3pm to 4pm Eastern Time

Heart & Soul Training is a quarterly series of indepth webinars about Orton's barn-raising approach to community development and planning. Each training takes a deep dive into the phases and steps of the method that has transformed rural towns and small cities with broad engagement that uncovers what matters most to residents.

Alece Montez-Griego, Orton Family Foundation director of programs leads an interactive webinar that will give participants insight into what makes Community Heart & Soul a powerful, results-oriented and successful approach to community development and planning. Researched and field tested for more than a decade, Community Heart & Soul increases participation in local decision-making and empowers residents to shape their communities to uphold the unique character of each place based on what matters most to them. This hour-long overview is the first in a series of four online trainings this year.

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12:00PM - 1:00PM Eastern Time

With over 1 million workers in the Ontario nonprofit sector, including contract and part-time, nonprofits play a key role as employers and leaders of social and economic development of communities- including influencing labour market conditions.

Metcalf Foundation Fellow Tom Zizys brings a fresh perspective to labour market issues and the need to shift from the focus on the supply side and what is it that individuals need to get work, to the demand side of how employer practices affect opportunities to access good jobs.

So, how can we collectively build on this to impact labour force trends and good jobs for Ontarians?

Looking at the big picture, the webinar will look at the longer term trends that have profoundly affected Ontario’s labour market, while proposing a number of policy prescriptions to improve employment outcomes for more people.

ONN is pleased to present this webinar as part of a larger discussion on ways to strengthen and support the sector’s labour force. This will no doubt be of interest to both nonprofit employers and organizations across Ontario that support the training and development of people.

Cost:  $30 for ONN Members/ $60 for Nonmembers

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About the presenter

Tom Zizys has worked as a consultant in the public, not-for-profit and international development fields for over 20 years. He has a wide range of experience in numerous subject fields, from social economy to early childhood development, from homelessness to local economic development. For over 15 years he has specialized in employment programs and labour market analysis, particularly for economically marginalized communities. He is an Innovation Fellow of the Metcalf Foundation where his research focus is the changing labour market and the working poor. Internationally he has worked on various poverty reduction projects, and he has carried out assignments in some 20 countries. He has taught public policy, program evaluation, international development and community economic development courses at York and Ryerson universities.

The fact that the economy isn’t working for most of us is finally getting some attention and policy proposals to close loopholes and other stopgap solutions are making the rounds. However, those that study complex systems – natural or human-made – say the same thing: once corrupted, a complex system has an almost impossible time fixing itself. The best way to transition to a truly democratic economy is to find or create safe spaces outside the dominant system where something wholly new can emerge from the ground up. This emergence is BALLE’s theory of change, which has been deeply influenced by the work of Margaret Wheatley and Deborah Frieze.

In this webinar we’ll explore Frieze’s "Two Loops" theory of systems change – in which a new system emerges as the old one is declining – as a framework for a new economy. We’ll discuss where we are in the shift to a new economic model and take a look at the work being done on the ground to fight for rights in the current system while bolstering those who are forging a new path forward.

This webinar will kick off BALLE’s "Year of Illumination" – a monthly series of webinars, videos, articles, and other stories and conversations that will shed light on What Works and help Localist Leaders replicate and build upon proven solutions towards an economy with equity at its core. Join us for this foundational conversation to bring greater context to the role you and your organization play in this process.

Register now

SPEAKERS

Deborah Frieze, Co-Founder, Boston Impact Initiative

James Johnson-Piett, Principal and CEO, Urbane Development

MODERATOR

Christine Ageton, Chief Program Officer, BALLE

5pm Eastern Time
Bagnani Hall, Traill College

In New Thoughts on Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Piketty uses data from the 18th century to modern times to support his thesis that the current economic system results in a concentration of wealth, causing social and economic instability. To counteract this imbalance, he suggests a global system of progressive wealth taxes to reduce inequality and to prevent the majority of wealth under control of the minority.

For more information please contact azohar at trentu.ca

Panellists

Dr. Anwar Shaikh, has taught at the New School for Social Research for more than 30 years, authored three books and six dozen articles. His contributions have been recognized by Cambridge University Press’s recently released second volume of Eminent Economists, a compendium of essays on the personal philosophies and theoretical approaches of influential living economists. He has written on international trade, finance theory, political economy, macroeconomic policy, the welfare state, growth theory, inflation theory, crisis theory, inequality on the world scale, and past and current global economic crises.

Dr. Tom Phillips received his PhD in Economics from the New School for Social Research. His primary academic research interests are in economic growth and community economic development. Currently he is involved in the development of economic growth strategies for private and public sector organizations.

Dr. Dennis Badeen received his PhD from the Social and Political Thought program at York University. His scholarly interests include the philosophy of economics, Marxist philosophy and political economy, and the political economy of sustainability. He has recently received the European Union's Marie Curie Fellowship and will be spending two years at the Global Sustainability Institute and teaching at Cambridge, UK.

