This month’s blog will put the spotlight on Calgary Reads, an organization that is inspired to create a thriving community where all children can read with confidence and joy.  Calgary Reads is an early literacy initiative that provides help to struggling readers in grades one and two.  Their core program, Calgary Reads @ School, is an in-school program offered in the Calgary area.  Trained tutors work with these students for a total of 33 sessions that last for 40 minutes each, twice a week.   

Social Enterprise Opportunity

Calgary Reads was among Trico Charitable Foundation and Enterprising Non-Profits Alberta’s (enp-AB) very first group of grantees.  Calgary Reads was exploring the idea of starting a social enterprise that would further both their mission and help achieve financial stability.  They first came upon the idea of an after-school tutoring program through their relationship with the U of C’s Faculty of Education.  This partnership would provide education students with paid positions to tutor struggling elementary students after school for 33 sessions.  This opportunity would also help generate additional revenue for Calgary Reads to continue and improve its programs, since Calgary Reads currently meets its budget through funding from individuals, corporations, foundations, and the annual CBC Calgary Reads book sale.

Performance measurement is truly important to ensure that you are on the right track to achieving your goal.  Like any business or organization, at Trico Charitable Foundation, we too are taking the time to reflect on our past events and are looking into improving them.  My name is Alyssa Kan and I am very glad to have joined Trico Charitable Foundation as Foundation Assistant this summer.  For the past couple of weeks, I have been gathering all the past evaluations, comments and suggestions from our learning events, Facebook page and Twitter to figure out how we can add value to your learning in order to enhance your social enterprise.

What We Heard

What I have gathered from these evaluations is that many social enterprises want advice on how to “establish new revenue opportunities… while maintaining the primary mission”. Many of you in the “early learning” and “planning” stages of the development path have expressed that you want more insight on how to approach a feasibility study and how to write a sound business plan.  As we move further along the development path, many have conveyed that it is a challenge to understand all the legal and accounting implications, develop brand recognition and pitch your idea to potential investors. Furthermore, finding a suitable consultant with experience in not-for-profit organizations can be difficult, as serving a social or environmental mission, rather than seeking profit, is often the priority.

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.

This Sunday, April 22nd is Earth Day. This year Earth Day Canada is encouraging everyone to take up a new habit that is good for the planet and you. Have you decided what your new habit might be? How about supporting an environmental social enterprise or an environmentally conscientious social business?

Green Calgary is a social enterprise that is a wonderful resource; they provide knowledge, workshops, volunteer opportunities and the healthy homes program. The Ecostore operated by Green Calgary is a great place to stock up on earth friendly products and the funds raised are then re-invested in community environmental programs. To find out more on Green Calgary and the Ecostore visit their website at http://www.greencalgary.org/ and follow them on twitter @greencalgary

Another environmental social enterprise located in Cochrane, Alberta is Home Reno Heaven. Home Reno Heaven accepts donations of home renovation products, appliances, tools and landscaping products and resells them to generate revenue for self sustaining affordable housing. If you have been thinking about acquiring new appliances, you can donate the old ones to Home Reno Heaven. They will resell them, use the proceeds to support the Cochrane Society for Housing Options and best of all there is no waste! Make sure you follow the donation guidelines, they only accept donations of products that they can resell. To learn more about Home REno Heaven and their donation program vist their website at http://www.homerenoheaven.com

I am an insatiably curious person. Many things interest me and it is difficult to focus on just one thing. In fact, I’d like to think of myself as a “systems thinker” and so I’m always exploring all sorts of intriguing things to see how it all connects.

So, when thinking up my first blog for the Trico Charitable Foundation (TCF) I was at a loss for where to begin. How was I going to pick just one topic to focus on? I thought it might make sense to start with why I was drawn to working at TCF – and that is my growing awareness and interest in social enterprise (for TCF’s purposes, we define social enterprise as non-profit organizations running a business). I’ve also been learning a lot about private, charitable foundations. It’s a whole new world for someone who has only worked in the non-profit sector. Perhaps it would be valuable to share some of my new knowledge here?

Then I found myself watching Geoff Mulgan’s TED talk, Post-crash: Investing in a Better World, and I remembered some questions that have been on my mind for some time now. What is the economy for? What is the role of business in contributing to social good? This felt like as good a place to start as any.