Apr 2019 Charity & NFP Law Update
Employment and Social Development Canada (“ESDC”) is seeking public input through an online engagement process (“Consultation”) concerning support for social purpose organizations (“SPOs”) through a Social Finance Fund. The Social Finance Fund was initially proposed through the 2018 Fall Economic Statement, as discussed in Charity & NFP Law Bulletin No. 435. Through the Consultation, which was announced on March 18, 2019, ESDC indicated that it is exploring avenues for supporting SPOs “in building their capacity to innovate and move towards participation in social finance opportunities.” To carry this out, ESDC aims to offer support for SPOs over a two-year period, with the aim of helping them scale their practices and improve their participation in the social finance market.
The Consultation follows after the September 2018 release of the Social Innovation and Social Finance Strategy Co-Creation Steering Group’s report on social innovation and social finance (“Report”), discussed in the September 2018 Charity & NFP Law Update. The Report proposed twelve recommendations, including recommendations that would improve participation in social finance opportunities and specifically to “improve social purpose organizations’ access to federal innovation supports.”
A Discussion Guide has been published that provides a background on social innovation and social finance in Canada and discusses how ESDC’s Investment and Readiness Stream will support SPOs. In this regard, it indicates that the Investment and Readiness Stream will fund projects that support investment readiness, with a focus on four areas, including: (1) building SPOs’ technical capacity to access investments, funds and revenue sources; (2) impact measurement and knowledge mobilization; (3) emergence and growth of social finance intermediaries; and (4) early-stage innovations.
ESDC is seeking feedback, particularly from SPOs and associated groups; national and regional service delivery organizations, social finance intermediaries and associated groups; and entrepreneurs, social innovators, academics, experts and associated groups. The Consultation is open until May 31, 2019, and interested groups may respond by completing an online questionnaire, or by email to [email protected].