Canadians hesitate in their optimism
“In my opinion, we still have a long way to go in bringing together these diverse perspectives into a coherent set of responses, but this was a good start that the group committed to building on.” say the folks at Social Finance CA
October 27th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Just to clarify - in being cautiously optimisic, I was referring specifically to the discussion around social impact and metrics. This was also what I heard from others, thought I think that SoCap has created the start of another set of discussions to push this agenda forward (including creating a Google group on impact/metrics to continue the conversation online).
Around social capital markets in general, though, I think there is much more reason to be optimisic. The conference was oversubscribed, people made a concrete effort to bridge silos, and we’re seeing important commitments of time, money and effort towards the development of this hybrid space. All very positive signs of progress!
So Canadians may be cautiously optimisic around many things, but around social finance, I’d say we’re more optimistic than cautious! Some of the Canadian attendees are looking for SoCap to be a catalyst for their own efforts - and we are already making progress: the Social Finance Forum will be held on Nov. 18 in Toronto. See http://www.marsdd.com/socialfinanceforum
October 29th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Well put Karim. Canadian conservatism has served us well in the banking sector recently but it also has us many years behind where the US and UK are in this field though. That said we do have some great examples and things to drawn on, particularly at the provincial level, and as a nation we do have an opportunity to make some big leaps. I also see the social capital markets having an opportunity to step beyond political boundaries and work in a unique local/international balance. We canucks tend to be stealthy but I sense we are starting to take this up in a big way!