We’ve curated a list of sources of capital, grants, and funding available to social purpose organizations and social enterprise.

This is not an exhaustive list so please, if you have others that you recommend we put on this list, please send them our way (hello@purppl.com).

Funds for Coaching

Funding for Social Enterprise Coaching Support – Innoweave provides social enterprise funding to help organizations access coaching for implementing a new approach. Yes, Purppl can help provide the coaching. Expressions of interest are due on April 15, August 15, and December 15 each year.

NEW (June 2020) – Emergency Community Support Fund – This is a flexible grant fund to provide much-needed assistance to charities and non-profit organizations serving vulnerable populations. Qualified expenses are quite broad and includes wages, contractors, marketing, admin, capital, and more. Coaching and consulting with Purppl can be included on these grant applications. Charities can apply directly with their local United Way or Community Foundation. Non-profits can apply with their local Community Foundation or Red Cross. Application deadlines vary from end of June to early July 2020.

Let us know if you want to brainstorm / review your ECSF application.

Social Sector Grant Funders

Community Foundations – All of the Community Foundations are working hard to support the social sector at this time. Some of them have specific programs to help support social enterprise development. Some have also already responded with specific COVID-19 relief funds. Take a look at Kamloops / BC Interior, North Okanagan, Central Okanagan, South Okanagan, Shuswap, and the Vancouver Foundation.

Not in one of those regions? Find yours through the Community Foundations of Canada.

United Way – The United Way Central Southern Interior has teamed up with the Community Foundations of the North, Central and South Okanagan to launch the COVID-19 Relief Fund. Each United Way is responding in different ways. Take a look at United Way Thompson Nicola Cariboo and United Way Lower Mainland or find your local United Way.

Regional Trusts – Two big trusts provide strong support in the BC Interior. Southern Interior Development Initiative Trust, or SIDIT, and Columbia Basin Trust.

Regional Credit Unions

Many credit unions have community investment funds. We’ve chatted with several who are actively funding projects and even increasing their funding to help with COVID recovery. Here are links to several of their community investment funds:

Valley First, Interior Savings, Vantage One, Coast Capital, Osoyoos Credit Union, Summerland & District

Municipalities

Municipalities have various programs that support social enterprises and social purpose organizations. Links below to some of the BC Interior programs. What’s also important to think about with municipalities is trying to setup customer / contractor relationships where the municipality hires your organization to deliver ongoing service. There are many many examples of this happening and this type of relationship is usually more stable than a grant from a municipality.

Kamloops, Vernon, Kelowna, Penticton, Salmon Arm & Shuswap, Peachland

Corporations & Professional Service Firms & Small Business

Medium and large corporations also have community investment funds to help support the communities where they operate. Examples include Telus, CIBC, Bell, Urban Systems, Canada Post, Rogers, Honda, Fortis and many more that aren’t listed here.

Some professional service firms have specific funds. Most will offer some level of pro-bono support, whether it’s a formal program or not. Examples include CWB, KPMG, Grant Thornton, Equitable Life and many more.

Small business partnerships are critical to many social impact initiatives. We see the best relationships are ones where there is value accruing to both parties rather than cash just supporting one of the parties. The are many examples of small business support and collaboration, too many to list here.

Loans

Loans to support development of social enterprise, social businesses, and social purpose organizations are an important part of the capital ecosystem. Several very well known organizations provide loans and business support. Some of these organizations have specific program setup for COVID-19 relief.

Community Credit Unions – Mentioned above, all of the local credit unions offer banking, loans, financial planning, and other support.

Community Futures (Central Okanagan, Thompson Country) – Loans, business advice & business support.

BDC – Support for entrepreneurs impacted by the coronavirus COVID-19
Futurpreneur – Futurpreneur has increased its loan offering to $60,000.
Women’s Enterprise Centre – Business loans for women-owned businesses in BC and specific COVID support.

Impact Investors

For those who can consider equity investment and debt, impact investors are a good option to consider. Impact investing is growing globally. Here’s a short list of a few that investors / networks of investors.

Here are a few examples: The Canadian Co-operative Investment Fund (CCIF), Community Forward Fund, MaRS, Renewal Funds, Rhiza Capital, SVX, GIIN, and Toniic.

Government

Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan – The Economic Response Plan, will provide up to $27 billion in direct support to Canadian workers and businesses. Check that link often for an evolving set of supports. Perhaps the largest measure in this plan is the 75% wage subsidy which is open to charities, non-profits, and for-profits. The criteria are changing to include more organizations. Speak with your accountant about if this will apply to your organization.

There are specific programs announced by both the Federal Gov’t and the BC Provincial Gov’t to support emergency services around food, shelter, and health. Check their COVID response pages for more details.

Hiring Grants

Canada Summer Jobs -The program provides wage subsidies to employers from not-for-profit organizations, the public-sector, and private sector organizations with 50 or fewer full-time employees, to create quality summer work experiences for young people aged 15 to 30 years. Updates to the program have been announced so check the link regularly.

Venture for Canada – Get connected with motivated post-secondary students. Our interns are curious about entrepreneurship and available for short term work opportunities.