


Trico Foundation & Social Entrepreneurship: 2019 in Review
Happy New Year! The start of 2020 gives us the opportunity to reflect and learn from 2019. The past twelve months were busy, historic, and made great progress in advancing both social entrepreneurship and Calgary’s role as a hub for social entrepreneurship.

Types of Social Enterprises Trico is Excited About
The Trico Foundation is most excited by social enterprise’s that have the potential to do at least one and ideally all of: a) Tapping into the power of the pull of markets (having a product customers really want and the ability to make money satisfying that want) to solve social problems; b) Addressing a market failure– the more challenging the market failure the better; c) Blending social and entrepreneurial (business) models in harmonious, or even better, synergistic (learn more about the three types of blends here) and imaginative/innovative ways; d) Addressing pervasive and entrenched “Gaps in society” (the bigger and/or more systemic the better). For example: relief of economic exclusion; relief of poverty; relief of social exclusion; promoting good health or well-being; helping children and/or youth at risk; relief of the aged/seniors; gender equality; addresses environmental sustainability; and/or enhanced peace and justice; e) Having a vision for the ultimate impact they want to make and a high-level plan for how to get there; f) Embracing the social entrepreneur’s mindset (learn more about the social entrepreneur’s mindset here) and the ability to progress by way of experimentation – for example, using frugal experimentation to learn, pivot where needed, and to make progress – rather than simply ‘working to a plan’. ...
5 Lessons I Learned While Realizing My Vision
The Trico Charitable Foundation (TCF) Summer Student program is the first of its kind that I have ever come across – something that lets me pursue my own dreams and financially support me as a full-time employee. This unique opportunity truly gave me the time and space to first realize, and later actualize my vision, which is funny because my start-up essentially helps high school students realize and actualize their potentials.

Why We All Need a Friendly Wise Skeptic
Having someone in your corner who can see where you want to go, the things that might be holding you back, and the challenges that have yet to come is so key in developing effective mental models and progressing you on your learning journey.

JUMPing the Chasm: JUMP Math Reaches Over 220,000 Students Worldwide
This journey update involves 2013 Social EnterPrize recipient JUMP Math, and our chat with Scott McMeekin, CEO of JUMP Math. JUMP Math’s mission is to help improve life outcomes for the students it reaches. To do so, it has developed an approach that builds math achievement, while promoting the social and emotional skills that are critical to academic and life success. JUMP Math provides teacher and student resources for Kindergarten to grade 8, and supporting teacher professional development. Although JUMP Math design criteria focus on the needs of students at risk of failure, its resources are used by some of Canada’s most elite private schools, highlighting the fact that all students benefit from excellent pedagogy. Resources are also available for parents to use with their children.