Feds Hurried to Spend $50M Social-Finance Cash, Documents Show

The Federal Government supported social-financing in the lead up to the recent general election. Senator Omidvar has been a strong proponent of social finance, at the same time she cautions the government about the realities of partnering with organizations that do not have the capacity to meet important standards for the distribution of these public funds. “You can’t just simply push the money out the door without making sure that there is a higher bar on capacity, on understanding, how to service investments, how to capture data and evidence.”

Senator Omidvar reminds us that these financial inputs can not be measured in only monetary ways, and that the ‘returns’ in society will be seen in the long run. With patience these organization and projects can build capacity, and in doing so meet their goals to strengthen Canadian society.

The article speaks to a larger fund that the federal government is now in the midst of distributing. The documents reveal an internal debate about how to appropriately use these funds to help social enterprises.

Stephen Huddart, president and CEO of the McConnell Foundation relays how important this is to the sector, “the Liberals have put some $800 million behind the social-finance initiative that has been the subject of behind-the-scenes debate since first announced just over a year ago. The concept has cross-party support and groups working in the nascent sector are looking forward to seeing the final details of how the bulk of the money will be distributed,”

Read the entire Canadian Press article on the CTV News website.