Updated: July 22, 2020
In communities across Canada, social purpose organizations are operating at many different stages of development. Some organizations are doing incredibly innovative work in pursuit of social, cultural or environmental goals but may not consider themselves social enterprises and/or may not be aware they can access financial support for their work. Some are in an early design stage and are workshopping innovative ideas. Others still are more developed and might be looking for resources to scale their work. In short, social purpose organizations across Canada are at widely differing stages of readiness to receive investment.
One thing is certain: social purpose organizations are key levers in creating more resilient, equitable and sustainable communities of the future. The Investment Readiness Program (IRP) aims to support them, regardless of where they may be on the investment readiness continuum.
The IRP in a nutshell
Part of the social innovation and social finance strategy
The IRP was initially launched by the Government of Canada to help social purpose organizations build their capacity to participate in Canada’s growing social finance market. It is also designed to help social purpose organizations prepare for the Government of Canada’s broader investment in social finance via the Social Finance Fund, a historic new $755M commitment which was announced in November 2018 and is expected to roll out over ten years. Alongside a suite of other organizations, CFC is thrilled to be playing a role in delivering the IRP.
More information to help you apply
The first IRP application period ran from January 8 through February 10, 2020. Applications for the second and final round of funding for CFC’s IRP program will be accepted starting September 8, 2020 until October 9, 2020. Interested social purpose organizations can submit their applications through the IRP Application Portal.
Read our FAQs to learn more about eligibility, funding deadlines, how to apply and more.
Download the program guidelines, application forms and glossary to help you prepare your application offline. You can find these tools in the resource library section of the IRP page.
Watch a recording of our IRP 101 webinar for social purpose organizations.
