We are currently accepting applications for a Social Procurement Consultant to join our remote-work team.

Our team is fast paced as interest in social procurement is skyrocketing. We are looking for someone with writing and facilitation skills to work with corporations, governments, non-profits, and institutions to support the development of social procurement policies, implementation strategies and training.

Learn more and apply now. Deadline is February 17. Applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis.

Today! Join certified social enterprise Community Impact Real Estate Society (CIRES) and Buy Social Canada for a conversation about the past, present and future of CIRES, and the impact they've had, on:

David LePage, Managing Partner of Buy Social Canada and founder of CIRES, and Steven Johnston, the current Executive Director of CIRES, will interview each other about their roles in the foundation of CIRES, the impacts they've created over the years, and the future of the social enterprise.

Register for free now.

February is Black History Month, and SETSI Community Coalition is hosting a series of panels, presentations, and capacity building trainings and workshops, to reimagine the future of an inclusive Canada.

The theme for this month-long series is UBUNTU FOREVER. “Ubuntu” is a Bantu term meaning "I am Because We Are.”

Learn more about the series and get involved.

Open Door Group is British Columbia's largest not-for-profit employment services provider, "opening doors to lifelong learning and career success."

We're pleased to be working with Open Door Group to advance the team's knowledge and understanding of social procurement and support the development of a social procurement policy and implementation framework.

Buy Social Canada is working with Explore Edmonton, Edmonton's Destination Marketing organization and operator of the Edmonton Expo Centre, Edmonton Conference Centre and K-Days, to develop a procurement philosophy that brings social and community value to complement their existing environmental leadership.

We will provide training, policy guidance, implementation tools and a measurement framework to form a robust strategy and program.

The City of Peterborough is moving ahead in its Social Procurement implementation strategy which includes pilot projects to test the inclusion of social procurement in City procurement opportunities.

A low value purchases pilot has commenced, where key purchasers will aim to shift their purchasing to support the City’s social value objectives as outlined in their Procurement By-law. One of the tools developed to help is a vendor registry, which City purchasers can use to easily identify vendors who align with the social value objectives that the City is seeking. The pilot will run until June 2023, and is supported by our team.

Register soon to save your spot in the Social Procurement Professional Certificate training course.

Public and private sector purchasers, join a cohort of the Social Procurement Professional Certificate course to gain in-depth knowledge of the fundamental components of social procurement success from development to implementation.

Upcoming cohort: April 2023

Registration deadline: March 22. Get an early bird discount if you apply before February 22.

More details or apply now.

Games and sporting events are ubiquitous in daily life, and lots of major games are happening across Canada in the next few years. What if the winner… is community!

Is that really possible if it’s all about sports?

Read the blog post and event recap to learn more about the opportunities for creating community benefits from games and sporting events.

Join Buy Social Canada, AB Seed, MacEwan University Social Innovation Institute and End Poverty Edmonton in person for an event that will bring together purpose driven purchasers and social value suppliers to build relationships that generate positive impact for communities in Edmonton.

We invite community, public sector and private sector to come learn about social procurement and how you can buy and sell with impact on:

Register now.

Purchasing Power is a speaker series featuring experts who are putting the principles of a social value marketplace into action, hosted by the British Columbia Social Procurement Initiative (BCSPI).

Join us for:

With speakers:

Marla Zucht from Whistler Housing Authority and Elizabeth Ballantyne, a PhD Student at the UBC School of Community and Regional Planning.

Calling all businesses who are a force for good! Explore Buy Social Canada Social Enterprise Certification to verify your social impact and show stakeholders, clients, and your team that you put your money where your mouth is and contribute to community wellbeing.

Read this blog post to learn more about the benefits of social enterprise certification.

The Investment Readiness Program is an ESDC funded initiative that seeks to support social purpose organizations (charities, non-profits, co-operatives) as they develop their social enterprises, and work towards goals of becoming investment-ready in Canada’s growing social finance market.

The National Association of Friendship Centres (NAFC) is working to ensure that Friendship Centres and other urban Indigenous social purpose organizations have access to capital to develop, start and grow their social enterprises. These organizations have historically faced significant barriers in accessing capital to participate in Canada’s economic systems and growth.

Learn more about the funding available for urban Indigenous social purpose organizations. Deadline to apply is February 13, 2023.

The Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), a financial crown corporation wholly-owned by the Government of Canada, is Canada’s only bank exclusively focused on providing support to SMEs and entrepreneurs. For several years the Social Enterprise Council of Canada (SECC) and Buy Social Canada have advocated for the specific and intentional inclusion of social enterprises to access BDC services.

The BDC is currently accepting public review of their operations and services. The window of consultation is now open until March 31, 2023. This is our opportunity to encourage the BDC, a crown corporation with billions of dollars in assets and a B Corporation, to include social enterprises and the social economy into their service umbrella.

Buy Social Canada and SECC have submitted a letter. We encourage you to send in your own comments, or use our letter, notes, or concepts to add your voice to this effort to move BDC beyond the for-profit-only business models they have supported throughout their history. A social value marketplace is emerging which requires policy and operational support from the BDC.

Nova Scotia Social Enterprise Stone Hearth Bakery, which is an enterprise of MetroWorks Employment Association, recently received funding to make their space more technologically advanced, and improve opportunities for employment skills and training.

Hear more from Metroworks' President and CEO Dave Rideout about the outcomes this will create in this Global News story.

Social enterprises, get involved and fill out a short survey that will take about 10 minutes of your time. You will be among the first to receive the study’s findings on best practices for project management in social enterprises, and you can enter for a chance to win Buy Social Canada procurement training and a copy of David LePage's book Marketplace Revolution.

Respond to the survey.

Sunrise Janitorial Services is an enterprise of Community Living Toronto providing cleaning, disinfecting, junk removal and moving services while employing persons with disabilities and supporting them to feel less stress around financial insecurity.