Tie Toronto | Pat Shaw | Nov 5, 2013

TiE Institute - Wednesday, November 6th (6-9PM) session How to fund your venture, what do Investors look for, sources and type of funding, crowd funding opportunities. Also learn about Ashoka"s Changemaker"s challenge
Topic: How to Fund your social enterprise
- What do investors look for?
- What are different sources of funds for Social Enterprise?
- Understand different Types of Funding available to ventures.
- Learn about crowd funding opportunities.

Date and Time: Wednesday, November 6, 2013 from 6:00 to 9:00 pm (Pizza/Sandwich provided)

Venue: Courtesy: Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP, 16th Floor, 1 First Canadian Place, 100 King Street West, Suite 1600, Toronto, Ontario M5X 1G5 (Google Map)

Registration - Registration is mandatory

For In-Person session - Register Here For Nov 6

For Webcast - Register for Webcast Nov 6

Speaker(s)
- Adam Spence, Founder CEO-SVX, Associate Director, Impact Investing. MaRS
- Charles Tsai, Director of Learning Networks, Ashoka Canada
- Jonathan Hera, Fund Manager, Impact Investing, RBC
- Patrick Shaw, Vice Chair, National Crowd funding Association of Canada

Session Overview:

One of the main reasons for the failure of new ventures is under-capitalization by aspiring entrepreneur starting. Raising money is most important and intrinsic part of entrepreneurship. Till the business reaches break-even point, infusion of funds is required for survival and thereafter it may be required for growth or till it is sustainable.

Beyond bootstrapping, the main options are to borrow from friends and family, obtain grants, borrow from a bank, or seek equity funding including from angels, a venture capital. The accessibility to these options also depends on the nature and stage of development of new venture. It is important to understand sources of funds - What does investor look for? How to value your venture? What is the documentation involved? and accordingly pursue a strategic funding roadmap.

There is rapidly emerging alternate source of crowd funding. In addition to getting seed capital from supporters the entrepreneurs are able get valuable intelligence from their backers. The move to make available early equity funding from crowd sourcing in Canada is very strong after it was permitted south of the border.

In earlier sessions, we have covered Business Models, Budgeting, Forecasting, Financial Plan.

This session focuses on financing issues facing new, young, social business ventures.

The workshop will specifically cover on the following aspects:

- What is a social impact investor? How are they different?
- What kinds of investments do social impact investors make?
- Where do most social enterprises get financing for start-up, establishment, growth and expansion?
- Sources of finance grants, Angels and Venture Capital
- How is debt finance different?
- How new SVX initiative helps entrepreneurs?
- What do investors look for and how to attract investors?
- Crowd-funding - the opportunities and future.
- About Ashoka and the launch of Ashoka"s Changemakers Challenge

Speaker(S)

Adam Spence
Adam Spence has led the development of the SVX as founder and CEO. For more than 10 years, Adam has focused his work on driving social, economic and environmental justice through community development, education, social innovation and public policy change, as an advocate, researcher and social entrepreneur.

At MaRS, Adam helped found the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing and the School for Social Entrepreneurs - Ontario. He was executive director of the Ontario Association of Food Banks (OAFB) for five years, a community animator for the skilled trades in Hamilton, ON, and led the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA). In these positions, he successfully grew revenues, developed enterprise programs and successfully advocated for public policy change, including low-income grants for post-secondary students and Ontario"s Poverty Reduction Strategy.

Adam was awarded the Queen"s Jubilee Gold Medal in 2002, and in 2012 he was named one of McMaster University"s 125 People of Impact, an honor given to McMaster staff and alumni who have made the greatest impact over the past 125 years.

Charles Tsai
Charles Tsai is the Director of Learning Networks for Ashoka Canada. He leads a three year initiative to engage 30 colleges and universities in strengthening support for changemaking and social innovation. Through a series of national initiatives - including events, campaigns and special projects - Learning Networks will catalyze collaboration and learning across innovation ecosystems, locally and nationally.

A former reporter and producer for CNN, Charles ventured into the social sector in 2005 when he started Global Youth Fund, a charity based in Vancouver. In 2008, he joined Ashoka to launch global campaigns supporting young social entrepreneurs. He has mentored hundreds of young changemakers through Global Youth Fund and Ashoka"s Youth Venture. Charles writes about social innovation at SocialCreatives.org and Huffington Post.

Jonathan Hera
Jonathan manages the RBC Generator, a $10MM fund dedicated to investing in and supporting small enterprises that positively support social and environmental change within Canada.

Prior to joining RBC"s Social Finance Initiative, Jonathan worked on market development of the SVX at the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing. Prior to this, Jonathan served as Director, Investor Relations, of Sarona Asset Management. In addition, he held an Advisory Committee role with the GIIN"s ImpactBase. Before his time with Sarona, Jonathan worked with the World Bank"s CGAP on a third party microfinance initiative and with MEDA on capital raising and internal control systems development for a microfinance institution in Paraguay.

A Course Director at the Schulich School of Business, Jonathan is a CFA Level II Candidate and speaks proficient Spanish and German. He holds an International MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University, received a BA in Political Science and Italian from McGill University and earned a Nonprofit Leadership Diploma from the University for Peace, Costa Rica.

Patrick Shaw
Patrick Shaw is the Vice-Chair of National Crowd Funding Association of Canada. It is a national organization established to provide a forum and network for all businesses, industries and stakeholders across Canada interested in crowd funding. The place where professionals developing this new access to capital collaborate and share best practices, learn from peers, and make a difference in the growth of their start-up, social initiative, or business expansion in Canada. ncfacanada.org

As Executive Director of the YTA Pat is a community builder working to bring together members of the tech community throughout the Greater Toronto Region in support of a strong and healthy tech ecosystem.

Pat was president of the 1200 member Toronto he has been a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors of Canada, and he has served as a member of the York Region Human Services Planning Coalition.

Source:  here

University of Alberta | via Marty Gunderson | Nov 5, 2013

Crowdfunding Hangout

Tuesday, November 5 from 10 to 11 a.m., Google Hangouts

Our Google+ Hangout On Crowdfunding includes panelists who have successfully crowdfunded their projects, an industry expert and board member of a national crowdfunding organization, and a representative from a Canadian crowdfunding platform. They are going to introduce their organizations and their projects, explain what crowdfunding is, what it meant to their projects and provide advice on crowdfunding based on their experience or what they discovered for their industry. We want to wrap up with update on the status of their projects so you can keep watching their progress or find additional resources.

Attend this google hangout