WINS was operating five thrift stores, a donation centre, a free good referral program and four family resource centres. As the cost of doing business is constantly rising in Alberta, WINS had to adapt and, as Karen says, “think differently”
Richard’s journey with TAC and Opportunity For All Youth is another example of how social entrepreneurship can stem from pivoting in a new direction and thinking about succession planning of your social enterprise. This is a pattern Trico Foundation and others are seeing in terms of scale: it isn’t necessarily a bigger social enterprise, it is about using the knowledge you gained from the social enterprise in a different way on a whole new level.
Happy New Year! The start of 2018 gives us the opportunity to reflect and learn from 2017. The past twelve months brought the Trico Charitable Foundation amazing insights such as the evolution of social impact and a rethinking of social entrepreneurship, the first Canadian team to win the Global Challenge Finals in Oxford, England, the 2017 Social EnterPrize Awards, the publishing of 5 case studies, social entrepreneur’s journeys and learnings, and the announcement of the Trico Changemakers Studio.
The Cleaning Solution case study demonstrates a social enterprise that has balanced growth with organizational capacity and competes in a hyper competitive market while staying true to their mandate.
There are a growing number of events connected to social entrepreneurship. Many of them happen in our home city, demonstrating what an incredible hub of activity Calgary is. The Trico Foundation team is pleased to attend many of them and wish we could attend more.
On the evening of September 14th, 2017, 350 delegates and community leaders from across Canada gathered at the EconoUs conference where Trico Foundation was honoured to formally present our 2017 Social EnterPrize awards. Our evening panel conversation covered a wide array of topics, including: when to seize opportunities to diversify, scaling, leadership transitions, measuring success, and more!