BWIE- Blk Women In Excellence is a not for profit organization that educates, supports and inspires Black women entrepreneurs throughout Canada.  The organization started in 2020 and has supported 67 Black women to start businesses, numerous women rebrand their businesses and countless advocacy for Black women in business to secure partnerships with others business and store fronts.

Suradway Parents’ Association provides a safe, inclusive and culturally appropriate space for families and youth from Somali and other East African backgrounds in Ottawa to access when they are facing a crisis or difficult situation. We support families by providing information and resources, and assisting them with navigating the various Social Services systems they may need.

Grant amount: $24975

Project: Pilot project to map, plant and requalify the territory of Quebec City’s basse-ville, leading to the creation of a social utility trust for the acquisition and development of under-utilized urban spaces
Location: Capitale-Nationale
Amount awarded: $100,000

Fort Providence, NWT

Project: Collective takeover of a farm – Preparation for the buyout of productive assets
Location: Laurentides
Amount granted: $68,312

Project: Feasibility of upgrading and expanding the building in order to modernize it and increase the services offered.
Location: Capitale Nationale
Amount awarded: $95,920

Hay River, NWT

Terrace, BC

Behchoko, NWT

Fredericton, NB

Courtenay, BC

Ottawa, ON

Fort Qu’Appelle, SK

Riverton, MB

Saskatoon, SK

Ottawa, ON

Ottawa, ON

Happy Valley Goose Bay, NL

Vancouver, BC

Halifax, NS

Flin Flon, MB

Grand Prairie, AB

High Prairie, AB

Ile a la Crosse, SK

London, ON

Winnipeg, MB

Val-d’Or, QC

Winnipeg, MB

Ottawa, ON

Organizational Development Services: Preventing and Responding to Workplace Violence

WomanACT is building a social enterprise that aims to provide organizational consulting services to help make workplaces safer for all employees by reducing workplace violence. WomanACT offers workplace audits, training, policy review and organizational development This project builds upon a feasibility study undertaken by WomanACT that revealed the need for addressing workplace culture as the root issue of workplace violence and that offering customized solutions for workplaces is the best approach.  WomanACT plans to pilot this social enterprise by fine-tuning the business and pricing strategy aimed at corporate clients, institutions, businesses, and nonprofit organizations that focus on client attainment, engagement, and retention.

Grant amount: $74,930

Location: Ontario
Program Focus: Social Enterprise
Grant Streams: Investment Readiness 2022

MORE Store Expansion

WINS provides basic needs and resources to support disadvantaged women and families in the Calgary area. WINS is building on their initial successes of growing from one social enterprise retail store to launching an online subscription box service, and six locations across the region. WINS is launching a new bulk-based thrift store/warehouse called the “MORE Store”, the more you buy, the more you save, and any unsold items are then recycled. Revenue generated from social enterprise thrift operations support several programs such as the House to Home – which supports vulnerable women and families who are coming out of crisis situations; Retail Ready – provides experiential learning and employment skills for women in the retail sector; Warehouse Ready – an employment program which supports low-income clients find stable employment in warehouses across the region; and four community resource hubs.

Grant amount: $73,740

Location: Alberta
Program Focus: Social Enterprise
Grant Streams: Investment Readiness 2022

Rethink, Empower, Rebuild

Yellow Brick House plans to develop and launch the social enterprise ‘Rethink, Empower, Rebuild’, through which existing and to-be-developed customized educational and training workshops and resources will become available for purchase by the public, which includes organizations, corporations, schools, and individuals. This venture will allow Yellow Brick House to start a new, more sustainable revenue line that will complement and support the organization’s Public Education Programs.

Grant amount: $75,000

Location: Ontario
Program Focus: Social Enterprise
Grant Streams: Investment Readiness 2022

Victoria, BC

Edmonton, AB

Stitch Lab

Stitch Lab, a women-led social enterprise, will expand operations and scale the impact of their existing services which currently offers a line of handmade items from recycled textiles and custom orders for local businesses by offering affordable tailoring and alteration services. Stitch Lab will diversify revenue streams, increase marketing and visibility, and increase capacity to offer new products and services. Stitch Lab promotes economic empowerment by preparing participants for entrepreneurship and employment opportunities and building their capacity as social enterprise leaders.

