IRP Funding for Local Social Impact
Banff Canmore Community Foundation | March 28, 2022
During the winter of 2022-2023, Banff Canmore Community Foundation (BCCF) helped to deliver the Investment Readiness Program (IRP) for the province of Alberta.
Together with Community Foundations of Canada (CFC), BCCF and Red Deer and District Community Foundation (RDDCF) worked with other social enterprise capacity-builders to administer $17.5M in funding from the Government of Canada. The program’s goal is to help create, manage and expand social enterprises in order to get them ready to accept investment. The objective is for these organizations to be able to participate in the social finance market and generate a return for investors while having a positive impact on their communities. Through loans, equity or other investments, social finance can give social purpose organizations the opportunity to access repayable funding to make their impact and organizations grow.
BCCF’s role, as regional partner, has been to promote the program at the local and regional level, answer questions from potential applicants, adjudicate applications, and administer payments to successful applicants. Through this project, BCCF helped bring significant funding to our community’s innovators. These funds are aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG).
We are pleased to announce three local Bow Valley projects that have received funding through IRP.
1. BANFF ISN’T DISPOSABLE’S - ANDREW COTTERELL
Through the Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley, this project aims to take a circular-economy approach for takeout containers and reduce single-use items, specifically reusable cups sold to local businesses at a price similar to compostable ones. With the funding of $39,005, the Biosphere Institute will understand the best way of offering a reusable coffee cup program in Banff, and determine the feasibility of running this as a social enterprise.
“The IRP is an exciting opportunity as it brings our community one step closer to our goal of normalizing reuse in the Bow Valley,” says the program’s Andrew Cotterell. “This is a shift that we are seeing all around the world, and the IRP will help us to tailor approaches to suit Banff’s context, as well as show itself as an environmental leader. We are confident this will lead to innovative reuse programs that are convenient for customers, save businesses money, and reduce our impact on the environment.”
Goal 7 : Affordable and Clean Energy, Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, Goal 13: Climate Action
2. BOW VALLEY GREEN ENERGY COOP’S - JODI CONUEL
This program uses a member-owned cooperative model to install renewable energy projects (like solar, geothermal, hydro or wind) in Bow Valley buildings. With IRP funding of $39,250, BVGEC will obtain the necessary tools to target commercial investors, widening their potential investor pool. Furthermore, this project will streamline internal processes and improve external communications in support of our overall mission.
“As a founding Board Member of BVGEC, I am proud to have worked with a core of dedicated volunteers,” the program’s Jodi Conuel says. These fantastic people facilitated the breaching of significant barriers and enabled BVGEC to become the first organization to install a community-owned solar project in Alberta in the fall of 2021. On this journey, we developed a replicable business model to support community-financed renewable energy generation based on the economic landscape pre-Covid-19. Unfortunately, times have changed, and the economic climate is quite different today. BVGEC is thankful to have received the Investment Readiness Funding because, as a volunteer-run organization, it can be difficult to pivot. This funding will allow BVGEC to tackle the challenges of higher interest rates head-on and enables us to develop tools to overcome this next barrier.
As a social enterprise, BVGECs goal is to increase access to climate solutions; the successful completion of this project will allow BVGEC to grow our investment revenues, which will support the installation of more renewable energy systems that displace fossil fuel use, reduce community emissions and improve local climate resiliency. In addition, revenues from these installations will grow our community benefits fund and support environmental protection initiatives and community-building investments into the future.”
Goal 7 : Affordable and Clean Energy, Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, Goal 13: Climate Action
3. CO+ KITCHEN’S - YUKA OZAWA
photo by Eva Urbanska Photography
Co+Kitchen is a Canmore-based social enterprise supporting the local food movement by providing local food entrepreneurs with a shared platform for creating, storing and selling locally-produced food. IRP funding of $23,350 will help them prototype a retail space for their collective, helping local food businesses scale their businesses and extend their market reach.
“We have a vision of our social enterprise the Co+Kitchen being a leader of a group of small business owners who work as a collective. It’s a complex business model, but I really want to take it to the next level. With this funding, we can continue to build a thriving ecosystem of local food businesses. We can support the growth of successful local food entrepreneurs. We’re very passionate about this.
It’s hard to find funding as a social entrepreneur because the model doesn’t easily fit into a category. IRP is a great opportunity for us. Moving forward, we’re working on how do we build our collective identity as the Co+Kitchen? These funds will help us materialize and define what’s next.”
Goal 3: Good health and Well-Being for People; Goal 8: Decent Work and Sustainable Economic Growth; Goal 10: Reducing Inequalities