Making Waves Special Edition: Capital for Communities

Capital for Communities, Special Edition

A Special Edition of Making Waves magazine - Winter 2009-10

Pour le français
For community-based initiatives - whether nonprofits, social enterprises, or co-operatives - capital is an age-old dilemma. Like square pegs and round holes, what capital is available is often the wrong type for communities to use, or too expensive, or contingent on unmanageable conditions.
In the last 20 years, new models of community investment and community enterprise have arisen to help get capital to communities. They in turn have raised still more questions, especially about the ability of communities to put capital to work, responsibly and effectively.
Now, a combination of recession and rapid change in energy, food, and climate has elevated community capital from a "chronic" issue to an "acute" one.
How then is capital to be packaged, delivered, and applied in the next 10-15 years if communities are to preserve, or improve, their quality of life? What local and regional capacity must we develop so that communities can benefit from powerful but complex financial tools?
It is time to determine how capital might play a catalytic role in Canadians' response to a portentous future. Coming up this winter (sorry for the delay!), a special edition of Making Waves - "Capital for Communities."
Sponsors
We sincerely thank the Canadian Community Investment Network Co-operative and Assiniboine Credit Union, Ontario Trillium Foundation, Vancity Savings Credit Union and Vancity Community Foundation, Nova Scotia Co-operative Council, and the Canadian CED Network for supporting this publication.
(Banner photo courtesy of Southern Development Bancorporation, West Helena, Arkansas)
Contents
The Financial Ecosystem of Canada's Social Economy: By what interplay of sources, intermediaries, and transactions does money enter the Social Economy? What returns close each of these loops? Read it now.
"That's a Great Idea! How do we finance it?" Five things that social entrepreneurs, bankers, and investors can do to resolve financial bottlenecks. (Derek Gent, Vancity Community Foundation) Read it now.
Co-construction in Québec: Which factors enable Québec to channel more and more patient capital into diverse, complex projects of social economy? (Margie Mendell, School of Community and Public Affairs, Concordia University)
Equity Tax Credits as a Tool of CED Two provincial tax credit programs; two very different results. What enables Nova Scotia's to mobilize so much more capital than Manitoba's in the service of social change? (Stewart E. Perry, CCCR, and Garry Loewen, Garry Loewen Consulting) Read it now.
The Triple Bottom Line and Community Development Finance: How one community development corporation is making triple-bottom line investment part of its own practice, and advancing this transition across the community sector. (Keith Bisson, Coastal Enterprises Inc of Maine ) Read it now.
Towards Fair Trade Banking: A journey from Market Freedom to Mutual Liberty How do we make the banking sector "people-worthy"? In the U.K, Community Banking Partnerships integrate the resources and skills of multiple sectors in order to balance economic regeneration with financial inclusion. (Pat Conaty, New Economics Foundation)
The social finance connection: Building intermediary networks to channel investment monies from private financial institutions to Canadian communities. (Tessa Hebb, Carleton Centre for Community Innovation)
To the Next Level: Micro finance, solidarity finance, credit unions, and ethical banks all attempt to resolve financial needs that conventional providers do not. What might a coalition of these diverse institutions look like? What could it achieve? (Christophe Guene, International Association of Investors in the Social Economy, INAISE)
Supplementary Contents

The following valuable articles on this subject have also been contributed, but will not appear in the print edition:
Financial Literacy and Community Banking Projects: When they work together, inner-city organizations and banks can create effective venues for fundamental financial skills as well as services. (Jerry Buckland, Menno Simons College, and Rick Egan, St Christopher House) Read it now.
Strategic policy initiatives: what federal actions could help funnel financing and investment towards the Social Economy, and encourage its expansion in the service of all Canada's vulnerable populations? (Jessica Notwell, CCEDNet)
Editorial Committee
Our thanks to the following for bringing their experience and expertise to the planning and promotion of this edition:

(guest editor) Tessa Hebb, Managing Director, Carleton Centre for Community Innovation
(guest editor) Karim Harji, Manager - Partnership Development, Social Capital Partners
Margie Mendell, Vice-Principal, Graduate Program Director, School of Community and Public Affairs, Concordia University
Michael Swack, Professor, Carsey Institute, University of New Hampshire
David LePage, Director, Enterprising Nonprofits Program, Vancity Community Foundation
Elizabeth Sheehan, Principal, CDC2/Ecotrust Canada
Tim Draimin, Executive Director, Social Innovation Generation

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