Register soon for early bird discounts on training courses scheduled for 2023.

Public and private sector purchasers, join a cohort of the Social Procurement Professional Certificate course to gain in-depth knowledge of the fundamental components of social procurement success from development to implementation.

February 2023 (Early bird deadline: December 22)

April 2023 (Early bird deadline: February 2022)

More details or apply now.

This three-part training will delve into the art and importance of storytelling through the unique lens of social value suppliers. At the end of the workshop you will have developed a short video to share on your website or social media.

Upcoming cohort:

January 2023 (Early bird deadline: December 8)

More details or apply now.

Give a gift that gives back when you purchase from a social enterprises this holiday season. Whether you're buying gifts for loved ones or for corporate events and thank you's, there are Certified Social Enterprises across Canada selling high-quality goods while creating additional benefit for community.

Learn more about how to #GiftSocial this year, and follow the hashtag on social media for more inspiration and gift ideas.

The theme of the 2022 Buy Social Canada Symposium of ‘Broad New Horizons’ beautifully encapsulates the breadth and energy of this year’s event. We heard from social enterprises, diverse suppliers, corporations, institutions, federal and local government and intermediaries of various sizes from across Canada, all working on social procurement.

Read the full Symposium recap for highlights and key takeaways.

We had a great time connecting with social value suppliers and and social purchasers in Vancouver's construction sector last month, and are thrilled to hear about the connections and contracts that have resulted from this in person trade show. Thanks to everyone who joined us!

Pictured from L-R, Top to Bottom:

1) Purchasers and suppliers connecting at 312 Main 2) Certified Social Enterprise DIVERSEcity 3) Certified Social Enterprise Flavours of Hope 4) ACCESS Bladerunners and ACCESS Trades

City of Peterborough Council approved a Procurement By-Law Update, which includes moving ahead with social procurement implementation at the City.

With the approval of the new Procurement By-law, the Social Procurement Implementation strategy will move forward with pilot projects, training, measurement and reporting, and the creation of a multi-stakeholder working group. We look forward to continued collaboration with the City and community as we support social procurement implementation in Peterborough.

Big thanks to the team of the St. John's Morning Show at CBC for having our Managing Partner David Lepage, along with representatives from Choices for Youth and the NL Social Enterprise and Innovation Coalition, on to talk about social procurement and opportunities to invest in better social outcomes through social purpose businesses in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Listen to the segment.

As municipalities across several Canadian provinces voted in new Mayors and Councils through October, Michelle Lackie, Executive Director of Exchange Inner City called on the new leadership in the City of Vancouver to continue implementing social procurement to advance community economic development in an article for The Tyee. While focused on Vancouver examples, her message is relevant across Canada.

Are you interested in learning about economic reconciliation and how your purchasing can respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's 92nd Call to Action which calls on corporations to build relationships and ensure job and training opportunities for Indigenous people?

Purchasing Power is a speaker series featuring experts who are putting the principles of a social value marketplace into action, hosted by the British Columbia Social Procurement Initiative (BCSPI).

Join us for the first event of the 2022/23 series

November 15, 2022

1-2 pm PST / 4-5 pm EST

With speakers:

Matthew Foss, Canadian Council For Aboriginal Business

Janine Kruse, Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo

Tim Laronde, Chandos Construction

The Investment Readiness Program is designed to help social enterprises to explore, grow, and flourish across the country, contributing to solving pressing social, cultural and environmental challenges. As a social enterprise, your organization can apply for between $10,000-$75,000 in non-repayable capital to help launch, design, measure and scale your social enterprises, to get ready to seek future investment in Canada’s growing social finance marketplace.

The application form for a non-repayable grant can be viewed here and can be submitted online here.

For more information on program guidelines please see here.

BCBusiness has acknowledged Marcia Nozick as Entrepreneur of the Year 2022 for her tireless work as CEO of EMBERS Staffing Solutions, where she uses her social enterprise and non-profit work to "fire up companies and employees alike." Congratulations!

Some of our team was recently in Brisbane, Australia for the Social Enterprise World Forum. While visiting, they got to take a tour of some local social enterprises in the nearby City of Logan.

Learn about these Australian enterprises creating community capital.

Social enterprises, get involved and fill out a short survey that will take about 10 minutes of your time. You will be among the first to receive the study’s findings on best practices for project management in social enterprises, and you can enter for a chance to win Buy Social Canada procurement training and a copy of David LePage's book Marketplace Revolution.

Respond to the survey.