|
The Toronto Enterprise Fund is committed to supporting learning through research and evaluation. We undertake on going monitoring and evaluation of the social enterprises that we fund to understand how to effectively start and manage a social purpose enterprise. We are also researching how social purpose enterprises can positively affect the quality of life of homeless and at-risk of homelessness populations. You can link to our online research and evaluation on the What We’ve Learned page. The Toronto Enterprise Fund has had a mandate since inception to disseminate its learning. As a result, TEF has taken on a leadership role in the sector, publishing extensive research into the successes and challenges of social purpose enterprises and launching the first Canadian Conference on Social Enterprise in 2004. Since that first conference, social enterprise has become a national movement with a momentum that is growing. There has been a substantial rise in interest in the sector from various levels of government, business, academia, environmental organizations and the community service organizations, and a larger number of diverse players have become involved. TEF has continued to contribute its experience, learnings, materials, models of enterprise, and methodologies to the discussions and activities taking place in the field. TEF was a member of the organizing committee for the second Canadian Conference on Social Enterprise held in January 2007. Following the conference, strong connections have been made with the UK social enterprise sector, communications among key players has improved, and several groups have formed to address the issue of creating an enabling environment for the development of social enterprise in Canada.
One of these groups is the Social Enterprise Council, of which TEF is a founding member. A small number of funders and practitioners from across Canada are actively working on improving prospects for the further growth of social enterprise, in three areas: public policy (procurement, access to capital and legal frameworks), shared learning and best practices (conferences and forums), and research and promotion (mapping, web sites and newsletters). This group is working to include a “social enterprise stream” in relevant national conferences, and is planning a third Canadian Conference on Social Enterprise.
The Toronto Enterprise Fund is part of the National Roundtable on the Social Economy, where a group of pan-Canadian funders, practitioners, advocates and associations meets regularly by teleconference to exchange information, news and views. The fund also participates in an Ontario-based network, loosely called Social Economy Ontario, which is initially focused on advocating for a government-funded patient capital fund (very long-term loans) for social enterprises in Ontario, and responding to the Ontario Government’s proposed modernization of the Ontario Corporations Act, the legislation that governs non-profit incorporation . Social Economy Ontario is in the process of coming to a common understanding and setting common goals.
|
