Edmonton 3 October 2024 The Edmonton Community Foundation today announced the appointment of Ryan Young as the Director of the Social Enterprise Fund. “Ryan will be responsible for driving SEF’s strategic direction and program development to social impact initiatives across Alberta. He brings a wealth of leadership experience from academia, having served as Dean at two prominent institutions.
After thirteen years in the Executive Director chair at SEF, it is time for me to move on. This role has been a highlight of my life, and mostly because of the front row seat it has given me to witness the amazing, community-changing work accomplished by SEF’s clients.
Every day SEF works with entrepreneurs—non-profits, for-profits, cooperatives – determined to find a better way to do things, to create a sustainable economy leading to a more inclusive community that works for everybody. Some people call what we do ‘innovative’. Innovation can be an interesting word.
The second round of the Investment Readiness Program (IRP) opened on September 8th until October 9th, 2020. The first round of the IRP provided a number of important lessons for applicants that IRP Alberta (of which SEF is a partner) hope will be a benefit in this round. These key lessons, listed below, should help to develop stronger applications.
There are a number of ideas I find myself returning to over and over again in my work with SEF’s clients – a few simple basics that may help in your thinking about working in the world of social enterprise. Income must be bigger than outgo, or you don’t get to play.
Just over a year ago, I was asked to speak on the topic “The Secret of Financing for Social Entrepreneurs.” I recently came across the notes for that talk, and realized they’re still relevant – and thought I should share them here. If you have ever tried to launch any kind of enterprise or business, you will know that access to money at the right time can be key to your success.
SEF has always believed that big impact can be created if you look at the opportunities in your own community. Lately, we have partnered in several interesting conversations and projects using community economic development to improve the lives of Albertans. If you would like to read more about community economic development and what it can do, take a look at two new publications in The Library on this site.
