Welcome to Canada’s leading social finance conference. Taking place as a digital-first experience on June 12-13, 2024 with five in-person community hubs across the country, the Social Finance Forum convenes 1,000+ social purpose leaders from coast-to-coast-to-coast to learn actionable insights, celebrate game-changing ideas, convene community, activate capital and reshape finance tools for a better future.

Social Finance Forum is imagined, curated and convened by Future of Good, Canada’s leading media and learning organization for social purpose teams and changemakers. Thousands of teams across diverse sectors use Future of Good’s journalistic insights, analysis and knowledge to fuel their learning, development and decision-making.

Featuring ground-breaking talks, interactive masterclasses, peer-to-peer learning, and live journalism, Social Finance Forum explores a range of topics — from community finance to gender-based investing and Indigenous capital to corporate impact investing.

This year's national conference will have a robust digital experience with thoughtfully curated simultaneous in-person events in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax. Click here for more information on each community hub.

 

Theme
Over the past 16 years, the Social Finance Forum has evolved from a place to theorize models of impact investing to a place where the structures of Canadian social finance were established, to our present - a robust ecosystem that includes government, wholesalers, asset owners, incubators, practitioners and beneficiaries. We’ve hit a precipice in Canadian social finance - it's here - so now what? How do we stabilize, grow, and keep it relevant in the ever-shifting, increasingly interconnected social sector? 

These questions frame the Social Finance Forum 2024 theme - System / Change.

System - An in-depth analysis of our current models and frameworks. Understanding their efficacy, interrogating their flaws, and grounding their value here and abroad.

/ - A visual representation of the barriers to social transformation -  the break, or bridge - between the methods and the goals of social finance.

Change - A window into the future of social finance and impact investing - an exploration of opportunities and an awareness of disruptions.
 

 

After three turbulent years of a global pandemic and social unrest, communities are experiencing fundamental shifts to how we work, care, create value, get around, travel, play, learn, and purchase. The Government of Canada has made its most-significant commitment, a $755 million Social Finance Fund to fuel the ecosystem. From child care to affordable housing, from decarbonization to reforestation, from elder care to food security — there are game-changing transitions ahead.

Through social finance and impact investing, we have the enormous opportunity to accelerate solutions by creatively mobilizing private, public, community, and philanthropic capital.

The social finance ecosystem in Canada, a market valued at more than $20 billion, plays a key role in the seismic shift needed to re-imagine capital for a sustainable and equitable future. Offering a learning space and forum for leaders and teams to connect, gain knowledge, and draw on insights for action are the intentions for the 2024 Social Finance Forum as we enter this new era of capital for impact.

Community Hubs: Hybrid Option

We heard you — after three years of being stuck at home, you're ready to get out into your region and connect in-person again. For the 2024 Social Finance Forum, we are excited to offer a number of opportunities to experience the conference alongside your peers, sector leaders, impact investors, friends, and soon-to-be friends!

For Day 1 of Social Finance Forum, there will be in-person gatherings in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary, and Halifax as a hybrid opportunity to experience the online Social Finance Forum content, have in-person networking with leaders, and get into in-person discussions with peers in social finance and impact investing. The in-person programming will seamlessly connect with online content.

 

Key 2024 questions to be addressed

• What are the top 5 trends in impact investing and social finance?
• What are the current needs of the Government of Canada’s Social Finance Fund?
• What are the social finance tools that can help diversify your funding sources?
• How can philanthropic organizations orient their endowments toward 100% impact?
• What are the latest developments in Indigenous finance?
• How can you increase investment into impact venture funds and impact ventures?
• How is the equitable flow of capital shifting to serve underserved communities?
• What are promising approaches in corporate impact investing?
• Who are the teams leading the way in gender-lens investing and what have they learned?

 

Why attend?

• Diversify your funding and address community needs. Boost your knowledge about social finance tools that are already making a difference.
• Learn how to shift capital equitably to make a bigger, more meaningful difference with your portfolio 
• Discuss vital social finance and impact investing challenges with peers in small groups to gain practical knowledge 
• Explore the latest developments in Indigenous finance, outcomes finance, gender-lens investing, place-based finance and corporate impact investing

 

Who should participate?
This summit will provide new insights and practical knowledge on how to shift capital for greater impact. Executives, leaders, managers and social purpose teams in government, corporate, philanthropic, investing, non-profit and academic sectors inclined to advance their exploration and strengthen their implementation of social finance and impact investing tools will find this summit beneficial. Teams will learn the latest developments in gender-lens investing, housing finance, climate finance, Indigenous finance, and more from leaders from across the country and beyond Canada. By rethinking how capital flows and where it’s invested, they will be better able to unleash capacity for new action, greater impact, and flourishing ventures and communities. 

 

 

 

Our work can't be done without our partnerships dedicated to social finance and social impact. Doing incredible work in social finance? We’re always looking for partners, collaborators, and sponsors. Please reach out to Director of Strategic Partnerships Thi Dao, or see more information here.