Meaningful Social Change Demands Smarter Philanthropic Investing. Bruce Dewar, President and CEO LIFT Philanthropy Partners

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1 Meaningful Social Change Demands Smarter Philanthropic Investing Bruce Dewar, President and CEO LIFT Philanthropy Partners

2 Foreword Without a doubt, Canada s people are its greatest resource. Yet, even as business leaders, community leaders and politicians work to build our economic prosperity, there are still so many people who struggle to fulfill their personal potential, which is tragic both for them and for our country. This is why I am passionate about supporting new ways to ensure everyone has access to the foundations of a prosperous life: education, skill development, meaningful employment, and good health for all Canadians. LIFT Philanthropy Partners is one of those new ways. I am proud to have been asked to join its National Leadership Council, to support LIFT s work accelerating the opportunities available to Canadians who are unemployed or underemployed, who are at risk of or already suffer from a chronic disease, or who are not achieving what they need to at school. Our people are not the only ones who face barriers to achieving their potential. Many good social purpose organizations across Canada are unable to achieve as much as they could, and help as many individuals as they d like to because they lack the resources needed to develop and grow. This is where LIFT comes in. LIFT brings the best package of business expertise and financial support to the highest-potential social sector organizations, with an innovative methodology that has proven hugely effective elsewhere in the world at solving deeply entrenched societal issues. The talented LIFT team has experience in both the corporate and the non-profit worlds, and they are passionate about their work building a better Canada. Innovation and growth have always been the driving forces in my life, which is why I am so excited about LIFT s venture philanthropy approach to building more efficient, more effective, more impactful and more sustainable social purpose organizations. Please join me in supporting LIFT. Together we can help solve some of the complex problems facing our country, and ensure a better future for all. Annette Verschuren, OC

3 Meaningful Social Change Demands Smarter Philanthropic Investing Bruce Dewar, President and Chief Executive Officer of LIFT Philanthropy Partners, addresses some of the challenges Canada s social sector is facing, and what needs to change for the country and all who live here to fulfill their potential. Introduction: Something needs to change The most successful countries in the world are those that, according to the World Economic Forum Human Capital Index, offer an environment encouraging strong education attainment, a population with physical and mental health well-being, skill development and training to ensure suitable employment. This year, Canada ranks fourth, in a global index of 124 countries. Despite this strong showing, we still have some huge and persistent social and economic problems. Not everyone is thriving. About 20% of working-age Canadians have not completed high school 1 and even those who do often struggle to make the transition from school to work. Sixty per cent of Canadians age 20 and older have at least one chronic disease, and eighty per cent are at risk of developing one. 2 Forty-two per cent of adults between the ages of 16 and 65 have low literacy skills 3. Many Canadians are unemployed or underemployed, despite 1.3 million vacant skilled labor jobs expected to remain unfilled in (Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, 2013) For too many, the situation is not improving. Nor is this likely to change substantially for the next generation unless we do something differently. An estimated one child in five is not getting the start in life they deserve (UNICEF, 2014). Conditions can be even worse for Aboriginal children, who trail the rest of Canada s children on practically every measure of well-being. Not only are billions of dollars spent every year trying to address these serious issues, but they all carry steep economic costs as well. Costs attributable to chronic disease are $190 billion annually ($68 billion in direct health care costs and the rest in lost productivity). 4 The Canadian Chamber of Commerce ranks skills shortages as number one on the list of the top ten barriers to Canadian competitiveness, costing our economy billions annually. A 1% increase in the literacy rate would generate $18 billion in economic growth every year. 5 1 Conference Board of Canada; (accessed July 2, 2015) 2 M. T. Betancourt, MD, MSc; K. C. Roberts, MSc; T-L. Bennett, MSc; E. R. Driscoll, MSc; G. Jayaraman, MPH, PhD; L. Pelletier, MD, MPH, FRCPC. Spring Public Health Agency of Canada. Monitoring chronic diseases and injuries in Canada; the Chronic Disease Indicator Framework 3 (accessed July 6, 2015) 4 K. Elmslie Public Health Agency of Canada. Against the Growing Burden of Chronic Disease. (accessed July 6, 2015) 5 (accessed July 6, 2015) 3 liftpartners.ca