Join us at the foremost destination for leaders in the Canadian Crowdfunding economy (#CCS2015)

Join us on Tuesday, March 3, 2015, at MaRS Discovery in Toronto for an exclusive full day opportunity to learn vital content and network with industry experts gathering to highlight economic progress, regulatory updates, emerging opportunities, best practices, insights and trends impactful to the future growth of the Canadian crowdfunding industry (release).

The Fintech sector is growing rapidly around the globe, playing a significant role in mobilizing capital and resources to innovative ventures and social enterprises by streamlining the process of how how organizations connect with prospective customers and investors over the internet.
Crowdfunding is helping innovative Canadian firms to launch businesses such as $1.14 million to Mass Fidelity's wireless multi-room speakers, $1 million to DreamQii's PlexiDrone and $820K to Vanhawk's connected carbon fibre bicycle.  The recent Lending Club $5.4 billion IPO clearly demonstrated the appetite and potential for online lending marketplaces.

The Canadian crowdfunding industry is poised for growth.  On March 20, 2014, a total of six (6) provincial regulators announced two main proposals for new Crowdfunding prospectus exemptions that would allow early stage companies such as start-ups and SMEs to raise up to $1.5 million of capital online through the issuance of securities.

With favourable regulations imminent in Canada and the global crowdfunding industry experiencing explosive growth from $1.5 billion raised in 2012 to over $5.1 billion in 2013, crowdfunding has emerged as an increasingly popular source of innovation and social capital for small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs), new ventures, projects and cause-based organizations. 

Register here

Educational Programme (Full Day)

The #CCS2015 full day educational summit will feature high profile keynote speakers, panel discussions, workshops, entrepreneurial 'showcase pitches', mentor sessions and exhibitor tables featuring leading crowdfunding platforms and service providers.  The program will cover all aspects of Crowdfunding including equity, debt/lending, rewards, pre-sale/product, causes, and emerging online models such as royalty streaming.

Topical Content:

• Overview of raising capital online in current markets (challenges, solutions and options)
• Regulatory briefing on the current status of equity crowdfunding regulations in Canada?
• Global and Canadian crowdfunding market data/pulse, trends, predictions
• Funding success stories (and failures) and lessons learned
• Crowdfunding for social enterprise, impact investing, charities, causes and non-profits
• Breaking down the anatomy of a successful crowdfunding campaign
• Building a crowd and working with media
• Preparing your company for raising capital online:  Equity crowdfunding best practices and legal considerations (e.g., shareholders, term sheet, and intellectual property)
• Crowdfunding infrastructure for portals, provider solutions, opportunities for new entrants
• Portal landscape review, exemptions, transaction sizes, success rates
• International crowdfunding and cross-border activity

Who should attend the 2015 Canadian Crowdfunding Summit?

300+ delegates from across the country who are the decision makers in Canada’s fast growing and lucrative crowdfunding industry:

• Industry participants and experts including crowdfunding portals, legal, accounting and finance professionals, regulators, dealer-brokers, consultants, marketers, technology providers and advisory groups
• Entrepreneurial and innovation networks seeking to raise capital and commercialization ventures including incubator/accelerators, entrepreneurs, start-ups, high impact SMEs
• Social enterprise-impact investing companies, NFPs and cause-based organizations actively seeking funding
• Government (federal, provincial, municipal) involved in small business and innovation
• Private angel investors and venture capital groups, fund managers and corporate investors seeking to work emerging crowdfunding companies
• Media journalists and content creators tracking innovation, technology, small business and finance

11:00am - 12:30pm Pacific Time
Cost: $45

Register to Attend Join acclaimed cultural historian and futurist Riane Eisler for a dynamic dialogue about how you can take a stand for a new story of human possibility and become a leader in the movement to a more peaceful, equitable, and sustainable world.

In this 90-minute live online session, Riane Eisler, author of The Chalice & the Blade and The Real Wealth of Nations, will illuminate the outdated dynamics of gender and power undermining our well‐being and economic prosperity. She’ll answer your questions about what role you can play in the shift to more caring and sustainable social systems that support the relationships that matter most to us all – equitable and empowering relationships with our families, our communities, and our natural environment.

Riane will answer questions including:

• How are outdated systems of gender and power still guiding our economic policies?   
• How can we recognize and change these patterns?
• What would an economy that recognizes the value of the life-sustaining work of care still mainly performed by women look like?
• How would a caring economy put an end to the systematic impoverishment of women and children and generate greater economic prosperity for everyone, not just the 1%?
• What can you do to support these essential changes?

Bring your questions and concerns to this interactive online discussion on Thursday, February 19th from 11:00am – 12:30pm PST. You are invited to submit a question for Riane in advance of the session. You may share a question when you register, or send a question to annamberg.cps at gmail.com no later than February 16th, 2014. Questions will also be taken in real time during the webinar, as time permits.

REGISTER

For more information about Riane Eisler go to www.rianeeisler.com

* Leadership & Learning Program Alumni may attend at a $15 discount. Contact Ann for information and discount code