On Wednesday, October 3, 2012 from 10:00 - 11:00am EDT, the Inclusive Local Economies Program of the Metcalf Foundation presents a webinar entitled, Local Economic Development as if People and the Planet Mattered.
 
Elizabeth Cox works for the New Economics Foundation (nef), the UK’s largest “think and do” tank focused on improving quality of life by promoting innovative solutions to economic, environmental, and social issues.
 
Elizabeth will share nef’s approach to supporting local economic development in communities across the UK and internationally called Plugging the Leaks.  This approach moves beyond getting more money into the local economy through tourism, inward investment, or funding.  It re-generates the local economy from within, and takes advantage of the resources that a community already possesses.  A plugging the leaks approach is built around supporting community-based action towards developing a more sustainable local economy.  Elizabeth will be interviewed by Mary Rowe of the Municipal Arts Society of New York, and Metcalf Foundation Advisor.
 
This is the first in a new monthly webinar series focused on how we build resilient local economies.  It is a forum for communication, collaboration, and innovation focused on creating resilient local economies.  It is a initiative of the Metcalf Foundation and the Centre for City Ecology https://cityecology.net/
 

To register for this webinar please contact Heather Dunford at hdunford@metcalffoundation.com by Tuesday, October 2.

For more information about Plugging the Leaks please see www.pluggingtheleaks.org. To learn more about the New Economics Foundation go to www.neweconomics.org.
 

The webinar will be recorded and posted on the Metacalf website

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More About Elizabeth Cox

Elizabeth Cox is an economist who leads on nef’s UK and international local economic development work, and manages international partnerships.  Her work ranges from design and delivery of action research on enterprise and local economic development to support practical community action in the UK and internationally (BizFizz, Local Alchemy and Plugging the Leaks), developing approaches to help public bodies to embed social, economic and environmental outcomes throughout their commission process, to research on resilience.  New areas of research include developing a low carbon, high well-being economic development model, and developing with civic society organisations a global south hub network to support, to debate, and practically apply new economics in India and South Africa.
 
Prior to joining nef in 2003, Elizabeth worked as a policy advisor within the Ministry of Agriculture in Guyana for four years, and was responsible for the oversight of poverty alleviation programmes and the design of participatory monitoring and evaluation frameworks, and as a Research Fellow at the University of Aberdeen lecturing in economic development.

November 8-10
Ancaster, Ontario

• Take part in our new more participatory approach, with a focus on Financial Viability and Member Development!
• Meet other worker co-operators and developers from across Canada!
• Get inspired by other co-ops' stories!
• Learn practical new tools!   
• See the Canadian premiere of the Shift Change movie!
• Help us honour Alain Roy, recipient of the Worker Co-op Merit Award!

[More information]

[Register here]

Financial management tips and insights from Walter Hossli, Executive Director of Momentum, founding member of CCEDNet and one of the most experienced CED leaders in Canada. 

BACKGROUND

For the past 20 years, Walter Hossli has been the driving force behind the Calgary CED organization Momentum.  Momentum serves about 4,000 low-income Calgarians annually in 20 programs including, trades training, micro loans for business start-up, professional immigrants’ accreditation, financial literacy and matched savings programs. 

But it wasn’t always this way.  In 1991, Momentum had a budget of just over $300,000 and was caught in the project funding treadmill common to many CED groups.  By learning to cost properly, diversifying funding sources, building surpluses and reserves and creating a strong organizational culture, Momentum’s annual revenues grew to over $5.2 million in 2010, with reserve funds of over $1.6 million.

In this session, Walter shares the lessons he’s learned over the last 20 years and tips on how strong financial management can catalyze organizational passion, performance and independence – and ultimately better results for communities. 

SPEAKER

• Walter Hossli, Momentum
  Walter has been Executive Director of Momentum since it was founded in 1991.  Under his leadership, Momentum has won the Community Achievement Award from the City of Calgary, been recognized by the Tides Canada Foundation, by Charity Intelligence as one of the most effective organizations in Calgary and named one of Alberta's top 50 employers. Walter is a founding board member of CCEDNet, and he helped establish Vibrant Communities Calgary, an organization dedicated to fighting poverty.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• Financial Management of CED Organizations by Walter Hossli, on Canadian Centre for Community Renewal
   
• An Executive Director’s Guide to Financial Leadership by Kate Barr and Jeanne Bell, on Nonprofit Quarterly
   
• How Much Should a Canadian Charity Spend on Overhead?  By Mark Blumberg, Blumberg Segal LLP. 
   
• The Nonprofit Starvation Cycle by Ann Goggins Gregory and Don Howard, on Stanford Social Innovation Review.
   
• The Operating Surplus: What’s Right for Your Organization? By Sandi Humphrey, on Canadian Society of Association Executives
   
• For more about Walter’s vision of community see, his talk at TEDx Calgary
   
• Get to know Momentum with their last Annual Report

Come meet Dianne Buckner, Host of CBC's Dragons' Den at the 2012 CEDEC SBSN Awards Gala. Network with small business owners from across Quebec and discover the grand-prize winner of CEDEC's "Love YourLocal Business" contest!

When: Wednesday October 17, 2012
Time: 6:00 p.m. – 10:00 pm
Where: Centre Mont Royal, 2200 Mansfield, Montreal (Quebec)
Cost: $85 per person / $600 for a table of 8

• Cocktail
• Silent auction
• 4-course meal
• Entertainment
• Networking
• Special prizes

Master of Ceremonies: Sonali Karnick, Host of CBC Radio's All in the Weekend
Keynote speaker: Dianne Buckner, host of CBC's Dragons' Den

For more information, contact Rania Cotran by email at rania.cotran@cedec.ca or by telephone at (514) 903-3753, extension 230.

Tickets may be purchased individually or by table of 8. Seating will be assigned, so please advise us if you have a preference. Parking and coat check included.

Thursday, September 27
12:00 noon EDT
Format: 30-minute profile of a social finance initiative in Canada followed by a 30-minute, cross-country check-in

Webinar Login Details:

About Karim Harji:

Also available via webcast

Digital engagement empowers individuals to make an impact in ways that were never before possible.

Crowdsourcing has been used to build groundswells of participation in philanthropy, business and politics, so what can it do for health care?

Let's find out together

Featuring two globally recognized crowdsourcing experts:

• Rahaf Harfoush is a digital innovation and Foresight Strategist who was invovled in the Obama presidential campaign
• Jeff Howe is an author, the creator of the term Crowdsourcing, and a former contributing editor at Wired Magazine

This event is free of charge. Space is limited.

>> MORE INFO & REGISTRATION HERE