4 Yet the number of people facing economic and social barriers that prevent them from living healthy lifestyles and accessing career and lifestyle opportunities continues to rise. Millions of Canadians are still unable to reach their full potential because they do not have access to the tools and opportunities they need to thrive in society. There is a significant human and financial cost when we fail to address these issues properly. Something needs to change. Canada is at a crossroads. If indeed the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results, then it is incumbent on anyone who is passionate about effecting social change to consider new ways of tackling Canada s social ills. We all need to play our part in civil society, if we are to build a Canada where everyone has the opportunity to thrive. The challenge we face In order to truly transform vulnerable people s lives and fulfill our potential as a country, we need to find a more effective way to support the social purpose organizations (SPOs) that are on the front lines of social care in Canada. Canada s SPOs are spending more than $106 billion (8.1% of our total GDP) annually to serve their clients and support their operations. 6 At the same time, billions are being contributed to charities, not-for-profits and social enterprises. But despite the best efforts of hardworking SPOs and generous donors and investors, we still seem to be only scratching the surface on deeply damaging, widespread social issues such as chronic disease, unemployment and insufficient attainment of education and skills. We need our investments in society to work harder, to deliver greater impact on a larger scale, to help our vulnerable and at-risk populations in more significant numbers. 6 (accessed July 7, 2015) liftpartners.ca 4

5 LITTLE PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE Since 1984, charitable giving has significantly increased but we have yet to make a dent in some of Canada s most pressing social issues 30% $8B 25% $6B 20% 15% $4B 10% $2B 5% Unemployment Rate Canada Poverty Canada Obesity Increase Canada Value of Donations Claimed Source: LIFT Philanthropy Partners Of course, government alone cannot tackle everything. Generous philanthropists and corporations also provide much-needed support to the social sector. But without a shared vision for social impact and strategic collaboration that maximizes resources, even the best efforts can feel fragmented and progress frustratingly slow. There are islands of good practice that show potential but without more joined-up support, even these will make no discernible difference on population-level numbers. Many SPOs - in fact, most SPOs still find themselves on a fundraising hamster wheel in order to meet daily running costs. This, coupled with an increasing demand for services, is straining some SPOs to the breaking point. Imagine Canada estimates that there are around 170,000 non-profit and charitable organizations in Canada, with 54% of them run entirely by volunteers. 7 It is no surprise, then, that many SPOs lack: robust systems and structures consistent funding effective governance accurate impact measurement data the ability and capacity to scale up. The talented chief executives who head our SPOs are so busy keeping their organizations afloat and serving their vulnerable clients that there is little or no time left for the long-term business planning or evaluation that would be the first steps in building their capacity so 7 Imagine Canada (accessed July 6, 2015) 5 liftpartners.ca

6 so they could help many more people. This is especially true of smaller SPOs, which are often the source of innovation that has the potential to transform lives sustainably. The system is not designed to support capacity building; instead the simplistic measure of ratios (a comparison of administrative and fundraising costs to program delivery costs) is often applied instead of measures of outcomes and impact as a proxy for the effectiveness of an organization, discouraging SPOs from investing in their own future growth. Something is clearly wrong with this system. If we do not address the challenges of our over-stretched, under-resourced social sector, we are promulgating a recipe for disaster. Surely it is within our grasp to build a Canada where all Canadians have the foundations for a prosperous life: improved health, educational success and sustainable, meaningful employment. But in order to do this, we all need to make smarter investments with our charitable resources both money and time in order to turn good causes into great investments, fit for purpose to support the current and future generations. Venture Philanthropy: a proven approach that has the potential to transform Canada s social sector Venture philanthropy (VP) is a philanthropic methodology that has already been shown to be hugely effective elsewhere in the world, and is currently being pioneered here in Canada. It involves investing in proven SPOs with unrealized growth potential - providing a valuable package of dedicated resources including strategic funding, business expertise and hands-on management support - to build the capacity of these ambitious, impactful SPOs. Venture philanthropy deploys many of the same principles as venture capital, but the emphasis is on the social, rather than financial, return. The main characteristics of venture philanthropy include: provision of a valuable strategic package of financial, human and intellectual capital targeting organization-wide capacity building strategic funding on a multi-year basis, typically three years or more focus on meaningful, measurable outcomes a high level of engagement between the SPO and the investors a planned exit, when SPOs are ready to move on to their next stage of development. liftpartners.ca 6

