The funding will allow for short-term, interest-free loans and non-repayable contributions through Aboriginal Financial Institutions, which offer financing and business support services to First Nations, Inuit, and Métis businesses – from Indigenous Services Canada

We can help with your strategy & submission: info@thesectorinc.ca

Indigenous Services Canada

Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) works collaboratively with partners to improve access to high quality services for First Nations, Inuit and Métis. Our vision is to support and empower Indigenous peoples to independently deliver services and address the socio-economic conditions in their communities.

How it works

Financial support for Indigenous businesses will be provided through Aboriginal Financial Institutions, and administered by the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association and the Métis capital corporations in partnership with Indigenous Services Canada.

About the measures

The Government of Canada will provide up to $306.8 million in interest-free loans and non-repayable contributions for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis businesses.

This measure is part of the Government of Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan. Financial support will be provided through Aboriginal Financial Institutions and administered by the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association, as well as the Métis Capital Corporations in partnership with Indigenous Services Canada.

These federal support measures should complement support offered by the provinces and territories.

Who this supports

Small and medium-sized Indigenous businesses that are current or former clients of an Aboriginal Financial Institution.

How it works

Up to $40,000 will be available to small and medium-sized Indigenous businesses:

  • an interest-free loan up to $30,000
  • a non-repayable contribution up to $10,000

Contact your Aboriginal Financial Institution to apply for support – we can help!

If your business has an established relationship with a major bank, you may choose to get support from the Canada Emergency Business Account instead.

Contact your Aboriginal Financial Institution or the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association for help determining the best options for relief for your business.

We can help with your strategy & submission: info@thesectorinc.ca

The National Arts Service Organizations component of Supporting Artistic Practice funds Canadian arts service organizations with mandates to promote and support the arts on a national level. Grants assist service organizations committed to developing and sustaining the vitality of the Canadian professional arts sector through representation, promotion and exchange.

Activities – what you can apply for

You can apply for a contribution towards member services and other activities that strengthen the vitality of the professional arts sector on a national basis. In particular, to:

  • encourage dialogue, networking and shared learning
  • initiate research and analysis
  • represent and promote the arts to the public
  • provide ongoing services and opportunities for artists and/or arts organizations

Who can apply

Types of potential applicants to this component:

    • national arts service organizations

Your eligibility to apply to this component is determined by the validated profile created in the portal.

To be eligible, your organization must:

      • presently receive core support from this component. If your organization is presently receiving core support from another component, you must contact your Program Officer to confirm your eligibility before you apply.

OR:

        • have received 1 composite grant or 3 Canada Council project grants in the last 5 years. This excludes grants from the following components and programs: Travel, Representation and Promotion, Translation, Small-Scale Activities, Digital Strategy Fund, Leadership for Change: Grants for Organizational Development, Flying Squad, and Visiting Foreign Artists.
        • be an incorporated not-for-profit arts organization
        • work with a professional staff
        • have at least 5 years of continuous activities and services that support the professional arts sector
        • have had total revenues exceeding $75 000 in each of the last 3 years (some exceptions may be considered)

We can help with your strategy & submission: info@thesectorinc.ca

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Funding under this program stream helps create, grow and develop strong and inclusive regional networks that support business growth and innovation. This will foster the entrepreneurial environment necessary for more innovative regional economies and increase the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). In part, this stream will seek to further enhance business support networks for under-represented groups—including women, Indigenous peoples and young entrepreneurs—promoting their entrepreneurial talent.

We can help with your strategy & submission: info@thesectorinc.ca

Scope & Objectives

The Regional innovation ecosystems (RIE) Stream aims to create, grow and develop strong and inclusive regional ecosystems that support business growth and innovation, as well as the entrepreneurial environment necessary to foster more innovative regional economies and increase the competitiveness of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Through this program, FedNor seeks to:

  • Grow and sustain strategic clusters and consortia to leverage regional strengths and support businesses to scale up and commercialize innovative products, technologies and services.
  • Enhance the development and reach of business accelerators and incubators, and other organizations, which support entrepreneurs, start-ups and innovative companies with high-growth potential.
  • Support projects led by innovation-oriented organizations to increase and promote business productivity and global competiveness, and investment and talent attraction.

FedNor will make targeted investments in not-for-profit organizations that provide support to businesses at each stage of development in areas where Northern Ontario has the potential to have a leadership position and opportunities for growth. Investments made through FedNor’s Regional innovation ecosystems Stream will further enhance the capacity of ecosystems to support underrepresented groups, including women, Indigenous peoples and young

entrepreneurs, promoting their entrepreneurial talent.

Expected Results

Projects supported through FedNor’s programs work towards achieving one or more of the following departmental results:

  • Businesses in Northern Ontario invest in the development and commercialization of innovative technologies, products, services and processes.
  • Businesses in Northern Ontario are innovative and growing.
  • Communities in Northern Ontario are economically diversified.

We can help with your strategy & submission: info@thesectorinc.ca

#socialinnovation #funding #ontario #impactinvesting # charity #consulting # strategy #mba #wbs #sdgs #bradfordtunrer #thesector #toronto #fundraising # socialenterprise

FedNor Regional Relief and Recovery Fund (RRRF) – Regional economy stream (Not-for-profit) – we can support your strategy & submission.

If your organization isn’t eligible for current COVID-19 government support programs, you could get non-repayable financial support from your local Regional Development Agency.

