“Diversity is a reality. Inclusion is a choice.”
Stephen Frost, The Inclusion Imperative
ABOUT US
“Democracies flourish when large numbers of citizens acquire the capacity to shape civic and economic life. Social Entrepreneurship is a process that enables citizens to do that.”
– Azadeh Tajdar
The Social Economy through Social Inclusion (SETSI) model aims to tell a story, change minds, shift perspectives, and grow communities. Our coalition was developed as a response to some of the emerging trends and challenges we have collectively witnessed in the social economy, social finance, impact investing and cooperative ecosystems. We are a broad coalition of young executives, social entrepreneurs, community organizers, economists, researchers, lawyers, and social justice advocates.
Our mission is to create prosperity and abundance in our society, utilizing social innovation and enabled by diversity and inclusivity. We want to build a world where all organizations have an intentional positive social benefit. Business leaders and entrepreneurs internationally are realizing that by innovating their business models they can create significant positive social impact, while also increasing their financial sustainability. In Canada the need for entrepreneurs incubation, mentoring and co-working services is obvious and as we at SETSI convene, organize and mobilize.
We are creating a more inclusive and thriving ecosystem for start-ups and emerging leaders. In an increasingly complex and changing world, it is clear to our members that ‘traditional’ social frameworks simply don’t match the change around us anymore. Through our strategic focus and direction, learning and honouring lived experience and shared social values we aim to evolve the aforementioned sectors and ecosystems.
“We know there is a strong movement emerging in socially conscious businesses because the public is demanding a change.”
– Community Member
OUR VALUES
- Integrity
- Family
- Social Inclusion
Community
Intergenerational Collaboration
Learning & Innovation - Social Responsibility
- Sustainable Development
OUR PRIORITIES;
- The development of diverse and inclusive social economy, social finance, cooperative and impact investing ecosystems.
- Diligent engagement and capacity building of diverse social purpose organizations.
- Community Economic Development.
- Advocating for public policy and regulatory environments that transform the conditions for social innovation.
- Community and organizational capacity building.
- Raising awareness of local and international social purpose organizations.
Solidarity Working Group
In July 2020 community leaders from the social finance, social economy, co-operative and community economic development movements in Canada came together in solidarity to confront and mitigate apathy towards inclusion, diversity, equity and access in the aforementioned ecosystems.
On July 20th 2020, a joint statement entitled ‘Stronger Together’ was endorsed by stakeholders across the aforementioned ecosystems and disseminated widely throughout collective networks across Canada. The statement articulated six key actions:
- Creation of a standing meeting/working group in the social enterprise and social finance ecosystem, to work towards advancing inclusion, diversity, equity, and access
- Development of performance indicators as well as tools for measuring this work that we believe should become standard for all IRP/SFF and future program partners, regardless of their areas of focus.
- Development of anti-racism and anti-oppression training that we recommend become standard for all IRP/SFF and future program partners. To begin this, we’ll source a list of strong anti-racist educators from BIPOC communities to facilitate this work.
- Diversity & Inclusion policy promotion and development amongst Investment Readiness Program partners and wider ecosystem stakeholders within their respective organizations
- Development and implementation of an intermediary specifically for the African Canadian community in the Social Finance Fund. This should be complemented by a standard commitment and enforceable performance measures for all intermediaries to engage with diverse communities
- Collaboration towards the development of a self-determined fund to engage traditionally under- represented people living in Canada in the social finance and social enterprise ecosystem through small catalyst grants and non-repayable loans.
Schedule a call to learn more about how to partner with us:
