September 29, 2022 – Today, Community Foundations of Canada (CFC) is launching applications for the Investment Readiness Program with a $50 million renewed investment from the Government of Canada. Social purpose organizations, such as social enterprises, non-profits, charities and co-operatives, are strengthening Canada’s social finance market while supporting their communities. They’re creating and sharing resources to fight against persistent social challenges and the climate crisis. The Investment Readiness Program will support the growth of these organizations.
Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Honourable Karina Gould, notes that “our Government sees great potential in growing social innovation in our communities. More Canadian organizations and businesses are offering smart solutions to reduce poverty, reach social equality and fight climate change. The Investment Readiness Program will help them scale up and become investment-ready, so that they can create impacts for Canadians for years to come.”
As one of the Readiness Support Partners, CFC will support community foundations as they deliver the program to their communities. Andrea Dicks, President of CFC, states that “Community foundations from coast to coast to coast have been a big part of working with leaders in the social finance sector as they build up their resilience. We are looking forward to supporting the innovative community resources that will come from funded projects to tackle the issues that matter most to community.”
The Investment Readiness Program will support social purpose organizations as they create sustainable long-term goals to join, or continue in, Canada’s social finance market. These social purpose organizations can use the funding to conduct market analyses, build business plans, develop new services and products and acquire technical expertise, strengthening their operational and organizational capabilities.
The Investment Readiness Program aims to support diverse social purpose organizations that are serving and supporting underserved communities across Canada. These organizations include those led by or serving Indigenous peoples, Black Canadians and other racialized communities, women, official language minority communities, people living with disabilities, and other equity deserving groups.
To best serve the diversity of communities, a variety of organizations work within the Investment Readiness Program ecosystem. CFC is working alongside the Foundation for Black Communities (FFBC), and Black-led or Black-serving social purpose organizations are able to apply to both CFC and FFBC through the online application portal.
The online application portal opens at 10:00 AM ET on September 29, 2022, and will close at 5:00 PM ET on November 22, 2022. More information is available on the Investment Readiness Program page.