Grant amount: $63,900

Location: Ontario
Program Focus: Social Enterprise
Grant Streams: Investment Readiness 2022

Black Leadership Institute

Skills for Change is scaling an education-based, paid training social enterprise – Black Leadership Institute (BLI) – by expanding professional leadership development skills and training modules within the context of Anti-Black Racism for individuals in private institutions and through the development of a new corporate stream. The project aims to support Black and racialized professionals on their journeys of creating more inclusive and diverse work environments, while becoming changemakers in their communities and workplaces. Using a sliding scale pricing model, SFC will offer specialized support to corporate clients and will use the revenue generated to subsidize the cost of the program for Black and racialized women living on low-incomes.

Grant amount: $75,000

Location: Ontario
Program Focus: Social Enterprise
Grant Streams: Investment Readiness 2022

OASIS Food Hub social enterprise

The St. James Town Community Co-op’s primary focus is sustainable food security and climate change resilience. Working with the Central Neighbourhood House, the St. James Town Community Co-op’s OASIS (Organic Agro-ecological Sustainable Integrated System) Food Hub, a women-led, community food system model for marginalized communities. The OASIS Food Hub model was designed primarily by BIPOC women by and for the neighbourhood o St. James Town in Toronto. Their objectives include improving health and food security for diverse women and families in low-income communities; growing affordable, nutritious, local food year-round; creating sustainable job and enterprise opportunities for women and their families; providing community education to cultivate skills for women in climate-resilient food production and waste diversion.

Grant amount: $73,640

Location: Ontario
Program Focus: Social Enterprise
Grant Streams: Investment Readiness 2022

Gashkitoon: Sustainable Transitional Housing through Social Finance Project (STH)

Tewegan, an Indigenous youth supportive housing provider, plans to expand housing capacity and develop a social enterprise that provides a revenue stream based on existing skills and capacity. Gashkitoon will advance Tewegan’s development of a revenue-generating model that supports young Indigenous women through the provision of safe, supportive transitional housing options. Tewegan has identified a two-pronged model that involves the potential purchase of a smaller multi-unit building as well as the co-occurring development of a property management company. Tewegan plans to define financing and investment vehicles for the purchase of a multi-unit dwelling with an interactive financial model and develop market research and a business plan for the proposed property management social enterprise.

Grant amount: $75,000

Location: Ontario
Program Focus: Social Enterprise
Grant Streams: Investment Readiness 2022

Cowichan Sweater Resurgence

The Victoria Native Friendship Centre encourages and promotes the well-being of urban Indigenous people by strengthening individuals, families, and community. The Victoria Native Friendship Centre, in partnership with Victoria-based clothing store Ecologyst, will revive the locally sourced Cowichan sweater knitting industry, providing fair wages for the knitters, so that Indigenous artisans can earn a living and be fairly compensated for their designs and knowledge. Fair wages for knitters will lead to more funds for stable housing, food, and better outcomes for Indigenous children and families. The project aims to expand employment in Indigenous crafts, engage Elders in mentoring/marketing, disrupt local supply chains, introduce new investors and end-use buyers, and build capacity at all levels.

Grant amount: $75,000

Location: British Columbia
Program Focus: Social Enterprise
Grant Streams: Investment Readiness 2022

KW Resource Centre

The Kamloops & District Elizabeth Fry Society is an active community-based women’s organization working to improve the lives of marginalized women in their community. Their work includes programming and services in housing and community justice, creating second-stage housing, and encouraging economic security for women by offering support programs and educational bursaries. Their project, the KW Resource Centre (KWRC) is a co-working social enterprise for service providers that support women, gender-diverse communities, and children. KRWC offers affordable shared space for service providers to facilitate programming, outreach activities, and training. Co-locating services benefits community as well because they can learn about and access various services in one location.

Grant amount: $75,000

Location: British Columbia
Program Focus: Social Enterprise
Grant Streams: Investment Readiness 2022

Personalized Medicine for Gender / Sexual Diverse Populations

Kemet’s long-term goal is to build transportable medication manufacturing facilities to address extensive critical medication shortages. Kemet’s pilot facility – KemPound Compounding & Repackaging Pharmacy makes personalized medications for sale to other pharmacies and healthcare professionals and are currently exploring personalized medicine for underserved communities. Kemet Advanced Manufacturing Ltd., in collaboration with the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies & Services (iSMSS) will assess current and ongoing pharmaceutical needs of gender and sexual diverse populations across Canada, work to gain an understanding of current medication use patterns and see where medication makers should focus their efforts for patient-centered pharmaceutical care for these communities.

