Join Buy Social Canada next week on September 19, 2023 as we share research, stories, and progress of social enterprise across the country at Marketplace Impact: Social Enterprise Research and Stories. This is part two of a two-part series exploring what's happening on the supply and demand sides of the Canadian social value marketplace.

At this free, engaging event we will be sharing new research from a survey of over 130 Certified Social Enterprises from across Canada, including data and stories about their social and economic impacts. In addition to research learnings, we'll hear from social enterprise leaders about what supports exist and what more is needed for social enterprise capacity building, and how social enterprises play a role in building and preserving culture.

Lynn White, ACCESS

Tim Coldwell, Chandos Construction

Gurbeen Bhasin, Aangen

Carolann Harding, SmartICE

Andy Horsnell, Social Enterprise Council of Canada

Barb Ellis, Circle of Eagles Trading Post

Amanda McGee, Circle of Eagles Trading Post

Anca Roman, EthniCity Catering and Cafe

Ministry representative, Employment and Social Development Canada

Get your tickets to join us on:

September 19, 2023

10am - 12pm PT / 1pm - 3pm ET

Online, free

For nearly ten years Buy Social Canada has been advising and consulting for governments across Canada. One of the tools we developed that is now being implemented in various manners is the Social Value Questionnaire. The Social Value Questionnaire is a standard set of questions included within the bid to evaluate, score, and create contract language for social procurement implementation.

Read our blog post to learn more about the tool, and examples of how it is being applied across Canada to build community capital through procurement.

We were pleased to create a guide to co-op and social procurement for Co-Operatives and Mutuals Canada, with funding support from the Government of Canada's Investment Readiness Program (IRP).

The Guide outlines why co-ops should consider purchasing from fellow co-ops and other social value suppliers, tactics to get started, and case study examples.

Read the Guide.

Buy Social Canada Community Champions are the individuals and organizations that support our mission to promote and advance social procurement activities within their networks and communities.

Three Community Champions have re-committed to continuing this collaborative work for 2023-2024. They are:

Learn more about Community Champions.

Register now to get the early bird discount on the November 2023 cohort of the Social Procurement Professional Certificate course and take a deep dive on social procurement design, implementation and culture change.

November 1, 8, 15 and 22, 2023 from 10am – 12pm PT / 1 – 3pm ET

(Application deadline: October 18; Early bird deadline: September 20)

Register now to save your spot.

Buy Social Canada contributed a book chapter exploring how implementing social procurement in construction can achieve the UN SDGs to a new publication.

The book, titled "The Role of Design, Construction, and Real Estate in Advancing the Sustainable Development Goals," is part of Springer Nature's Sustainable Development Goals Series, cross-published by Palgrave Macmillan. This edited book brings together insights from scholars and practitioners from many different fields to uncover the role of the construction and real estate sectors and how they align with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Read our book chapter free on the Buy Social Canada blog.

Get the full book for $129 USD.

Buy Social Canada is actively consulting with several municipalities to support social procurement policy development and implementation.

Currently, we are supporting the City of Edmonton to continue development of new tools and resources for their Sustainable Procurement program.

The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo Working Group met to discuss Community Benefit Agreement (CBA) pilots.

The City of Winnipeg has upcoming training for their new sustainable procurement questionnaires, which community members are welcome to join. Get the details here.

We look forward to seeing ongoing progress and outcomes in these communities and many others across the country.

Join BCSPI at upcoming webinars for social procurement insights and learnings:

Elietha Bocskei, Lead Manager of Institutional Partnership and Strategies for Feed BC, joins BCSPI to share information on the BC Government's Feed BC program, free procurement resources, local food directory and more. She will share how public purchasers can have an impact by buying local and culturally appropriate foods.

Register now.

Scott Hainsworth, Manager of Purchasing for City of Courtenay, joins BCSPI to share how the City developed a new Indigenous Procurement policy in collaboration with K'ómoks First Nation in order to advance economic reconciliation and support Indigenous businesses and people in their community.

In addition to the case study from Courtenay, this webinar will introduce a new BCSPI Member Resource which outlines best practices and top tips for starting to design and implement Indigenous Procurement in public organizations.

Register now.

Certified Social Enterprise Common Good Solutions is hosting the Atlantic Social Impact Exchange Summit on September 25-27, 2023 in person in St. John's, NL.

This is the inaugural Atlantic Social Impact Exchange Summit. The event will be a transformative gathering of innovators from Atlantic Canada’s social impact ecosystem.

Learn about new initiatives happening in the region and expand your understanding of social finance and innovative social practices. Connect with a broad range of stakeholders in the social impact sector and explore exciting opportunities for collaboration, knowledge exchange and immersive community learning.

Get tickets now.

Join Buy Social Canada at SEWF23 (Social Enterprise World Forum 2023) on October 11-12 to access world-class content, connect with thousands of other purpose-driven people and be part of the world’s largest social enterprise conversation.

Join the event online or in person in Amsterdam.

Register now to join the conversation and hear from social enterprises around the world.

Social Enterprise UK, our colleagues in the United Kingdom, recently shared updates from their Buy Social Corporate Challenge program.

Here's what they have to say:

"We’ve been running our Buy Social Corporate Challenge since 2016, supporting big companies across business sectors to bring social enterprises into their supply chains.

Our latest annual report shows the Challenge had the most successful year ever, as our 30 corporate partners spent £99 million with social enterprise suppliers. In total, more than £350million has been spent with social enterprises in the seven years of the programme."

Read the report to learn more about social procurement and social enterprise activities in the UK.

Diversity Food Services, the social enterprise food service at the University of Winnipeg, has partnered with Compost Winnipeg to ensure all of their packaging is actually compostable.

If Diversity Food Services introduces new packaging in future, Compost Winnipeg will confirm that it breaks down fully, increasing sustainability in their supply chain and practices.

Certified Social Enterprise Binners' Project is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Coffee Cup Revolution on:

October 12, 2023

11am-2pm

Victory Square Park, Vancouver

Community Binners can come to their pop-up depot and receive a 10 cent refund per used coffee cup. In addition to the depot, Binners’ Project invites community partners and organizations to join them as they reflect on the past 10 years.

Purppl coaches, consults and collaborates with social entrepreneurs and impact leaders to build regenerative enterprises and initiatives that address systemic inequity, supporting leaders with impact strategy and measurement, business analysis, revenue development, and operations and process improvement.

Something Beautiful is a restaurant and gift shop 20 minutes outside Winnipeg in the community of Interlake, which creates employment and inclusion opportunities for adults with intellectual disabilities.