Social Finance Investment Readiness

Introduction

What is Social Finance?

Social finance enables organizations to access new money to enhance their impact. Social finance is repayable investment that supports positive social, environmental, and/or cultural impact.

Organizations can complement grants, donations, contracts and other forms of earned income with repayable social finance like loans and equity investments. These investments are used by organizations to carry out activities that advance their mission and to generate savings or income that they can use to repay investors.

Example of an organization using social finance:

Old East Village Grocer, owned and operated by registered charity ATN Access for Persons with Disabilities, raised a $100,000 repayable start-up loan from VERGE Capital. Old East Village Grocer trains and employs people with disabilities to operate a community grocer which earns revenue to repay their loan by selling local, affordable food in an underserved neighbourhood.

Developed as part of the Investment Readiness Program:

Get Ready to Access Social Finance Funds

The Government of Canada announced a $755 million Social Finance Fund to be invested over 10 years and expects funds will be matched to create $2 billion in new investment.

Additionally, $50 million was announced to help social-purpose organizations access the Social Finance Fund and more broadly participate in the social finance ecosystem.

In determining whether and how to use social finance, organizations should consider:

• What the money is needed for, and how the money would be used;
• How the money will be paid back at a later date;
• How the financing opportunity aligns with their mission, values, and capacity.

The Innoweave Social Finance Investment Readiness stream helps organizations:

• Generate ideas on how they can use social finance;
• Clarify an idea that is mission-aligned, impactful, and feasible;
• Identify areas of investment-readiness support required to access social finance.