Grant amount: $75,000

Location: Alberta
Program Focus: Social Enterprise
Grant Streams: Investment Readiness 2022

100 FLA-FLA Counter

The 100 FLA-FLA Counter is a thrift store run since 2018 by a team of dedicated volunteers from La Fondation Louise-Amélie. The store sells clothes, furniture, books, decorative items, linens, and other items donated from the community. In 2019, the store added a section for new items made from recycled and recovered materials. This project will allow La Fondation Louise- Amélie to increase staffing and volunteer capacity at the 100 FLA-FLA store. In turn, this will support the store to increase its revenues and reinvest the funds into programming at La Fondation Louise-Amélie.

Grant amount: $55,824

Location: Quebec
Program Focus: Social Enterprise
Grant Streams: Investment Readiness 2022

Empowering Independence for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit women fleeing intimate partner violence through traditional artisanship

Minwaashin Lodge: Indigenous Women’s Support Centre serves First Nations, Métis, and Inuit women and their children and families within the urban Indigenous community of Ottawa as well as neighbouring communities of Akwesasne, Pikwaknagon, and Kitigan Zibi. Minwaashin provides a range or socioeconomic and mental wellness programming for survivors of intimate partner violence, trafficking and other forms of exploitation, and direct or intergenerational survivors of the Residential School System, 60s scoop, and other colonial policies. Minwaashin plans to enhance a social enterprise where First Nations, Métis, and Inuit women fleeing intimate partner violence will receive training in various cultural crafting techniques. Experienced artisans will be hired to train a cohort of indigenous women on how to make products for resale with traditional medicines, plants, herbs, and other materials.

Grant amount: $75,000

Location: Ontario
Program Focus: Social Enterprise
Grant Streams: Investment Readiness 2022

Increasing Accessibility to Food Sustainability Initiatives & Engagement in Plastic Pollution Reduction

Nada, a tech-enabled package-free grocery store and delivery company, and Sea Smart, which delivers solution-based programming on ocean pollution reduction and environmental issues in BC to youth, are collaborating to reduce the carbon footprint of the food supply chain while improving the accessibility of healthy, local, and sustainably sourced foods. Nada and Sea Smart will engage new communities in sustainable practices while raising revenues for both organizations through the optimization of Nada Grocery’s e-commerce platform and the expansion of Nada’s ‘Food For All Initiative’, a program that promotes food accessibility and security for social housing residents, and through Sea Smart’s outreach via marketing and community events highlighting environmentally conscious consumerism.

Grant amount: $75,000

Location: British Columbia
Program Focus: Social Enterprise
Grant Streams: Investment Readiness 2022

Scaling Up Groceries from the SEED

Groceries from The SEED is the Guelph Community Health Centre (GCHC)’s flagship social enterprise designed to increase access to nutritious foods among households facing food insecurity. It is the first sliding scale online grocery store in Canada with the goal of making Guelph-Wellington the first community in Canada where everyone has access to good food. GCHC plans to do this by delivering food programs and operating social enterprises to increase access to healthy food, train and employ youth, and generate revenue for reinvestment. Groceries from the SEED pay-what-you-choose pricing model means choice and dignity for people of all incomes while shopping for high quality groceries that are delivered to their door.

Grant amount: $73,350

Location: Ontario
Program Focus: Social Enterprise
Grant Streams: Investment Readiness 2022

Home Care Co-operative Development: Women Social Entrepreneurs in the Care Sector

The Home Care Workers’ Cooperative (HCWC) operates in the social wellness sector providing in-home care services for Ontario’s elder population. The HCWC is made up of personal support workers, disability support workers, and daycare providers, the majority of whom are women, many of whom are newcomers. HCWC, in coordination with the Gateway Centre of Excellence in Rural Health, will provide educational tools, mentoring, back-office supports, and networking to empower care sector workers and create equitable working environments. The project plans to provide business services to women care workers through a Care Cooperative Incubator, where services include business and marketing plans, payroll management, invoicing, scheduling, and human resource services. Their project will support women entrepreneurs to provide care for their communities in a non-exploitative working environment in addition to building awareness of inequality in the sector.