7 Venture philanthropy is enabling donors to support SPOs in a more strategic and effective way Strategic Focus Scale of Intervention Sector Focus Funding mechanisms Engagement style Engagement period Culture and capability of staff Success criteria From Widespread giving Project-based Charity or non-profit Grants Minimal Short (1-2 years) Altruistic, administrative, financial Inputs and outputs Targeted investing Systems-based Sector-agnostic Blended finance Toward Supplying partner with technical assistance and capacity building Long (more than 3 years) Innovative, multi-disciplinary, commercial Outcomes and impact Source: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Venture philanthropy organizations usually invest in proven SPOs that have: strong leadership who demonstrate operational and adaptive capacity a proven theory of change and distinctive delivery model that is outcome-driven the ability and the desire to scale and replicate been in operation for a minimum of three years. annual expenditure of a certain scale, e.g., between $750,000 and $2 million several years of audited financial statements. 7 liftpartners.ca Ambitious SPOs respond enthusiastically to the venture philanthropy approach, because it provides them with a robust, multi-year business plan to achieve their potential. Equally important, it provides them with focused support from talented professionals, who work in partnership with them on things like developing long-term business plans, diversifying income sources, fundraising tools and connections, profile-raising strategies and support, coaching of the senior staff, data capture and management, impact measurement, franchising agreements and fitfor-growth financial systems. Once SPOs understand that in order to grow their impact, they need to invest in their own infrastructure (rather than channelling all their money to program delivery), they are poised for sustainable growth.

8 Venture philanthropy support package can unlock an SPO s true potential and help it to thrive. Charities on their own Survive Lack of money and skills Focus on day-to-day Stretched CEO fundraising to maintain Producing and implementing business plans Attracting top talent, new funding and partnerships Reaching more people Providing clear and direction Connecting with pro bono expertise to build capacity Achieving high impact, with accurate impact measurements Thrive Charities with VP support Source: Impetus Trust Impact Report /12 Donors enjoy contributing to the venture philanthropy methodology because they know their money will only be invested in SPOs whose programs are proven to be effective, and will be leveraged by pro bono and management support custom-designed to grow the capacity and impact of the SPO. They also know that venture philanthropists place a huge premium on impact measurement, and regular, accurate reports make it easier for donors to assess the difference their strategic funding is making. A donor summed this up nicely when he spoke about the satisfaction of knowing I have made the biggest difference possible with my money. liftpartners.ca 8

9 VP around the world The idea of applying entrepreneurial practices to social organizations is not new. The term venture philanthropy can be traced back to the mid 1900s. But it was a 1997 article in Harvard Business Review entitled Virtuous Capital: What Foundations Can Learn from Venture Capitalists that sparked a wave of interest in more business-like philanthropic investment in several countries around the world. Massachusetts-based New Profit Inc (newprofit.org) made its first VP investments in Mario Marino co-founded Venture Philanthropy Partners (vppartners.org) in 2000, in Washington, DC. In 2002, Social Ventures Australia (socialventures.com.au) was formed. Also in 2002, the UK s first VP organization, Impetus Trust (impetus-pef.org.uk), was launched. By 2004, global VP champion Doug Miller and several private equity colleagues had formed the European Venture Philanthropy Association, which has over 195 members from 27 countries across Europe. In 2011, the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network was created, which now has 220 members in 29 countries across Asia, all sharing information and experience of international best practice. This highly effective form of social investment is gaining momentum at a pace that even the most forward-thinking philanthropists and foundations could not have imagined 20 years ago. Five changes we would like to see in our society LIFT would like: 1. Philanthropists, corporations and foundations to provide multi-year funding to VP practitioners and SPOs to invest in organization-wide capacity building, as opposed to one-time funding going directly to program delivery. 2. Individuals and companies with relevant business skills to seek out opportunities to share them with ambitious, high-potential SPOs. Gifts of talent can be as valuable as gifts of money, when matched and managed correctly. 3. SPOs to ensure they have reliable and consistent impact measurement and management practices integrated into their core business. Good impact data gathering serves two purposes informing internal business planning decisions in order to maximize outcome delivery; and providing greater information to donors seeking social impact for their philanthropic investments. 4. Government to create innovative funds that would encourage cross-sector coinvestment and collaboration. Social innovation funds and social impact bonds backed by governments in other countries have unlocked significant new private funds for the social sector. 5. Leading foundations to partner more often with venture philanthropy practitioners who are tackling issues compatible with their own. Combining foundations deep sector knowledge and VP practitioners hands-on expertise in scaling organizations leverages both for greater impact. 9 liftpartners.ca

10 What VP can achieve New Profit Inc and imentor New Profit Inc is based in Boston, Massachusetts, with a portfolio of VP investments across the United States. Founded in 1998, New Profit s stated mission is: to break down the barriers that stand between people and opportunity in America. We work with visionary entrepreneurs, philanthropists and other partners to upend the status quo and transform the way America educates its children, propels people toward social and financial stability, and creates healthy communities. In 2009, New Profit invested in imentor, an organization founded in 1999 that matches students in low-income communities with a mentor, to empower them to graduate from high school, succeed in college, and achieve their ambitions. In 2013, imentor s Chief Executive Officer Mike O Brien described the impact New Profit has had on his organization. Before New Profit, imentor was serving 1000 students in a single city. This year, imentor is serving 5000 students in 15 communities across the country. New Profit has made tremendous contributions to imentor s growth and evolution. New Profit s deal partner Doug Borchard has worked with our organization every week for the last five years. New Profit has supported imentor in the development of two five-year strategic plans, each of which included successful growth capital campaigns ($8M and $27.5M respectively). These plans ensured the capital and strategic rigor necessary for imentor to scale our programs nationally, while maintaining the quality of our programming and increasing our impact on students. Over the next five years, imentor aspires to serve 20,000 new students. Being a part of New Profit is a validation of your work and a challenge to take it to the next level. Social Ventures Australia and Beacon Foundation Social Ventures Australia (SVA) works to improve the lives of people in need. They describe their work as focusing on: keys to overcoming disadvantage in Australia, including great education, sustainable jobs, stable housing and appropriate health, disability and community services. By offering funding, investment and advice, we support partners across sectors to increase their social impact. In 2002, SVA invested in the Beacon Foundation, an organization that influences the attitudes and culture of Australians so that each young person develops an independent will to achieve success for themselves and their community. Beacon works with schools where students have lower levels of literacy, numeracy and comprehension and often drop out of school early, limiting their future opportunities. Beacon s programs complement the schools careers curriculum and help students make informed, aspirational decisions about their future pathways. Since SVA s investment in 2002, Beacon has grown from a Tasmanian-based organization working with 10 schools and approximately 850 participants, to a national organization delivering nine core programs running in 135 liftpartners.ca 10

11 schools across Australia, reaching more than 10,000 young people every year. During its investment period with Beacon, SVA provided funding and support in areas such as strategy development, social return on investment analysis, and stakeholder and investor management. The results Beacon is now achieving are impressive: After completing the Beacon program, 98.8% of Beacon students were fully engaged in work, education or training six months post Year 10, 4% higher than the national average. Beacon students are over four times less likely to be disengaged from full time education, training or employment after Year 10, than the national average for 16 year olds. Beacon Foundation CEO Scott Harris reflected on his work with SVA: The SVA engagement over the last 10 years has been a fundamental part of our journey of national growth, supporting 135 schools and achieving real impact in those communities. SVA has provided Beacon with the necessary advice, process, mentoring and hands-on support to advance our work. Without this we would not have been able to reach the number of students or progress the number of schools we work with nationally to provide a more positive future for young Australians. Impetus Trust and St Giles Trust Impetus Trust, formed in 2002, pioneered venture philanthropy in the UK. The organization invested in charities and social enterprises working with economically disadvantaged people to help them break the cycle of poverty. (In 2013, it merged with the Private Equity Foundation, to form Impetus PEF, and now focuses its work on transforming the lives of year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds by ensuring they get the support they need to succeed in education, find and keep jobs, and achieve their potential.) In 2003/4, Impetus invested in St Giles Trust, an organization working to reduce re-offending through a range of services for ex-offenders. Over a four-year investment period, Impetus provided a package of support valued at 1,108,097, with 522,000 of grant funding as well as hands-on guidance from the Impetus investment team, and expertise from pro bono experts on 14 separate projects, including strategic planning, organizational and team development, marketing, business development and tendering for statutory contracts. 11 liftpartners.ca

12 By the time St Giles exited the Impetus portfolio, it had achieved an impressive 73% average annual growth in the numbers of people it was able to help, expanded from working in two prisons to working in 24, and more than tripled its annual income, including increased earned income. Most exciting is the fact that St Giles was selected as the lead charity for the world s first social impact bond (SIB), whereby investors receive a return on their financial investment if improved social outcomes exceed an agreed threshold, from the savings the Government would accrue due to reduced re-offending. Venture philanthropy at work in Canada Although venture philanthropy in Canada has not been in practice for enough years to have fully achieved the scaling activity and long-term results noted in the international case studies cited in this paper, good results are already being realized. VP organization LIFT Philanthropy Partners has invested in Women Building Futures (WBF) to help it grow the number of women it is able to help achieve economic prosperity and stability through careers in the trades. WBF offers training, coaching, job placement and job retention support in heavy equipment operation and construction careers to unemployed and underemployed women in Alberta. The goal of the three-year partnership, which began in 2012/2013, is to position WBF to increase the number of women entering and succeeding in trades by 300% in five years, which will mean 6,000 more women into the industry. This will have the dual benefit of helping women become more economically independent, and helping to address Canada s shortage of skilled workers. Already, LIFT has invested more than $560,000 in WBF, and focused its management support and expertise on developing the WBF business model, organizational capacity, communications outreach, funding stream diversity and change management capabilities during this challenging period of growth. Pro bono partners who have contributed to WBF s progress include KPMG (Edmonton), National Public Relations (Calgary), Imagenterra (Edmonton) and Blake s LLP (Calgary), Richardson Management Inc. (Vancouver) and PwC. WBF Chief Executive JudyLynn Archer says, LIFT has helped us dream bigger, ensure we have the foundation in place to make those dreams a reality, and build our capacity to deliver on our big ambition. We have already been able to enroll 21% more women in our training programs, and have secured $3.6 million in new funding. This is just the beginning of our plans to expand our work beyond Alberta, to be able to help any woman, anywhere in Canada who is serious about exploring a career in the trades. liftpartners.ca 12

13 How exactly does Venture Philanthropy work? The key to venture philanthropy is the pairing of money and expertise. Venture philanthropy provides SPOs with a valuable package of management support and business expertise alongside strategic funding, in order to help high-potential SPOs to grow their reach and impact. Venture Philanthropy has the powerful capacity to stimulate Venture philanthropy provides a package of financial support and activity across the social impact ecosystem business expertise that helps SPOs to scale up for greater social impact Spectrum of Scial Purpose Organizations Venture Philanthropy Impact Investing Impact Only Impact First Finance First Charity: grantdependent Charity: grants and trading revenue Social Enterprise: <75% trading revenue Social Enterprise: break-even Social Enterprise: profitable reinvest surplus Sociallydriven Business: distribute some profits Business: Sustainable business practices Business: allocate % profit to charity CSR++ Business: mainstream company Key driver Create social value Organizations can create blended social and financial value Key driver Create financial value Source: Adapted by AVPN from Skoll Centre, EVPA, CAF Venturesome, Noaber Foundation This is usually done in a series of phases. Due diligence One of the main activities of VP organizations is finding the right high-potential SPOs in which to invest. Given the 171,000 non-profits and charities in Canada, it might seem easy to find organizations eager to engage in the VP process, but narrowing the numbers down to find those SPOs with the greatest potential for scale involves careful screening, tapping into networks and deploying marketing strategies that will reach out to those SPOs best suited to this transformational methodology. Once a potential SPO investee is identified, there is a rigorous process of due diligence. 13 liftpartners.ca

14 The process can take some months, and demands commitment on the part of the SPO s senior leadership team, who are often not used to this level of scrutiny. Areas that are usually reviewed during the due diligence period include: business planning, financial history, measurement data and market analysis. It s during the due diligence process that a level of openness, mutual trust and partnership is established, which underpins the entire VP SPO relationship. At the conclusion of the due diligence period, a case for investment, including growth potential and milestones, is presented to the VP s investment committee, board or relevant governing body for a decision. SPOs often comment on the value of the detailed due diligence process, where they are working hand-in-hand with investors and business experts examining their services, processes, records, results, and are able to identify gaps that need to be addressed as they develop. Investment Throughout the investment period, a director from the VP organization s social impact team provides direct management support to the SPO, controls the provision of strategic funding and business expertise throughout the investment, and monitors progress against agreed targets. In the early investment stage, the focus is on long-range business planning, establishing specific milestones along the way that will position the SPO for a step change in its operation. Examples of ways in which strategic funding might be deployed include capacity-building activities like recruiting a CFO or fundraising director, installing a CRM database system, or building a new website. VP is a very engaged form of investment, with the VP s impact team, senior leaders at the SPO and specialist business experts working in partnership to build the SPO s capacity and prepare for significant growth. During this capacity-building phase, the focus is not on doing something for the SPO; it is about building the capacity of the SPO to do it for themselves, through the transfer of skills. The human and intellectual capital (systems and methodologies) brought to SPOs can be just as important as the strategic funding. In fact, it isn t uncommon for CEOs of investee organizations to comment that while they were initially attracted to the strategic funding, over time it became increasingly clear to them that it was actually the business expertise that made the greatest difference and allowed them to grow at a much greater rate than they could otherwise have achieved. During the investment period, significant emphasis is placed on identifying and scaling only those aspects of the SPO s offering that demonstrate measurable change in the lives of beneficiaries they re serving. In order to help SPOs to become less grant dependent wherever possible, VP organizations devote considerable resource to ensuring robust impact measurement systems are in place. Until fairly recently, many organizations measured outputs, such as how many participants attended an SPO s workshops, and this seemed to satisfy donors. Donor sophistication have evolved though, and now most want to see measurable outcomes from the organizations they invest in, such as how many young people found and kept jobs. This has paved the way for the advent of social investment involving a financial return. Delivery of agreed outcomes is a requirement liftpartners.ca 14

15 for donors to collect a financial return if they are participating in a social impact bond or other new financial instruments being applied to the social sector. Consequently, in order to ensure an SPO is investment ready, it needs to be impact ready. In this regard, venture philanthropy plays a crucial role in developing SPOs, which is often not provided for in any other way. By the end of the investment period, SPOs are delivering meaningful, measurable and scalable social outcomes, and are prepared to move on to the next phase of their growth and development. Exit In the private equity/venture capital world, investments are undertaken for a defined period of time, and then they exit in order for investors to realize the profit on the investment. It is similar in the VP world. Investments are made for a certain period of time in order to help the SPO to grow and when they are achieving the anticipated social return on investment and are ready to move on to the next stage of development in the social impact ecosystem, the SPO exits. VP organizations do not want SPOs to become dependent on either their financial or their non-financial support. A managed and timely exit is planned from the beginning, and is usually related to a step change being achieved, and the SPO being financially sustainable. This could be through earned revenue streams, a next stage venture philanthropist, social investors, contracted government services, new philanthropic funding or a combination of several of these. Venture philanthropy provides a package of financial support and business expertise that helps SPOs scale up for greater social impact 15 liftpartners.ca

16 The role of pro bono partners An essential component of the VP package is the support that comes from skilled professionals and partner organizations that volunteer their time and expertise to help SPOs in the VP portfolio build their capacity and grow their impact. This pro bono support usually centers on essential areas such as: strategy, governance, fundraising, legal, HR, research and evaluation, IT and financial management systems. All pro bono experts are carefully selected for their particular skills and fit prior to being matched with an SPO project. The timing of capacity building projects is considered in the business planning process, to ensure that the SPO doesn t get overburdened with too many projects being undertaken at the same time. A brief is developed for all major projects, including objectives, deliverables, milestones and deadlines. Without this careful organization and management, well-meaning pro bono experts can feel their contributions are ineffectual, and SPOs can be less than enthusiastic about committing time to external advice, even when it s free. Global VP champion Doug Miller says that VP has the power to translate what s in your heart to the practical how you can help - to move skilled professionals from want to to how to. The partners who give valuable in-kind time and skills get more than usual out of their experience, because the VP organization works with the SPOs first to identify their needs, develop their business plans and ready them for the support. When a pro bono partner is brought in, the groundwork has been laid, and greater results can be achieved. It s a win-win for all concerned. Questions we would like donors to ask themselves when considering their next major gift Donors and social investors usually give to issues that touch their hearts. But if they want to ensure their money makes a lasting difference, they also need to use their heads, to identify the most impactful organizations in which to invest, with the greatest potential to effect short, medium and long-term change. LIFT would like to see donors thinking about: 1. How will my donation be spent, and how confident am I that this is the best possible use of my money? 2. Should I be backing organization-wide capacity-building (rather than just program delivery) with a portion of my gift, so this organization will be able to help many more people? 3. Do I have any skills to offer, which might help this organization to develop? 4. Will my money be leveraged in some way, for even greater impact? 5. How confident am I that this organization is gathering accurate and meaningful metrics about its impact? Are these being used for planning? Are they available to donors? 6. Should I earmark a portion of my donation for evaluation and impact measurement, because impressive results in this area have the potential to multiply resources available to the organization, and help SPOs refine their offerings for greater impact? 7. Is the scale of our current solutions adequate to the scale of the social problems Canada faces? If not, what am I going to do differently? liftpartners.ca 16

17 Conclusion Effective philanthropy is no longer about simply donating money to a good cause and hoping it does some good. We need to surround SPOs with a diverse network of support to enable them to deliver on their missions and provide even greater social impact that meaningfully and systemically improves lives and our country. By providing SPOs with expertise, leadership, volunteer time and strategic funding focused on capacity-building, we can help them to be effective and sustainable. These meaningful contributions are valued by SPOs and can help develop a social sector that is more efficient and impactful, and better resourced. As Canadians, we have the ability to transform good causes into great investments, and fundamentally change the lives of our vulnerable and atrisk populations. To drive positive and lasting social change, and deliver prosperity for all Canadians, something needs to change. I urge you to join me to drive real impactful change in Canada. About Bruce Dewar: Bruce has more than 25 years of experience consulting with private companies and public agencies, including on international projects spanning 12 countries. Prior to his work at LIFT, he was CEO of 2010 Legacies Now, where he developed and supported projects to help British Columbia leverage the Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic Games into lasting legacies for the entire province. Bruce holds a Master of Science degree in the management of technology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He speaks internationally on the subject of social change, and is passionate about making sure all Canadians, including our most vulnerable residents, have the opportunities to succeed and achieve their full potential. About LIFT Philanthropy Partners: LIFT is setting a new standard in philanthropic investment in Canada by pioneering venture philanthropy to grow the impact of high-potential SPOs. The model has proven successful in other countries at addressing entrenched societal problems. 17 liftpartners.ca