Sector-Wide Support

As part of our mandate under the Social Finance Fund, we undertake strategic initiatives and provide grants that we believe will offer sector-wide benefit.

 

One way we build the social finance market is through initiatives and grants that offer potential sector-wide benefit.  

The initiatives are focused on closing market gaps. The grants are focused on social finance intermediaries – whether new, emerging or established – and opportunities serving equity-deserving groups.

Overall, these initiatives and grants are increasing investment-readiness among a wide group of SFIs and SPOs, supporting the capacity and resiliency of market actors and infrastructure and broadening the reach of social finance investments in Canada.

Key Initiatives and Grants to Date

A blended-finance investment product “blends” government or philanthropic capital with private capital. The structure reduces risks and improves returns for private investors, bringing private investors into projects they might not otherwise be in. We think it is a powerful model for delivering positive real-world change, which is why we structured Realize Fund I as a blended finance structure. And as part of our market-building efforts, we are supporting the development of blended finance in Canada. 

1. Arts Project Delivery Support

Building on Metcalf Foundation’s long-time support of the arts, “Arts & Social Finance” is an initiative designed to embrace the use of social finance to help strengthen the arts and culture sector’s long-term sustainability, including by creating an investable arts impact fund. This initiative is being developed by Metcalf Foundation and Rally Assets and supported by us.

2. RFP and Granting

Following an open RFP process, we granted funding to three organizations to refine and advance their blended finance project ideas over the next year and become more investment ready:

  • The Fireweed Institute, an Indigenous-led organization supporting economic sovereignty through entrepreneurship, investment and community wealth
  • PaceZero Capital Partners, a private credit firm that invests in high-growth companies that deliver measurable social and environmental impact
  • Wakopa Financial, Canada’s only Indigenous social financial services company that specializes in the investment-readiness of barrier-facing entrepreneurs and their startups or social enterprises.

We believe the work of these organizations will support not just their investees and partners but will help to develop and strengthen blended finance within Canada’s social finance market, leading to a higher adoption by many.

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Despite having major industries engaged with natural capital value chains such as agriculture, fisheries and forestry, there are limited impact investment products in Canada that aim to conserve and regenerate nature. We’re working to change that. 

APRIL 2025: Following an open RFP process, we granted funding to two organizations to support them to develop their natural capital solutions:

  • Kwaxala, an Indigenous-led and majority-owned regenerative forestry cooperative created by Kwiakah First Nation that establishes Indigenous regenerative businesses
  • Rural Routes to Climate Solutions, a nonprofit that helps rural communities adopt tailored regenerative agriculture climate solutions

> Learn more

We support training and learning opportunities that we believe will help to deliver sector-wide benefits. 

Community Finance. SVX’s Towards: Community Finance Development Accelerator program is a cohort-based support program for community finance intermediaries seeking to drive positive social and environmental impact in their communities. We supported its 2025 cohort by funding a $10,000 award to a cohort participant, chosen by cohort peers. The award went to Carolinian Canada.

Governance. We’re putting together a package of supports to help community foundations overcome governance-related challenges to investing in the social finance market.

ImpactVC by Better Society Capital is an impact investment community and training program. Our grant brought this program to Canada. In 2024 17 impact venture funds participated in the program. Over the course of the five-week program, participants gained an understanding of how to integrate impact into venture capital and apply that within the Canadian context. (Learn more)

Institutional Peer Learning. In order to increase the participation of institutional investors in Canada’s social finance market, we aim to hold convening sessions across the country in 2026 – workshop-style, peer-to-peer learning opportunities that draw on case studies and operational lessons from institutions already making impact investments.

Investors Circles. The Canadian Impact Venture Investors Coalition (CIVIC) is a community of practice at the intersection of impact investors and impact entrepreneurs. We are supporting CIVIC to deliver the first cohort of Investors Circles, a peer-learning and community-building program for impact fund managers across Canada. This investment aims to help strengthen leadership capacity and knowledge sharing across Canada’s growing impact investing space.

Launch Readiness Program. BKR Capital is a Black-led emerging SFI. With our grant, BKR Capital supported two cohorts of its Launch Readiness Program, helping new and emerging Black SFIs build investment readiness and prepare for future capital commitments to scale their impact. (Learn more)

Studio Models. Equity Cubed is an Indigenous-owned social purpose venture studio aiming to support under-represented founders to build businesses. With our assistance, Equity Cubed undertook research and analysis on various potential impact venture studio models.

VC-PE School. The Canadian Private Capital Investment School, out of the Ivey Business School, is a five-day intensive training program to accelerate careers in venture capital and private equity. We supported four SFIs to attend in 2025, in support of enabling their investment readiness. “Participating in the CPCIS program was an incredible experience, deeply insightful, practical, and filled with meaningful connections. I walked away with new tools, fresh perspectives, and relationships that continue to inspire my work.” – Tupaarnaq Kopeck, EntrepreNorth

Events. We have supported several events that promoted the growth of the social finance sector, including: