Sector-Wide Support

As part of our mandate under the Social Finance Fund, we offer strategic support that we believe will offer sector-wide benefit.

 

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

Our sector-building support is focused on social finance intermediaries – whether new, emerging or established – and opportunities serving equity-deserving groups. 

Overall, these 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.

Sector-Wide Support to Date

BKR Capital

BKR Capital is an 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.

(Read more)

Canadian Private Capital Investment School

The Canadian Private Capital Investment School is a training program out of the Ivey Business School. It’s a five-day intensive 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.

“As a former founder stepping into fund management, Private Investment School sharpened my lens on capital formation, investment strategy and what it takes to scale a gender-lens fund with integrity.”
– Raissa Espiritu, Audaxa Ventures

Picture: Ivey five-day training program

“CPCIS is a unique learning experience that provides practical and first-hand knowledge from industry leaders in the venture ecosystem. The learnings and relationships built during the experience will be an asset for years to come.” – Alfred Burgesson, Tribe Ventures

“The program brought together a great variety of practitioners and academics that stimulated deep discussions on highly practical topics. For me, it was an opportunity to compare my own practices with those of the instructors, guest speakers and fellow participants.” – Graham Day, Spring Impact Capital

Picture: Cohort participants

“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

CIVIC

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.

Equity Cubed

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. 

Events

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

Fireweed Institute

The Fireweed Institute is an Indigenous-led organization supporting economic sovereignty through entrepreneurship, investment and community wealth. Our grant will help cover legal and technical costs to design governance, structuring and financial modelling design of a new blended finance fund, the Community Wealth Fund.

The fund intends to invest in Indigenous-led, impact-first businesses through non-extractive tools such as revenue-based financing and will incorporate an innovative fee mechanism where some of the upsides will be shared with investees, so they may benefit from the fund’s performance.  

ImpactVC

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)

PaceZero Capital Partners

PaceZero Capital Partners is a private credit firm that invests in high-growth companies that deliver measurable social and environmental impact. PaceZero is designing a blended finance credit enhancement strategy with standardized credit enhancement structures likes guarantees and insurance-like products. The strategy will de-risk private capital participation and enable market-accepted documentation and pricing,  thereby increasing access to credit for high-impact, under-served sections of the Canadian economy. Our grant will help cover the costs of a case study alongside legal and operational templates regarding its blended financing strategy, so that others may learn from and replicate its success.

Kwaxala

Kwaxala is an Indigenous-led and majority-owned regenerative forestry cooperative created by Kwiakah First Nation that establishes Indigenous regenerative businesses.

With our support for legal and financial advisory services, Kwaxala will launch Living Forest Shares, an innovative investable product designed to protect at-risk forests and support the generation of stewardship revenue for First Nations communities.

(Read more)

Propel Impact

Propel Impact supports impact-driven organizations.

We supported Propel’s impact analyst internship program.

Rural Routes to Climate Solutions

Rural Routes to Climate Solutions is a nonprofit that helps rural communities adopt tailored regenerative agriculture climate solutions. It has developed a Steward Ownership model that brings agriculture producers, investors, and conservation organizations together to accelerate sustainble land management systems.

With our funding, the organization is testing the feasibility and viability of scaling this model into a new investable product.

(Read more)

SVX

SVX is a financial services firm. Its Towards: Community Finance Development Accelerator program was a 2025 cohort-based support program for community finance intermediaries seeking to drive positive social and environmental impact in their communities.

At the end of the cohort, one participating firm recived a $10,000 award, with the winner chosen by the peers in the cohort. We were pleased to fund this award, which went to Carolinian Canada.

Wakopa Financial Workers’ Co-operative

Wakopa Financial is Canada’s only Indigenous social financial services company that specializes in the investment-readiness of barrier-facing entrepreneurs and their startups or social enterprises. Our grant will cover early structuring and fundraising costs in launching its Indigenous Knowledge Blended Finance Fund. The fund aims to help address the funding gap in Indigenous infrastructure. Through its fund, Wakopa Financial will invest in Knowledge Centers, an Indigenous development model that supports workforce development, business creation and cultural programming.