1. Impact Investing. Seeking Profit with Purpose
July 2017
*Photo courtesy of Meghan Louise, Another Walk in the Park

2. What is Impact Investing?
OECD definition:
The provision of finance to organizations addressing social needs with the explicit expectation of a measurable social, as well as financial return.

3. What Impact Investing does …
Conventional investing …
Impact investing…
Investors
Entrepreneurs
Investors
Entrepreneurs
Social Enterprises (clockwise from top left): Northumberland Lamb Marking Co-op, Pan Cape Breton Food Hub Co-op; Wagmatcook First Nation Learning Centre Dundee Good to Go Bus
connects investors with entrepreneurs to drive business & technical innovation.
connects investors with entrepreneurs to drive social innovation.

4. What Impact Investing achieves …
Sustainable energy
Accelerated innovation & scale when tackling complex social & economic issues, including ….
Affordable housing
Accessible healthcare
Social enterprises (clockwise, from top centre): Antigonish Community Energy (ACE) Co-op; Greenstem Housing Co-op, Halifax; Victoria Co-operative Fisheries Co-op; Collaborative Emergency Centre of Twin Oaks Memorial Hospital, Musquodoboit Harbour; Inverness Cottage Workshop.
Rural exodus
Social isolation

5. The Need is urgent … The Ivany Report (2014) documents how:
Our youth are leaving rural communities
Our senior expertise is retiring
Our retirees require extended health care
Our tax base is shrinking
Our birthrate is shrinking
Our immigration rate is shrinking
New approaches are required

6. This trajectory is unsustainable.
Government, private citizens and enterprises must partner to unlock the province’s immense potential.
Impact Investing is one effective strategy of public-private partnership.

7. The Challenge of Impact Investing …
It is high risk, both inherent and perceived.
Desire to invest
Decision to invest
Inherent
Risk
Perceived
Risk
Risk creates a chasm between investors’ desire to blend social good with profit, and their actual decision to do so.

8. Community Impact Fund
An initiative of the NS Co-operative Council & the Social Enterprise Network of Nova Scotia, supported by New Dawn Enterprises, Le Chantier (Quebec), Vancity Resilient Fund and 12 other partners
Will leverage financial, human & civic resources to enable social enterprises & mission based businesses, to grow and flourish in Nova Scotia, and to enable traditionally underserved people to participate more fully in the economy.

9. Community Impact Fund …
Will invest in mission based business that demonstrate positive impacts on Nova Scotia’s most pressing issues as well as an acceptable financial return.
Homelessness
Business Succession
Energy Retrofitting
Homecare
Youth at Risk
Childcare
Exclusion
Skills Shortage
Healthcare
Municipal Refuse
Local Agriculture

10. Community Impact Fund
A highly flexible fund, unlike any other on the existing financial continuum …
Investing in a full range of business structures, including social enterprises, not for profits, co-operatives and mission based businesses
Offering, in addition to debt, equity, quasi-equity, convertible debt, subordinated debt, & royalty arrangements – separately & in combination

11. Small Business Lending Program – delivered exclusively through NS credit unions
More than $7 million disbursed to co-operatives and social enterprises to date
No limit to financing available – lets get more $$ out the door.
Discussion