Our 2024 report captures a turning point – the moment we realized we’d outgrown our systems and needed to build the infrastructure of a mature social enterprise.
We’re a bit (a lot) late releasing this report – and for good reason.
The 2024 fiscal year represented our final sprint in startup mode. We crossed the $1M revenue threshold for the first time. We supported 71 projects with 61 changemaking organizations. These organizations launched social enterprises, raised capital, strengthened boards, shifted to surplus positions, and expanded impact across sectors and geographies.
It was a year of growth – and strain.
Members of the Purppl team including core team members and Entrepreneur in Residences in 2024.
Long before we hit the end of the fiscal year (September 30, 2024), we were feeling the limits of the systems that had carried us through the startup years. The pace was catching up with us. And we knew if we were going to keep showing up with excellence and care, we needed to shift gears.
“Struggling with the frenetic pace of the startup phase, we slowed down and added team members so we could do things better,” shared Purppl’s Co-founder & Managing Director Andrew Greer about 2024.
Andrew Greer, Purppl’s cofounder and Managing Director, shares it in this way: “Struggling with the frenetic pace of the startup phase, we slowed down and added team members so we could do things better.”
We began a yearlong process of building our team, starting with a search for a new senior leader to work alongside Andrew, and adding expertise to help evolve Purppl’s operational and administrative systems. By Q4, we had two new team members in place: Katie Green joined as Client Success & Operations Lead, focused on leading the development of the operational backbone for consistently excellent service delivery, and Lina Moreno came on board with tremendous experience to help mature Purppl’s systems.
We’ll share more about the rest of our hiring in our next report – but in short, we doubled the size of our team. The result: a delayed 2024 report, and a whole new phase of capacity-building so we can meet demand with systems that are scalable, sustainable, relational, and grounded in our values.
As Andrew shares, “We built systems for stronger impact measurement and reflection; you can see some of the evidence of change in this report. We listened closely to the people we serve and walk alongside, and as a result client satisfaction improved.”
Now with more space (and better data) to reflect on the wildness of 2024, we’re ready to share what we saw, what we learned, and who we want to celebrate. Yep, it’s late, but better than never, right?
Read our 2024 Impact Report
This report tells the story of an inflection point
We are proud of the impact our team of social entrepreneurs were able to build together with clients and partners. Through coaching and collaboration with Purppl:
- 100% of organizations improved their ability to make decisions and plan
- 88% reported improved management processes
- 94% improved strategies for learning and evaluation
- Earned revenue was projected to increase by almost 30% on average across the client portfolio
- 70% of organizations projected a surplus at project end; none ended in deficit
- 86% of organizations reported high or exceptional confidence in their leadership by project end – up from 59% at the start
- 94% of organizations saw improvements in their ability to communicate about their activities and impact – up from 24% at project start
- The majority of organizations developed a theory of change, along with improved strategic plans, financial models, and impact reporting practices.
In our 2024 Impact Report we feature stories from organizations like IndigiNews, IslamicFamily, Propolis Housing Co-op, OCCA Communities Assoc., PEOPLE Employment Services, and other community-serving organizations. They show what it looks like to build leadership capacity, diversify revenue, develop community-owned housing, strengthen governance, develop organizational structures, and grow regenerative models of care, employment, food, and culture; Purppl gets to work alongside them.
Evidence that collaboration scales impact
One of the year’s most powerful through lines: the power of collaboration and community for scaling impact.
We worked with the amazing team at kinSHIFT to co-develop a new leadership-for-reconciliation coaching program called Journey Together, piloted with BEEM Credit Union (formed from the merger of Interior Savings and Gulf & Fraser). Over the yearlong program, BEEM CEO Brian Harris shared:
“I’ve learned that authentic leadership in this space means being willing to sit with discomfort. The more I’ve practiced vulnerability, the more I’ve seen how it creates space for others to explore, make mistakes, and learn. My role now is to foster an environment where that kind of growth is not just accepted but expected.”
Read about the Journey Together pilot and what we learned on our blog
We also partnered with Community Futures East Kootenay and Impact Toolbox to incubate a regional social enterprise ecosystem through peer-led roundtables, coaching, and wraparound support. These sessions gave early-stage social entrepreneurs the chance to reflect, build confidence, and move from ideas to action.
“Social enterprises are a fabulous tool for economic development in our rural communities as they help create resilience by empowering community members to affect change. It’s great to have some momentum here in the East Kootenay region – hopefully we can keep that up and continue to grow the impact.”
– Robyn Peel, Community Economic Development Manager, Community Futures East Kootenay
Another highlight? Helping bring Connect Money Impact (CMI) to Kelowna for the first time. In partnership with Scale Collaborative and Future of Good, we welcomed 135 changemakers to explore how capital — social, financial, cultural — can fuel meaningful change. The connections sparked at CMI are still rippling through our ecosystem today.
“This was the best social impact conference I’ve attended. I’m amazed by the mix of people, perspectives and enthusiasm that filled the space”
– Omar Yaqub, Servant of Servants (Executive Director), IslamicFamily
Download the report to read about the event and find links to blog posts featuring insights from CMI!
This is a report about growth. But not just ours.
It’s about growing alongside the people and organizations we serve – people who are shifting systems, building new models, and reimagining what’s possible.
And it’s about recognizing how to manage growth behind the scenes: strengthening the foundation so we can keep showing up with care, courage, and clarity.
We’re not out of the woods. Building the infrastructure of a mature social enterprise is still underway. But we’ve taken real steps forward. (We’ll tell you more about what that looks like in the 2025 Impact Report, which we’re already hard at work on.)
Thanks for walking with us.
In solidarity,
The Purppl Team
