The Latest

impak Finance: Let’s create tomorrow’s bank

Our vision is to create the first bank in Canada that will grant 100% of its loans to profitable businesses that make a positive social and environmental impact. The opportunities are huge in this new market. “According to the Global Impact Investing Network, the market for impact capital, currently sized at $60 billion, could grow over the next decade to $2 trillion, or 1% of global invested assets.” - Brian Trelstad, Harvard Business Review

Read More

Thinking about the Charity Model and Systems Change Debate

There has been a movement afoot for the past 15 to 20 years that evolved out of a growing dissatisfaction with the charitable sector or more to the point, the Charity Model. Critics of the sector are nothing new, of course. And these criticisms are often based on unproven perceptions (e.g. there are too many charities), biases people have toward “the needy” (e.g. I made it through hell, so can you), and some that still boggle my mind like, non-profits need to be more business-like.

Read More

1,000 Families Initiative

Recently, we were thrilled to host the second session of our three-part webinar series on Neighbourhood-Based Strategies that Reduce Poverty. In this session we featured The 1,000 Families Initiative with Anne Smith and Anna Bubel. In this webinar, Anne and Anna shared a terrific overview of how United Way of the Alberta Capital Region is working towards a goal that will create pathways out of poverty for 1,000 families.

Read More

New book advocates for Basic Income Guarantee

Leaders and Legacies publisher, Roderick Benns, spent nearly two years interviewing prominent leaders and academics across Canada on the merits of a basic income guarantee, hoping to help put the policy on the radar of politicians across the country.

A basic income (also known as a guaranteed annual income) would ensure no one ever drops below the poverty line.

Read More

Ten things to know about the CPP debate

This article originally appeared on Behind the Numbers on October 27, 2016 by Allan Moscovitch, Richard Lochead and Nick Falvo, and is re-published here with permission.

This fall, Canada’s Parliament will debate a recent proposal to expand the Canada Pension Plan (CPP).[1] Indeed, since the 2008-2009 world financial crisis, Canada has witnessed a renewed public debate on the CPP.  Two factors have prompted this. First, as a result of the crisis, employer-sponsored pension plans lost substantial value. Second, partly in response to this loss in value, many employers either reduced their pension coverage or stopped offering them to workers altogether.

With all of the above in mind, here are 10 things to know about the CPP:

Read More

Living Wage Week in Canada, 2016: Engaging Businesses

October 31st - November 6th marks the annual Living Wage Week in Canada for 2016.

This is a week where living wage organizers celebrate employers in their role of providing staff with liveable wages, and support them to raise awareness about what a living wage is, as well as the benefits of paying one.

There are now living wage rates calculated in 53 communities across Canada. Of which, 26 are linked to Cities Reducing Poverty comprehensive poverty reduction initiatives, an increase of five in the past year, with even more communities in the process of researching or developing a living wage campaign.

Read More