Posted by Allyson @ MaRS, March 8th, 2010
Bill Young at CIBC Presents Entrepreneurship 101
Since founding Social Capital Partners in 2001, Bill Young has been a fixture in the social finance scene in this country. After his own “ship came in” (Bill was CEO of Hamilton Computers), he has been promoting individual social ventures (both non-profit social enterprises and for-profit social purpose businesses) and striving to determine how he can take his initiative to change the social hiring landscape in this country beyond the “interesting magazine article” stage.
On reflection, it appears the efforts of Social Capital Partners came in three distinct phases.
Posted by Carol-Ann Smith @ MaRS, February 25th, 2010
Slow thinking in BC
“Conversation is a meeting of minds with different memories and habits. When minds meet, they don’t just exchange facts: they transform them, reshape them, draw different implications from them, engage in new trains of thought. Conversation doesn’t just reshuffle the cards: it creates new cards.” –Theodore Zeldin
I visited BC’s Sunshine Coast last month to attend the retreat, “Thinking Like a Movement.” It wasn’t by coincidence that our wonderful hosts and facilitators, Al Etmanski from the PLAN Institute for Caring Citizenship and his wife, Vicky Cammack – Founder and CEO, Tyze and Executive Director of PLAN – chose the Painted Boat in the beautiful Madeira Park for our learning.
The theme: Slow thinking.
Posted by Adam Jagelewski, February 9th, 2010
On the horizon: new capital structures
There have recently been significant inroads made in creating new sources of financing for non-profits and social ventures in Canada. Causeway hosted two discussions over the past month to flesh out the development of potential investment vehicles.
Below, I provide context for these conversations and offer resources for further understanding. I’ll continue to use this blog to chronicle the main developments of these funds in an attempt to keep you and the mounting number of social financiers up-to-date.
Posted by Geraldine @ MaRS, December 8th, 2009
Paul Martin speaks at Impact Investing
What happens when you put a former Liberal Prime Minister, a former Conservative Party Leader and a leading social impact investor in a room? Fireworks? Pouting and disagreement? Or one of the most electric and optimistic events I’ve been to this year.
On November 6, the Rt. Hon. Paul Martin and Social Capital Partners (SCP), Bill Young came to MaRS for an event called, “Impact Investing: Building Prosperity Outside the Mainstream,” moderated by John Tory and Ilse Treurnicht. The discussion focused on how market forces can be used effectively to solve social challenges in Canada.
Posted by Allyson @ MaRS, December 7th, 2009
Jed Emerson talks to MaRS about blended value
On December 2, 2009, and at long last, Jed Emerson came to MaRS. Since starting the social entrepreneurship program at MaRS I have been trying to get Jed to come to Toronto. When you research the area of social finance you’ll find his name comes up often as the identified thought leader in this space.
In conversation with Janice Stein of the Munk Centre at U of T, Jed revealed his path from social worker to manager of a hedge fund. It was clear to him early on that there was no relationship between outcomes that the not-for-profit organization delivered and their funding. In fact, attracting funding was more related to politics and perceptions.
