Green Community Entrepreneurship Travis Gliedt Paul Parker University of Waterloo Presented at the Social Economy Conference University of Toronto April 2007, Toronto, ON

Overview Social Economy Definition How does the process of entrepreneurship in the social economy differ from the for-profit sector? Green Community Entrepreneurship –Social Economy –Ecological Economics –Social Entrepreneurship –Environmental Entrepreneurship GCE in Green Communities Canada Conceptual Framework of GCE Policy Implications

Social Economy Quarter (1992): ‘vision of social transformation’ McMurtry (2004): reincorporate transformative approach Westlund (2003): social and commercial economies should be viewed as ‘parts of a continuous spectrum’ Revenue Generation Traditional donations Entrepreneurial commerce, fees, etc. Tension Third sector non-profit organizations providing socially- beneficial products or services designed to fill a gap left by the government and the competitive for-profit market.

How does entrepreneurship in the social economy differ from the for-profit sector? Individual Financial Capital Idea Patenting Profit Objective Collective Social Capital Idea Sharing Social Objective For-Profit Social Economy The collective ability to mobilize resources, including social capital, to provide products or services that achieve environmental rather than profit maximising goals. Green Community Entrepreneurship …

Case Study: Green Communities Canada (GCC) and EnerGuide for Houses (EGH) Green Communities Canada –Successful EGH service provider since 1998 –Largest program and revenue source for many green community organizations 2005 expansion of program, November 2006 new federal government, January –Cancellation of Program, May new evaluations – 1 day notice Follow-up evaluations – 12 months How will green communities respond?

GCE in Green Communities Canada 45 service innovations 29 proposals 24 ideas / opportunities 76% 70% 63% N=12 GCOs; May January 2007 Creative Response% Energy Related GCO managers … “I must say that creativity and organizational structure/funding are quite inter-related…some sort of foundation or stability helps make creativity possible”. “We survived due to guts, determination, and entrepreneurship!” GCE helped GCOs Survive and Thrive

New Service Innovations by Type – Energy vs Non-Energy Related

New Idea and Implementation Expanded Scale of Existing Service Accelerated Development of Existing Idea Creative Responses Social Entrepreneurship IndividualCollective Human Capital Social Capital Network Green Community Entrepreneurship Strategic Partnerships TeamFunctional Facilitating Factors Drivers Funding Shock Market Collapse Environmental Sustainability Objective

Implications of GCE GCE as a tool for LED and SD GCE can aid CEM objectives –Climate change mitigation and adaptation Joint project implementation between social entrepreneurs and environmental entrepreneurs GCE long term organizational stability

Questions?