Realize Capital Partners

“Realize Capital Partners have made significant progress with the Social Finance Fund since its implementation. The Social Finance Fund is tackling persistent social and environmental problems and supporting critical progress in social equity and gender equality for the social finance market in Canada.” - Jenna Sudds, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development   Read about our latest investments into Realize Fund I: https://lnkd.in/gSwB5aKc Emploi et Développement social Canada (EDSC) / Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)

NEW INVESTMENTS. Today we announce the second set of investments for Realize Fund I: seven investments, totalling a commitment of capital of $32.5 million. These new investments support our efforts to construct a portfolio that tackles inequity through multifaceted, positively reinforcing investments. These new investments are setting the stage for deep, broad positive impact across the country for years to come. They will help to enrich the social finance market by diversifying social finance intermediaries, extending capital to underrepresented areas and deepening the access equity-deserving groups have to social finance. As we build out the portfolio, it is demonstrating that it’s possible to secure risk-adjusted returns alongside strong positive impact. These new investments bring the portfolio differentiated investment strategies in real assets and real estate, as well as more private equity strategies, maintaining focus on financial return goals as well as impact performance goals. Realize Fund I wraps up 2024 with 16 investments, at a committed value of $67.7 million. Learn more about our portfolio: https://lnkd.in/gSwB5aKc  Amplify Capital, Area One Farms, Flowing River Capital, Heartwood Trust, Idealist Capital, Jubilee Fund, Maple Bridge Ventures, Misfit Ventures, New Market Funds, PaceZero Capital Partners , Raven Indigenous Capital Partners, Regenerative Capital Group, Relentless Venture Fund, The51 Food and AgTech Fund, Thrive Impact Fund, Windmill Microlending Emploi et Développement social Canada (EDSC) / Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)

As mentioned last week when it was launched, we welcome the SELI Coding System as a new tool to support our assessment of social equity and gender equality. Some more info about SELI can be found in this post from Emploi et Développement social Canada (EDSC) / Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC): https://lnkd.in/gGbVjP8D In this SELI Coding System Pilot Phase we'll continue to collaborate with and learn from the Government of Canada and other social finance market participants. SELI Coding is in a pilot phase and ESDC is soliciting comments and questions about it; email the department at NC-SOCIAL_INNOVATION_SOCIALE-GD@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca

One way to be positively impactful in 2025? Joining our advisory committee! We’re seeking new committee members for our sector advisory and our investment advisory committees. We’re looking for applications from people who, in addition to having the skills and experiences listed in the committee terms of reference, live outside of Ontario or are a member of an equity-deserving group, such as an Indigenous person or member of the LGBTQ community. Deadline: mid-December. Learn more: - Sector advisory: https://lnkd.in/gtgyXDD8 - Investment advisory: https://lnkd.in/gFMe-4Xf

We're at the Sustainable Finance Forum, and have just marked the launch of the Social Equity Lens Investment (SELI) Coding System, a tool to define, assess and track progress towards the Social Finance Fund’s investment targets of advancing social equity and gender equality. We’ve been pleased to support the development of this coding system, alongside other SFF wholesalers. We expect this new tool to be a useful addition to our assessment process. We’ll now be piloting the SELI Coding System. In this pilot phase we’ll continue to collaborate with and learn from Emploi et Développement social Canada (EDSC) / Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) and other social finance market participants to deepen a shared understanding of what strong social equity practices and outcomes look like.

The first Canadian-focused ImpactVC and Better Society Capital training program is wrapping up this week. 17 fund managers of varying fund vintages have participated in the five-week program, learning a world-class approach to integrating impact into venture capital and applying that to the Canadian context. We were pleased to sponsor this training as part of our market-building mandate.

Last week Lars Boggild, CFA was in New Mexico. “I was honoured to be a guest on the territory of the Tewa in Santa Fe, New Mexico to participate in Raven Indigenous Capital Partners’ AGM and Impact Feast. It was a great moment to learn more about investing in Indigenous communities across Canada and the US. Particularly grateful to bear witness to an investment transaction integrating decolonized practices between Raven and Animikii Inc. Thanks to the Raven team, in particular Nicole Johnny, MBA and Althea Wishloff, for organizing."

We’re looking forward to the Sustainable Finance Forum next week. In our view, the forum represents an important space for government and private investors to engage on some key issues. We are hopeful to see lively discussions and debates about policy initiatives that could propel more capital into positive impact outcomes. Here are a few of our policy ideas we’re hoping to explore – what do you think of them? Add your ideas in the comment fields or chat with us at the forum!   -- Impact-focused product classification that would build on the ongoing work of ESG and sustainable finance disclosure frameworks, including a tiered classification framework, similar to the SFDR but with a stronger emphasis on impact investing -- An impact investing disbursement quota for foundations that would incentivize deployment of endowed capital into positively impact investments -- Strengthened guidance for program-related investments in Canada to more closely parallel the equivalent regulatory framework in the US -- A “Community Reinvestment Act” or similar, to create durable supports for the creation of community development financial institutions, building on Canada’s existing strengths in credit unions -- Expanding the remit of Community Futures to explicitly incorporate social and environmental objectives while guiding the organization to support a wider range of organizations including nonprofits  

JOIN IN. We wish to add a couple of committee members to two of the advisory committees for Realize Capital Partners, in order to create committees that are more representative of the country. We’re looking for applications from people who, in addition to having the skills and experiences listed in the committee terms of reference, live outside of Ontario or are a member of an equity-deserving group, such as an Indigenous person or member of the LGBTQ community. Terms of reference and application instructions are online. Deadline: mid-December. https://lnkd.in/gdfAa4XY Please share these postings with your impact-focused networks to help us reach as many people as possible.

Lars Boggild, CFA enjoyed spending some of this morning learning about the challenges and opportunities for social purpose real estate in Toronto and hearing about the launch of United Way Greater Toronto's community real estate initiative in partnership with the University of Toronto Infrastructure Institute, which is poised to build capacity and pool resources for investable projects.