Impact Conversations

In this episode, Lynn interviews Graham Cubitt, Director of Projects and Marketing at Indwell, about his organization's approach to housing stability. Indwell is both a property developer and a service provider, creating affordable housing communities that support people seeking health, wellness and belonging, but doing so requires trust, creativity, and money. Tune in to hear how these factors were aligned.

In this episode, Lynn talks to members of the impact team at PolicyWise – a partnership between Alberta’s universities, the community, and the government of Alberta – Cathie Scott, Chief Knowledge and Policy Officer; Jo-Louise Huq Organizational Innovation and Change Scientist, and Courtney Lundy, Business and Grants Manager. Hear about their journey to create and sustain an impact focus within their organization, grounded in their Theory of Change.

Lynn talks to Erica Barbosa Vargas, Director of Solutions Finance at one of Canada’s largest private foundations. Erica provides insights into the growing impact investment sector in Canada. She also shares what the McConnell Foundation is doing to address the bottleneck they see in financial intermediaries, so that more funds can be directed into impact investing, to impact the UN Sustainable Development Goals through the work of nonprofits, social enterprises, and other social impact organizations.

In this episode, Lynn chats with Amy Kingman, Executive Director of the Learning by Giving Foundation (LxG) about experiential philanthropy. Founded by Doris Buffett, LxG teaches and empowers students to make wise grants of Buffett's capital to community-based nonprofits.

Lynn and Aneil discuss the Toronto Foundation's Vision 2020, likened to a philanthropic and co-op MBA program. This popular program breaks the Community Foundation mold, enabling a younger generation of philanthropists to identify and support the causes that matter to them. Lynn and Aneil also discuss the social impact of fundraising and philanthropy.

In this episode, Sally speaks with Shawn Bayes, the Executive Director of the Elizabeth Fry Society of Greater Vancouver. EFry provides support services to women and children affected by the justice system. They discuss risk factors that lead women into conflict with the law, and the many effects of incarceration on women and their families. We also hear how Efry benefited from Innoweave's Impact & Strategic Clarity coaching module, and the changes born out of their Theory of Change.

This episode features a deep dive into L'Arche Canada, and how they have built a strategy for impact across a federated organization. Sally speaks with Lori Vaanholt, Director of Strategic Development and Innovation at L'Arche and Stephanie Garrow, of GarrowEvoy. They discuss L'Arche as an organization, and the benefits of building relationships and developing their Theory of Change. We also chat about the advantages of a coaching relationship versus traditional consulting.

Todd Jacques and Wendy Cooper from Tides Canada join Lynn to discuss the ways in which, through an impact lens, Tides supports philanthropists and changemakers to better their communities. The conversation focuses on the importance of local involvement in place-based initiatives, and the foundation offering both an impact investing opportunity and a shared platform that allows community-led initiatives to focus on their mission while the foundation does the rest.

Brad Offman, from Spire Philanthropy presents the case for charitable corporate partnerships: how they work and how they are changing. His conversation with Sally also delves into engaging employees, identifying assets, community investments and choosing the right partners.

What is social innovation? Tune in to our chat with Allyson Hewitt, McConnell Foundation Senior Fellow of Social Innovation at MaRS Discovery District. Allyson tells us about several made-in-Canada social innovations, the importance of systems thinking, and shares the business case for social innovation. Find out more about our work at www.socialimpactadvisors.ca 

Are you trying to address youth homelessness in your community? Have a listen to this episode with Bhavana Varma, CEO of the United Way of Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington (in Ontario). She shares the role and challenges of being the backbone organization for a collective impact project, explains the strategies they used to tackle youth homelessness in their communities, and shares advice on when to include private-sector partners in social impact projects.

In this re-run of our second episode, we speak with Ryan Conway, Program Director at Innoweave. Innoweave is a project of the McConnell Foundation. Ryan explains Innoweave: how it empowers community sector leaders, and how Innoweave’s thinking has evolved. Together they also discuss the meaning and importance of direct and indirect impact in complex systems. 

Wendy Rinella thinks of impact as moving people from a place where they are unsustainable, to sustainable. She shares with Lynn how the Oakville Community Foundation uses data to target solutions where they are needed most.

Vanessa Parlette reflects on the successes of the Hamilton Healthy Birth Weights Coalition. She and Sally discuss the broad community engagement in the work and how they engaged meaningfully with young people and other stakeholders. The collective’s work has been operationalized in the community- and has achieved measurable impact. (The resources mentioned in this episode are linked on our website)

Glenn Smith is our guest this week, discussing innovation. Glenn, whose affiliations include B.D. Smith Partners, Communitech and Blue Sea Philanthropy, defines innovation as thinking differently to create value. Tune in to this episode, as we discuss the meaning of innovation in for-profit and not-for-profit contexts alike.