Trico Charitable Foundation is currently accepting applications for their 2013 Social EnterPrize awards to recognize and celebrate leadership and excellence in social entrepreneurship across Canada.

Past winners include Potluck Café & Catering (Vancouver, BC), Mission Possible (Vancouver, BC), and Caroline Arcand of Groupe Convex Prescott-Russell (Hawksbury, ON).

“We were so delighted to be awarded the Best Emerging Social EnterPrize award by the Trico Foundation. The greatest effect was that we had our name out there, people started looking at us, and respecting the work that we did” said Brian Postlewait of Mission Possible of their 2011 award.

This year, the awards will highlight both social enterprise and social purpose business by identifying Canadian organizations that demonstrate best practices, impact, and innovation through their activities and programs.

The awards will be divided into two categories relating to the size of the social enterprise or social purpose business (Revenue & Assets Under $1M and over $1M categories,) with prizes totalling over $80,000. The awards will be presented at the 2013 Social Enterprise World Forum in Calgary October 2-4, 2013.

Completed applications are due by 4 pm May 10, 2013.

For details on these awards please visit http://tricofoundation.ca/social_enter_award.php

Trico Charitable Foundation, established in 2008, seeks to provoke innovation and build capacity in social entrepreneurship. Its programs, initiatives and partnerships are dedicated to growing a community of sustainable, entrepreneurial organizations. For more information please visit tricofoundation.ca.

Contact: Brittni Kerluke
Manager, Programs & Grants
Trico Charitable Foundation
403-228-6756
brittni.kerluke@tricofoundation.ca
www.tricofoundation.ca

In honour of Canada Day, I thought it would be interesting to focus on a Canadian social enterprise that has gained international attention. You may have first heard about Me to We on the Oprah Winfrey Show or some other American television program, but this social enterprise is 100% Canadian.

From Free the Children to Me to We

In 1995, 12 year old Craig Kielburger and his brother Marc began their mission to provide education to children around the world through their charity Free the Children. Today, Free the Children has built over 650 schools and every day provides 55,000 children access to education. Additionally, Free the Children has been involved in alternative income programs, water and sanitation projects and has increased the accessibility to medical resources for over one million individuals living in the third world.

Noticing that the administrative costs associated with running a charity diminished the funds reaching those in need and that a pure business model did not fit their mission, the brothers decided to enter the realm of social enterprise by blending charitable impact with business practices. In 2008, the Kielburger brothers were able to increase the sustainability of Free the Children by developing the innovative social enterprise Me to We. Me to We is a mechanism for social change that inspires first world citizens into making a difference. These programs are geared towards youth helping youth and over a million youth have been engaged worldwide since its inception.

Start with something you know, is what I keep on telling myself as I work on this week’s blog. Being new to the world of social enterprise, I will admit that I was at a loss when trying to decide what to write about.  That was until I realized that I had been exposed to a number of social enterprises before I joined the Trico Foundation team but lacked the vocabulary to identify them as such. I come from a Sociology background with my academic focus being Aboriginal peoples and it occurred to me that to make this first “deep-dive” a success, it would be best to stick with something I know. So for this blog I have decided to discuss Aboriginal peoples and social enterprise, specifically focusing on the Osoyoos First Nation.

Like many of you, having driven through Osoyoos I am always amazed by the various resorts, vineyards & wineries available to tour. But for me, one vineyard sets itself apart—the Osoyoos First Nation’s Nk’mip Cellars (pronounced in-ka-meep) is North America’s first Aboriginal owned and operated winey. The winery can produce 162,000 liters of both red and white wine, has won numerous awards, and their wines are available for purchase  in Calgary. I was first introduced to the Osoyoos First Nation on the CBC 8^th Fire Series, and then on my second day working with the Trico Foundation I was surprised to learn that their winery is a social enterprise.

Hello Social Entrepreneurs,

We apologize for our brief blog absence. In the past few weeks we have been busy with a number of events and are gearing up for the ENP-AB grant applications to come in at the end of May. We also have a few fresh faces around here: I am Brittni Kerluke and I am excited to be joining the Trico Charitable Foundation as Foundation Coordinator. I have to admit that I am new to Social Enterprise, as I come from a Sociology background, and I am attempting to wrap my head around the literature and language in this area. Thankfully, I had the opportunity to attend the Building Your Social Enterprise workshop in April and I am learning tremendous amounts every day. On April 31st, we successfully ran our first ENP-AB workshop in Edmonton with Jill Andres, our Acting General Manager, at the helm. Jill is a Calgary consultant who specializes in helping individuals and organizations create social value (www.creatingvalue.ca) and has been delivering the Building Your Social Enterprise workshops with the Trico Charitable Foundation since the New Year. Our Edmonton workshop was attended by a variety of organizations interested in Social Enterprise and we are looking forward to returning in the fall.