Policy: The third pillar for social enterprises

August 05, 2009

Three pillars of social enterprise
Three pillars of social enterprise

Investors, social entrepreneurs and policy makers along with advocates of the social enterprise movement are busy moving Canada towards a new marketplace for blended value enterprises (BVE). Such enterprises have a social and/or environmental objective in combination with a financial return as an integral part of their business mission.

For a Canadian landscape to grow, we need three essential pillars to support the success of social enterprise.  One of them — policy — is a hot topic being discussed at the upcoming Canadian Conference on Social Enterprise.

To support Canada’s BVEs:

  1. We need to support social entrepreneurs and revenue-generating non-profits to gain the skills required to run a successful enterprise. SiG@MaRS is a great example of supporting social entrepreneurs through MaRS’ advisory services.
  2. Social enterprise needs access to capital to operate and scale its initiatives. Take a look at the MaRS White Paper Series, “Social Entrepreneurship: Social Venture Finance”, for a deeper look into this field. Follow Canada’s development in this area at CAUSEWAY‘s SocialFinance.ca.
  3. Policy and legislative reform from our provincial and federal governments is required to create a legal identity for social enterprise and enable enterprising non-profits to operate and go to scale.  There is much being discussed regarding policy reform throughout Canada.  You can learn more about its importance to the sector at the Canadian Conference on Social Enterprise this November.

Last November, SiG@MaRS celebrated Entrepreneurship Week Canada with the Social Entrepreneurship Summit and Social Finance Forum. This year, we are looking forward to the Canadian Conference on Social Enterprise, an initiative of the Social Enterprise Council of Canada and its partners.

Join hundreds of existing and prospective social enterprise operators from every region in Canada at the Third Canadian Conference on Social Enterprise taking place in Toronto,November 18th-20th.

The conference will consist of three days of training and work sessions toward a national policy agenda and action plan.

Day 1: Intensive training sessions geared to the planning, development and growth of your social enterprise

Day2 and 3: Working sessions with fellow practitioners, funders, government officials, network organizers and supporters designed to create a national policy agenda and action plan for social enterprise.  You may be eligible for a conference subsidy when you register.

Hosting the Third Canadian Conference on Social Enterprise is the Social Enterprise Council of Canada.

SiG@MaRS is partnering with the conference to bring policy leaders from across the country to MaRS on November 19th and 20th.  The primary objective for the day is the development of a national policy agenda for the advancement of social enterprise.

Help grow this pillar of support for the Canadian social enterprise. Be part of the emerging landscape. Register now.