Clarifying your organization’s impact, with PolicyWise
In this episode, Lynn talks to members of the impact team at PolicyWise – a partnership between Alberta's universities, the community, and the government of Alberta – Cathie Scott, Chief Knowledge and Policy Officer; Jo-Louise Huq Organizational Innovation and Change Scientist, and Courtney Lundy, Business and Grants Manager. Hear about their journey to create and sustain an impact focus within their organization, grounded in their Theory of Change. Resources: PolicyWise: https://policywise.com/ PolicyWise Theory of Change: https://socialimpactadvisors.ca/wp-content/uploads/PolicyWise-Theory-of-Change-FINAL.pdf Find out more about our work at Social Impact Advisors: www.socialimpactadvisors.ca Check out this episode!
Supporting financial intermediaries to grow impact investing in Canada, with Erica Barbosa Vargas
In this episode, Lynn talks to Erica Barbosa Vargas, Director of Solutions Finance at the McConnell Foundation, one of Canada's largest private foundations. Erica provides insights into the growing impact investment sector in Canada. She also shares what the McConnell Foundation is doing to address the bottleneck they see in financial intermediaries, so that more funds can be directed into impact investing, to ultimately impact the global SDGs (UN Sustainable Development Goals) through the work of nonprofits, social enterprises, and other social impact organizations. Resources: Erica Barbosa Vargas on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericabarbosa/ McConnell Foundation: https://mcconnellfoundation.ca/ Solutions Finance Accelerator: [...]
Doris Buffett’s Legacy: doubling impact by empowering young philanthropists, with Amy Kingman
In this episode, Lynn chats with Amy Kingman, Executive Director of the Learning by Giving Foundation (LxG) about experiential philanthropy. Founded by Doris Buffett, LxG teaches and empowers students to make wise grants of Buffett's capital to community-based nonprofits. Resources: Learning by Giving Foundation: https://learningbygivingfoundation.org/ Letters Foundation: https://letters.foundation Amy Kingman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-kingman-a639793/ Find out more about our work at Social Impact Advisors: www.socialimpactadvisors.ca Check out this episode!
A model for engaging the next generation in philanthropy, with Aneil Gokhale
Lynn and Aneil discuss the Toronto Community Foundation's Vision 2020, likened to a philanthropic and co-op MBA program. This popular program breaks the Community Foundation mold, enabling a younger generation of philanthropists to identify and support the causes that matter to them. Lynn and Aneil also discuss the social impact of fundraising and philanthropy. Resources: Aneil Gokhale on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aneil-gokhale-0a58b5/ Toronto Community Foundation: https://torontofoundation.ca Vision 2020: https://torontofoundation.ca/vision2020/ Find out more about our work at Social Impact Advisors: www.socialimpactadvisors.ca Check out this episode!
Social Finance Fund
Many of our clients run or are considering a social enterprise. Even more are looking for new sources of funding. If this sounds like you, read on! In case you missed it, the Government of Canada announced a Social Innovation and Social Finance (SI/SF) Strategy late last year, with an update in June. In preparation for the launch of the Social Finance Fund in 2020, the Government is implementing an Investment Readiness Program (IRP) with several collaborators. “The Government will work with these partners to invest $50 million over two years to help social purpose organizations (SPO) become investment [...]
Defining Beneficiaries
Impact for Whom? Defining Beneficiaries One of the most important considerations in building strategy for impact is establishing who your beneficiaries are. You want to be clear about for whom you are intentionally doing this work. This shows up at the very beginning of strategy building, in defining your Intended Impact Statement, which states the result we intend to be accountable for, for whom, and by when. The ‘for whom’ part can be tricky. Often, in an effort to be inclusive, organizations will include a very broad population in their plans and suggest that change for some percentage of [...]