12pm to 1pm Eastern Time

Speaker: Al Etmanski
Host: Sylvia Cheuy

Al Etmanski has spent the last 10 years exploring the world of social innovation looking for useful insights about social change that lasts. He's met, read, studied, spoken, applied, travelled, stumbled and written. What emerged from his work were six recognizable patterns and a book that captures the energy of those interactions. In his new book, Al explores the paradox between short term success and minimal long term impact. He suggests that strategies have limitations and that it’s worth paying attention to the deeper patterns of change. Al is hoping these ideas will ignite a resurrection of the ordinary. This genuine Canadian perspective on social change is full of stories about Canadian innovators, activists and entrepreneurs including many Ashoka fellows, which is why we wanted to invite you to our first public discussion about the book’s framework and stories.

Join Tamarack Thought Leader Al Etmanski on Thursday March 5, 2015 for a pre-launch webinar and first public discussion on concepts emerging from his soon to be released book, Impact: Six Patterns to Scale Your Social Innovation.

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About Al Etmanski

Al Etmanski is a community organizer and author. He is one of the first two Canadians welcomed into the Ashoka fellowship of social entrepreneurs. He is founding partner of Social Innovation Generation (SiG), BC Partners for Social Impact and co-founder of Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network (PLAN). He and his wife Vickie Cammack were recently awarded the Order of Canada for their innovative work with people with disabilities and their families. Al blogs at www.aletmanski.com.

12:00 Noon EDT

This webinar will present findings from a knowledge project submitted to ESDC. We will have an overview of the challenges and opportunities that not-for-profit (NFP) organizations experience when attempting to partner with the private business sector and identify resources/tools that NFPs could use for partnering with the private sector.

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

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About Dr. Tessa Hebb

Dr. Hebb is the Director of the Carleton Centre for Community Innovation, Carleton University, Canada. Her research - which focuses on Responsible Investment and Impact Investment - is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Government of Canada. She has published many books and articles on responsible investing and impact investing policies including the volumes Working Capital: the Power of Labor’s Pensions; No Small Change: Pension Fund Corporate Engagement; The Next Generation of Responsible Investing; and SRI in the 21st Century: Does it make a Difference to Society. In November, at the 2014 Social Finance Forum Dr. Hebb received an award from the Women In Leadership Foundation & the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing celebrating her career of groundbreaking work in impact investing.

11:00am - 12:15pm Pacific Time

Please note: event listed in Pacific time. To participate in this free tele-seminar, please register online and you will receive call details via email.

The alternative currency known as Timebanking seeks to re-weave community in a similar fashion to Transition: from the bottom-up. At its core, Timebanks gather neighbors together to accomplish simple tasks for one another.  At first, this seems to be a simple concept, but the small acts of helping neighbors, reskilling, and volunteering in community are at the heart of making Transition work. Timebanking, as a bottom-up tool to solve the problems created by the mismatch of unmet needs and unused skills, provides the space for the work of building true community through co-creation (rather than co-consumption.)

The work of timebanking and the Transition movement are deeply allied.  This TeleSeminar with Marie Goodwin of Timebank Media and Transition Town Media, PA will help you imagine “the more beautiful world your heart tells you is possible” through the lens of both transition and time banking. Its goal is to help Transition activists learn about how these two movements, Transition and Timebanking, deeply augment one another and become powerful tools when combined that help to engage communities in the important work ahead of us all.

About Marie Goodwin:

I am an archaeologist by training, but found myself much more interested in the modern stories of our culture than any ancient ones being thought up by academics. In addition to stories, I'm interested in activism and transition. I am on a great team of community builders that is Transition Town Media, and with their support founded the Media FreeStoreand Timebank Media. I am also passionate about issues relating to local food, herbal medicine, traditional cultures, new-story education and local economic resilience. For my day-job, I work in the gift with author/philosopher Charles Eisenstein.

Noon-1PM (MST)

This year Albertans will put billions of dollars into RRSPs. The majority of this money will leave the province, and won’t be used to support local businesses that create jobs, or strengthen the local economy.

Communities across Alberta are bucking this trend. They are investing directly in their savings in their local economy. This has led to the revitalization of businesses districts, created jobs, and increased vibrancy. By investing locally, community members receive both a financial and social return.

This webinar will teach participants about raising local capital, to finance local business development. Unleashing Local Capital is a new and innovative local financing program that supports communities in establishing Opportunity Development Co-operatives (ODCs) that pool capital within a designated community using RRSP eligible shares.

This lunchtime webinar will teach you everything you need to get started, as well as provide an opportunity to ask questions and discuss your local business development project. It will include: The webinarwill include

• an overview of the project, drawing from successful examples in Alberta
• The process of raising capital in your community
• Rules and regulations related to local financing, and how to raise capital in accordance to the current rules

At the end of this session you will be prepared to get started on a local financing project in your community! If you are involved in local business, community economic development, or are an entrepreneur this webinar will provide you with some excellent new information and insight into how local financing can be used to build strong and vibrant communities. Opportunity Development Co-operatives can be used to finance:

• Expansion, renovation, and upgrading of existing businesses
• Revitalization projects of a once-bustling main-street
• Succession planning that will keep an important business in the community
• New businesses

Opportunity Development Co-operatives also:

• Keep wealth in communities
• Let you invest in your community
• Connects you to a local business and the local economy in a meaningful way

Register now

For more information please contact Paul Cabaj, Director of Co-operative Development at pcabaj at acca.coop

12:00 pm – 1:00 pm Mountain Time

This session, hosted by the Battle River Alliance for Economic Development and Alberta Centre for Sustainable Rural Communities, will be geared to business owners from all disciplines and business service providers (municipalities, EDOs, CAOs, etc.) who seek to deepen their understanding and begin the process of succession planning. Succession planning is a natural process in a successful business and one that can (and should) be positive and empowering.

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Please Join Shauna for this Informative Webinar:

Shauna is the Executive Director of the Alberta Business Family Institute and former Project Manager for the Creating Pathways for Entrepreneurial Families Rural Initiative.
Shauna’s background includes a variety of experience, including banking and accounting along with project and event management. Shauna is a certified Family Enterprise Advisor and has successfully supported many small to medium sized businesses successfully transition to the next phase of ownership.

Living throughout rural Alberta growing up, Shauna has a unique understanding of the issues of rural sustainability and from being a partner in her own family business, she understands the need to readily access further education, information and resources in order for both the family and the business to thrive, grow and transition successfully.

Shauna is currently Treasurer and Audit Committee Chair for the Alberta Chamber of Commerce, Past- President of the Camrose Chamber of Commerce, Advisory Board Member for the Rural Alberta Business Centres, Volunteer Mentor with MentorNation/Futurepreneur and Volunteer Screener for the TEC Edmonton VenturePrize Awards.

For more information visit www.acsrc.ca or contact:
Naomi Finseth, Alberta Centre for Sustainable Rural Communities
780.679.1672780.679.1672 | Email: acsrc at ualberta.ca
 
Or visit www.brandonu.ca/rdi/