Money

  • Maximum: $500,000
  • Non-repayable

Funding limits

  • Maximum duration: 12 months
  • This program will cover a maximum of 100% of eligible costs

You

  • Are a non-profit in Northern Ontario
  • Carry out commercial activities that are positioned to support SMEs regarding COVID-19

Scope & Objectives

The Regional Relief and Recovery Fund (RRRF) will support vulnerable businesses and eligible not-for-profit organizations that are impacted by the economic disruption associated with the COVID-19 pandemic across the regions of Canada. Applicants are eligible to receive up to 100 percent of total eligible bridge support costs, covering up to a twelve (12) month period.

The RRRF will provide unconditionally repayable and conditionally repayable contributions to eligible small and medium-sized enterprises, of normally up to a maximum of $500,000 for a period of up to twelve months (12). Support to eligible not-for-profit organizations and First Nation band-owned businesses whose articles of incorporation do not permit dividends to be paid or distributed to shareholders will be non-repayable.

It is highly recommended that you read this Applicant Guide before submitting an application form. Please pay particular attention to the eligibility criteria to determine if you can apply. Applicants are encouraged to address all submission requirements and ensure that the application submitted contains sufficient detail to enable a thorough review and assessment. Submitting an incomplete application may result in the delay of assessment and/or rejection of an application.

Funding decisions will take into account the minimum amount required to carry out the project, proof that applicants were profitable prior to the COVID-19 outbreak and the severity of impacts.

How it works

  1. Read the program website to see if you are eligible and for how much.
  2. Download and complete the Application for Funding. You’ll need to include some supporting documents, like financial statements for the last two years, interim financial statements, and incorporation documents. Make sure you’ve signed the Certification section at the end.
  3. Submit the form online and save a copy of the confirmation message and Project Reference Number.
  4. If successful, you’ll be asked to enter a Contribution Agreement and complete a few additional forms.
  5. You will receive advance payments based on your cost forecast.
  6. Be prepared to submit a final report.

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The financial crisis of 2008 deeply damaged the credibility of financial innovation in the general public’s mind. As the collapse of markets dried up credit across the system, the notion that securities such as collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps are enablers of growth suddenly seemed implausible, if not deluded. Indeed, those instruments are often described today as weapons of mass destruction.

It’s easy to forget that the same instruments have had a positive and transformative effect on society. Even as the dust from the real estate implosion lingers, we can see that homeownership would be impossible for millions of people if banks could not pool mortgages and sell collateralized bonds against those pools. It isn’t only the middle classes in developed nations that have benefited from debt pooling. Microfinance is now a $65 billion market, serving more than 90 million borrowers in some of the world’s poorest countries. Its growth was accelerated by the ability of investment banks to pool the microloans of many lenders and issue collateralized debt obligations against them in the international financial markets, freeing up the capital of those lenders and allowing them to make additional microloans.

Financial engineering, then, can be a powerful force for change. It can permit the mobilization of more capital for investment than would otherwise be available. It can generate rich opportunities to fund projects that fuel economic growth and improve people’s lives.

In the following pages we’ll explain how financial engineering can make it possible to channel investment from the financial markets to organizations devoted to social ends—organizations known as social enterprises, which have traditionally looked to charity for much of their funding. With the right financial innovations, these enterprises can access a much deeper pool of capital than was previously available to them, allowing them to greatly extend their social reach.

The Businesses of Blended Returns

Social enterprises are entrepreneurial organizations that innovate to solve problems. They include nonprofit and for-profit ventures, and their returns blend social benefit and financial revenues. They come in many flavors, but they all face the same fundamental question: Can they generate enough revenue and attract enough investment to cover their costs and grow their activities?

Some social enterprises can earn a profit that is sufficient to get the business funded by investors. They might provide goods and services to customers willing to pay a premium for a socially beneficial product—green energy, say, or organic food. They might sell an essential service to poor customers at a decent profit while still providing that service more affordably than other suppliers do. But many, if not most, social enterprises cannot fund themselves entirely through sales or investment.

They are not profitable enough to access traditional financial markets, resulting in a financial-social return gap. The social value of providing poor people with affordable health care, basic foodstuffs, or safe cleaning products is enormous, but the cost of private funding often outweighs the monetary return. Many social enterprises survive only through the largesse of government subsidies, charitable foundations, and a handful of high-net-worth individuals who will make donations or accept lower financial returns on their investments in social projects. The ability of those enterprises to provide their products and services rises or falls with the availability of capital from these sources, and their fundraising efforts consume time and energy that could be spent on their social missions.

The lack of funding opportunities is one of the major disadvantages social enterprises face. A conventional business can use its balance sheet and business plan to offer different combinations of risk and return to many different types of investors: equity investors, banks, bond funds, venture capitalists, and so on. Not so for many social enterprises—but that is changing. An increasing number of social entrepreneurs and investors are coming to realize that social enterprises of all sorts can also generate financial returns that will make them attractive to the right investors. This realization will dramatically increase the amount of capital available to these organizations.

Essentially, the insight is that you can treat the funding of a social enterprise as a problem of financial structuring: The enterprise can offer different risks and returns to different kinds of investors instead of delivering a blended return that holds for all investors but is acceptable to very few. This new approach to structuring can close the financial-social return gap.

References Sources: Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2012/01/a-new-approach-to-funding-social-enterprises

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