Transforming the Community Impact of Campus Space: Bow Valley College and WINS Open a Social Enterprise Thrift Store

Bow Valley College and Women In Need Society (WINS) have partnered to launch a new on-campus thrift store that combines affordability, sustainability, and hands-on learning. The initiative gives students access to low-cost essentials while creating real-world learning opportunities in social enterprise and community impact.

Click here to read more!

What is social entrepreneurship?

We define social entrepreneurship as using business models (selling a good or service) to enhance social impact. This reflects most Canadian definitions.

Beyond balance

Many see the social and the entrepreneurial as being in opposition, like two sides of a scale that needs to be balanced. Instead, we see the social and the entrepreneurial as partners in progress.  

Aspirational

We support a social entrepreneurship movement that dares to ask, “How far could we go in solving the world’s problems, and even fulfilling our potential as human beings, if we fully harnessed the power of business models to enhance social impact?”

12/11/2015 Recipients Generate Millions in Market Revenue While Serving Social Needs Calgary, November 12, 2015— Created by the Trico Charitable Foundation in 2011, the biennial Social EnterPrize celebrates Canadian social enterprises that demonstrate best practices, impact and innovation. Social enterprises are organizations, for-profit or not-for-profit, that blend financial success and social impact by using markets to solve social problems.

This article was originally published on Sept 18, 2015 on the Social Finance website. It has been cross-posted with permission from the author Joanna Reynolds, Director, Social Enterprise, Centre for Social Innovation. SocialFinance.ca is thrilled to partner with Trico Charitable Foundation to provide a deep dive into the 2013 Social EnterPrize award recipients from the perspective of social entrepreneurs or individuals working in the social entrepreneurship environment. The Social EnterPrize awards seek to celebrate the best and the brightest social entrepreneurs in the Canadian context. This year’s awards will be announced and presented at the 2015 Social Finance Forum. JUMP Math is one of the four 2013 SocialEnterprize award recipients. This posts provides a deep dive into the case study. Stay tuned for the rest of the case studies over the coming weeks. Please refer to introduction blog post for more details.

There may be no more valued praise than that which comes from an employee. When interviewed about his work experience with an award-winning Calgary social enterprise, Michael Jamieson highlights his manager as a key player in making the experience a positive one.

Though his words are few, the message is clear. When asked what energizes him most about his work at a Calgary social enterprise, the Vecova Bottle Depot, Shawn Sproule says it’s the people that he works with.

  • Categories

  • Archives