Application period: September 2–October 31, 2025
Program start: November 3, 2025
Fill out the form below to join the cohort!
Help Canadians invest in the next generation
Research shows a growing group of Canadians are interested in moving their money into local, impact-first investments. Could your organization be where they land?
Tapestry Community Capital supports nonprofits, charities, and cooperatives through the process of issuing community bonds — a tool that allows anyone, from everyday retail investors in your community to local businesses, foundations, and beyond, to invest in your work and earn a fair return.
We’ve partnered with Laidlaw Foundation to offer the first phase of Tapestry’s process, the Community Capital Readiness program, completely free for five organizations serving children or youth!
Tapestry and Laidlaw Foundation both know that across Canada, organizations serving children and youth face mounting challenges in delivering essential programming while sustaining long-term infrastructure. Community bonds offer an inclusive financing solution, enabling youth-focused organizations to raise financing on your terms et build deeper relationships with families, youth, and your local community.
Learn more about community bonds
The details
This cohort-based program is the first step in raising community bonds supported by Tapestry. Over the course of 2.5 months, you’ll work alongside other organizations serving children and youth to determine if community bond financing is a good fit for your project.
During this process, we’ll help you:
- Understand how your organization would use the bond funds
- Develop a financial model that supports community capital
- Explore potential bond terms
- Conduct community consultations to determine investors’ appetite and garner early community support for your project
By the end of the program, you’ll be well-equipped to decide whether your community bond raise is feasible and if you’d like to move forward with structuring your bond raise with Tapestry’s support.
As a social enterprise-sustained nonprofit, Tapestry typically offers this program for a fee of $5,500 per organization. We’re grateful to Laidlaw Foundation for making it available to this youth-focused cohort for no cost!
Program benefits
Peer to peer learning
Learn alongside other youth-serving organizations and from organizations who have gone through our process and successfully raised capital.
Clear financial picture
The financial modelling exercises will help you determine a feasible level of debt and work through potential revenue streams to ensure your organization’s long-term sustainability.
Community insights
The community consultations will help you understand the level of engagement from your supporter base and your ability to convert social capital into financial capital for your project.
Project management
The feasibility study will take place over the course of 2.5 months with clear milestones and bi-weekly check-in meetings.
Access to Tapestry templates
We’ll provide templates and examples of materials from other successful campaigns, and share best practises to ensure your study is an insightful experience.
Ready to apply?
We work with non-profits, charities, and co-operatives that are ready to use community investment to bring their projects to life. This program has five spots available for organizations who each:
- Serve youth or children in their programming or resources
- Are incorporated as a nonprofit, charity, or co-operative in Canada
- Have a well-defined project and clear use of proceeds (for example, buying a building)
- Are interested in raising a minimum of $1 million in community bonds
- Need to start raising capital in the next 8-12 months
- Have an existing community of supporters (donors, volunteers, etc.)
- Have a dedicated project team of at least 3 people (staff, volunteers, board members, etc.) with skills in project management, finance, and communications
Please note that priority will be given to projects that serve equity-deserving groups. This includes, but is not limited to, Indigenous Peoples, people of colour, newcomers and refugees, persons with disabilities, women, gender minorities, and members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. Priority will also be given to organizations in areas of the country so far underserved by community bond financing: Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Newfoundland & Labrador, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan.