of applying to be a partner in this groundbreaking work. The MCII SIB Advisory Team has received many inquiries about the recent call for partnerships and we are offering this webinar and Q&A for interested parties. Representatives from all levels of government, foundations, corporations, etc. are welcome to attend!
Please feel free to submit any questions you have ahead of time via email to jwalker at marsdd.com and we'll make sure they're addressed!
The Canadian Community Economic Development (CED) Network is a practitioner-based, membership-driven organization. Its mission is to help CED organizations across Canada strengthen their communities and find solutions to local problems. The Network is recruiting a dynamic, outgoing professionals to support social enterprise research and development based at our regional office in Toronto, Ontario.
With new generations of local financial institutions, community foundations, and supportive public policies, pathways have opened for trillions of dollars to move from Wall Street to Main Street. Innovative leaders are changing the way that capital works, moving away from a system that perpetuates inequality and toward place-based models that instead catalyze local job creation, build community wealth, and foster vibrant local economies.
This webinar features three pioneering local economy leaders who have built ecosystems for place-based investing through community foundation initiatives and local investment clubs. Hear their stories of impact, learn messaging that works in making the case for community capital, and take away concrete ideas for how you can implement similar models in your own community.
Leaders and staff of community development corporations, economic and community development organizations, foundations, and business incubators will learn how to apply these models in their place to leverage assets, access capital, and make the case for community capital and impact investing.
Social entrepreneurs, investors, and leaders looking to support their communities in innovative ways will learn the goals and metrics these new funding models use so they can better position themselves to participate, invest, or attract capital.
Source: BALLE
