The one year anniversary of the release of the Canadian Task Force on Social Finance‘s landmark report, Mobilizing Private Capital for Public Good, was celebrated at the official launch of the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing and the 2011 Social Finance Forum: Investing in Good Deals on December 13 and 14 in Toronto.
Nearly four hundred people attended the evening reception celebrating the official launch of the Centre, which is jointly funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, the McConnell Foundation and TMX Group Inc. At the reception, guest speaker Antony Bugg-Levine, formerly of the Rockefeller Foundation and now head of Nonprofit Finance Fund, launched his new book, Impact Investing: Transforming How We Make Money While Making a Difference.
Following the reception, the Centre hosted the Social Finance Forum, an annual forum supporting the growth of social finance and impact investing in Canada. The Forum brought social ventures, impact investors and mainstream finance practitioners together with the aim of providing practical education and support to mobilize the exchange of capital and inspire new ideas.
The forum presented leading social finance experts, including Amit Bouri, Director of Strategy and Development at the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), who highlighted the importance of measuring social and environmental impact.
The forum also coincided with the Task Force’s release of Mobilizing Private Capital for Public Good – Measuring Progress During Year One, a progress report highlighting some of the developments relevant to the recommendations of the Task Force over the past year.
A video highlighting many of the forum’s key events and presentations can be viewed here.