Grant amount: $72,050

Location: Ontario
Program Focus: Social Enterprise
Grant Streams: Investment Readiness 2022

Next Inc. Women Energy Auditors

Kaleidoscope Social Impact provides knowledge, resources, and opportunities through three streams of work: skills training, social-purpose real estate and social finance. KSI has operationalized Next Inc., a woman-led social enterprise subcontractor that offers energy efficiency services by Canadian Certified Energy Auditors and energy audit training to women, launched in August 2022. Next Inc. is well-positioned to take advantage of a certified Energy Auditor shortage and long waitlist for environmental building energy audits occurring in the Atlantic region by offering their certified service and by training new cohorts of certified energy auditors.

Grant amount: $75,000

Location: New Brunswick
Program Focus: Social Enterprise
Grant Streams: Investment Readiness 2022

Launching Thrive self-therapy app of affordable, accessible, and customized resources for survivors of abuse and trauma

Go Thrive Go Inc. aims to empower survivors of abuse and trauma with a digital platform that offers support to heal, recover, and ultimately, thrive. Go Thrive Go Inc., with the support of Amelia Rising Sexual Assault Centre of Nipissing, will launch Thrive, a self-therapy app for survivors of abuse and trauma. Thrive will provide affordable, accessible, and customized resources and address the unique challenges and existing gaps in care for survivors. The Thrive app has been designed by professional therapists, psychologists, and trauma experts. It will provide an affordable therapy support option to complement community support, helplines, and other forms of therapy. It is designed to be accessible any time and is fit for long-term use.

Grant amount: $75,000

Location: Ontario
Program Focus: Social Enterprise
Grant Streams: Investment Readiness 2022

Farm Gate Crate – Feeding the Community

Growing Opportunities Farm Co-op focuses on alleviating poverty, creating meaningful employment, and mitigating climate change through sustainable and equitable food system development. NACL provides services and programs to people with development disabilities (“diversabilities”), including employment services. Both organizations will work together to scale a self-sustaining women-led social enterprise to increase accessibility to farming and fresh produce by providing training and employment opportunities for people with diversabilities in the growing and distribution of fresh, local produce.

Grant amount: $75,000

Location: British Columbia
Program Focus: Social Enterprise
Grant Streams: Investment Readiness 2022

My Power App

EduCare is a social enterprise that improves graduation outcomes for students with disabilities through a tech-enabled platform that connects post-secondary institutions and healthcare providers. EduCare, in collaboration with Delta Family Resource Centre, plans to launch the My Power App designed for girls between 12-20 years old across Canada to close the gap on advanced digital skills and new technologies for individuals from low-income and other marginalized communities.

Grant amount: $75,000

Location: Ontario
Program Focus: Social Enterprise
Grant Streams: Investment Readiness 2022

The Abundance Store

EFMNS works to break the cycles that lead to criminalization by offering critical supports for transitional housing, programming both in jail and in the community to help develop essential life skills, and a range of court navigation services to provide underserved communities with the access to justice they deserve. ElevateHER provides individual and group mental health support services to those who identify as women and their families. In coordination with ElevateHER, EFMNS plans to expand The Abundance Store, an employment equity initiative designed to address gender-based poverty. The Abundance Store will grow to include an online store in addition to the existing storefront. The Abundance Store employs individuals with criminal records, a population that is historically disadvantaged in the labour market. Employees will be offered workshops and opportunities to gain professional experience such as resume-building and interviewing skills and enhance employment skills as they are supported on their journeys to economic security.

Grant amount: $75,000

Location: Nova Scotia
Program Focus: Social Enterprise
Grant Streams: Investment Readiness 2022

Dragonfly Moons

EIWFSC is a province-wide collaborative partnership with the Inuit, Southern Inuit, Innu and Mi’kmaq people that focuses on ending gender-based violence, provide mental health services and provide culturally based programming for economic and financial stability. QFC preserves and promotes the culture and heritage of the Mi’kmaq people of Newfoundland. Both organizations are collaborating to continue the development of Dragonfly Moons, a social enterprise led by Indigenous women that provide workshops and training for the community. EIWFSC will market education, expand public awareness of Indigenous people and culture in the province, refine their market assessment and advance their business plan.

Grant amount: $75,000

Location: Newfoundland & Labrador
Program Focus: Social Enterprise
Grant Streams: Investment Readiness 2022

Flaunt It Movement’s BIPOC/Women-Led Visual Anthology Production

Flaunt-It, a youth-led social purpose organization that fosters self-love and leadership opportunities for young women of intersectional identities and their mentor Success Beyond Limits, a community-based movement in the Jane-Finch area of Toronto, are collaborating to produce their second visual anthology, it will highlight multidisciplinary art projects by emerging artists to challenge barriers faced by youth in underserved communities, as well as offer employment, train emerging talent and strengthen their community’s capacity to pursue career goals.

Grant amount: $75,000

Location: Ontario
Program Focus: Social Enterprise
Grant Streams: Investment Readiness 2022

Elevate by Fora

Fora is a centre of excellence for young women’s leadership development. Their mission is to advance the full participation of young women leaders in decision-making spaces in order to change the status quo. Elevate by Fora is a social enterprise offering customized training that empowers young women and gender-diverse individuals a pathway to navigate leadership in corporate spaces. Sessions for groups of 10-50 participants provide practical training for junior professionals who do not yet identify as leaders and want to grow their leadership skills and capacity. The project is designed for corporations committed to addressing the gender gap in their leadership.

Grant amount: $75,000

Location: Ontario
Program Focus: Social Enterprise
Grant Streams: Investment Readiness 2022

Damage Labs Founders Fund Hybrid Capital Initiative

DMG Toronto was formed to provide safe spaces to discuss, play, and make games in a feminist and intersectional cultural context. It is a non-profit video game and interactive arts organization with a mission to provide enthusiastic community support to individuals historically underrepresented in and excluded from games both as an art form and an industry. DMG Toronto, in coordination with the Centre for Art Tapes, plans to create a self-sustaining Founders Fund for Damage Labs to create financial stability for marginalized creators interested in building games studios. Damage Labs’ mission is to eliminate barriers to starting and sustaining game studios owned and led by members of marginalized communities.

Grant amount: $63,100

Location: Ontario
Program Focus: Social Enterprise
Grant Streams: Investment Readiness 2022

CANVAS online shop and Arts-based product development

CANVAS’s mission is to prevent gender-based and sexual violence, homophobia, and transphobia. They provide life-saving arts-based workshops, consultations and educational programs focused on 2SLGBTQI+ inclusion, consent, healthy relationships, and gender equity. They also run an online shop that sells educational posters, pins, and poetry chapbooks created by in-house artists and program participants. CANVAS plans to adapt and expand the shop, reinvesting its revenue in its mission of increasing 2SLGBTQ+ inclusion and consent education for youth.

Grant amount: $74,607

Location: Ontario
Program Focus: Social Enterprise
Grant Streams: Investment Readiness 2022

caterToronto Investment Readiness Preparation

caterToronto is a women-led non profit that addresses systemic issues in the food industry and works to advance food sovereignty, food security, and food justice. They focus on producing self-led food solutions for communities and sustained support for BIPOC and newcomer women launching food businesses. caterToronto, in partnership with Foodshare Toronto, plans to increase their capacity to diversify their revenue, create a more sustainable business model, and create a strategy for social financing and investment.

Grant amount: $74,916

Location: Ontario
Program Focus: Social Enterprise
Grant Streams: Investment Readiness 2022

Upskilling For Equity Phase 2:  Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Training Services

CAWI and NORCC, two community-based organizations, are partnering to scale an existing social enterprise that provides a sliding scale fee-for-service training on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) for non-profits, municipalities, businesses, and corporations. CAWI will train women from diverse communities in workshop facilitation and employ them as facilitators to deliver workshops to organizations on JEDI topics.

Grant amount: $75,000

Location: Ontario
Program Focus: Social Enterprise
Grant Streams: Investment Readiness 2022

“Buy One, Give One” – Increasing and diversifying our reach and impact

Project10, a service provider and advocacy organization for 2SLGBTQI+ youth, and Coop Unime, a non-profit cooperative focused on education, sexuality, and health, are collaborating to promote and expand Coop Unime’s six-month celebratory sex and relationship program through their app and interactive workshops, weekly resources, and supportive video calls. The project intends to take the “Buy One, Give One” (BOGO) approach with stakeholders to increase sales, expand their impact and diversify revenues for their programming, services, and training courses, while offering free participation to women, non-binary, and gender-queer people in underserved communities.

Grant amount: $74,970

Location: Quebec
Program Focus: Social Enterprise
Grant Streams: Investment Readiness 2022