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Across Ontario, communities are coming together to reclaim ownership of community assets

These community assets are becoming spaces for change. We are witnessing amazing transformations – from old furniture stores into social purpose co-workings spaces, historic abbeys into affordable housing hubs, and empty hockey rink roofs into places for clean solar power generation.

Non-profits and charities have bold ideas to address systemic issues. Bringing these iconic project to life requires innovative business models, creative partnerships and financing.

Community bonds have proven to be part of the solution,  but the getting to the point of issuing the bond is a journey. We’re here to help you on the road to raise.

Over the past year, we have been travelling across Ontario meeting with groups who have important projects to implement. We have seen and heard that additional resources and coaching is needed, not only to raise a community bond, but also to help move the project forward. Everyone needs a little bit of help. For some groups it is about business planning and financial modelling, for others they need help with securing a property or architectural renderings.

That’s why we are launching Bond Camp

Bond Camp is a 5-month program to give you the funding and coaching support needed to help bring your vision to life with community bonds.

Successful applicants will receive up to $10,000 in grant funding and coaching to increase your project’s investment readiness and prepare you on the road to raising a community bond.

To find out if you are eligible and submit an application, click here.

More than 40 affordable housing stakeholders gathered at the Workers Arts & Heritage Centre in Hamilton today to explore new and innovative financing models for affordable housing. The key message from the panelists was a firm belief that that community investment has a central role to play in creating more affordable housing. Lack of funding is a long-standing problem that has escalated to become a front-page item in every community and an issue which will clearly require a collaborative solution. As with many mid-sized cities across Ontario, lack of affordable housing is a critical area of concern in Hamilton., who hosted the event.

The event attracted a diverse cross-section of stakeholders including non-profit and co-operative housing providers, poverty and housing activists, churches, affordable housing consultants, city councillors, city planners, architects and developers. The panelists, including Tapestry Community Capital, New Market Funds, Tim Welch Consulting, the Mount Community Centre and Options for Homes, presented a range of alternatives to traditional bank financing, which at times can be challenging for non-profit groups and low-income households to secure.

Tapestry believes that a social finance tool called a community bond could play an integral role in mobilizing private capital for affordable housing. “The signal is strong and clear that Canadians want to invest locally and with purpose”, says Tapestry’s Executive Director, David Cork, “what is needed are more investable projects”.

Non-profit and co-operative organizations are unique in that they can take advantage of exemptions of the Ontario Securities Commission that allow them to issue securities to their community of supporters.  “Quite simply, a community bond is a loan from a community member. How it differs from a traditional bond is that it always encompasses a social or environmental return in additional to a financial return” says Cork.

One of the panelists who shared a real-life success story was Andi van Koeverden, the Director of The Mount Community Centre in Peterborough. In 2011, a small group of dedicated citizens that were part of the Peterborough Poverty Reduction Action Network embarked on momentous task of transforming a historic 132,000 sq ft building in the heart of Peterborough to respond to growing needs for affordable housing in the area.

With no upfront capital to close on the purchase of the building, the group turned to their community for private capital. Their ask was simple – “just imagine”. The response was overwhelming, with 60 community members stepping in to collectively invest $2 million to bring the project to life. This community financing was complimented with a $1 million contribution from the City of Peterborough and a low interest $1.7 million loan from the County of Peterborough. To date, 43 affordable rental units have been completed, with another 38 under construction.

The Mount Community Centre is a story of determination, courage and commitment, and demonstrates the power of community finance. Tapestry hopes more groups will lead the way, creating opportunities for supporters to invest in projects that will directly benefit their communities.

“There are many sectors in which community bonds can be applied”, says Cork, “but the case for affordable housing is particularly strong. Lack of funding is a long-standing problem that has escalated to become a front-page item in every community and an issue which will clearly require a collaborative solution.”

If you’re interested in learning from the success of the Mount Community Centre, we’ve developed a case study to detail how community bonds played a part in bringing the project to life!  Click below to sign up and download the case study.

On May 2nd, joined by an excited crowd of social innovators, Tapestry officially launched it’s new suite of services to help non-profits and co-ops across Canada raise capital through community investment.

Tapestry Community Capital is the latest social venture of the TREC Co-operative, a non-profit organization founded in 1998 to advance the community power sector of Ontario. For years, the TREC Co-operative has assisted renewable energy co-ops across Ontario to raise community dollars for community owned sustainable energy projects. With the support of TREC, renewable energy co-ops such as SolarShare, WindShare and ZooShare, have raised close to $40 million in community investment.

With Tapestry, we are expanding on TREC’s experience in renewable energy and opening up our knowledge of social finance tools to non-profits and co-ops across all sectors, including affordable & inclusive housing, arts & culture, health care, local & sustainable food, co-working and community service agencies.

Driven by a steadfast belief in the power of community, Tapestry envisions a world where community investment is the new normal. We see a whole new wave of organizations and social enterprises committed to not only leveraging their community to realize social good, but to keeping returns within the community, creating and redistributing wealth via local investment opportunities.

Community bonds can and will play a vital role in helping social enterprises to scale their operations, take ownership of assets, and meaningfully engage their network of supporters in that growth. We look forward to helping non-profits and co-ops across Canada build upon their greatest asset: their community.