Program directory · Employment and Social Development Canada
Social Innovation and Social Finance Strategy
- Department
- Employment and Social Development Canada
- Program code
- BGM10 (HRSD)
- Core responsibility
- Social Development
- In Departmental Plans
- 2020-21 – 2026-27 · New since an earlier plan
What it does
The Social Innovation and Social Finance (SI/SF) Strategy aims to strengthen the ability of communities to develop, finance and grow new solutions to persistent social and environmental challenges in Canada. The Social Finance Fund, one of the fundamental elements of the SI/SF Strategy, provides repayable contributions to professional fund managers (wholesalers) to make social finance investments in social finance intermediaries (SFIs), which in turn, invest in Social Purpose Organizations (SPOs) - can be a registered charity, a non-profit organization, a co-operative, or for-profit organization with a clearly articulated social or environmental purpose. The Social Finance Fund is designed to help grow Canada’s social finance market and increase access to flexible financing for SPOs.
Another foundational element of the SI/SF Strategy is the Minister-appointed Social Innovation Advisory Council of external stakeholders.
Past investments in the SI/SF Strategy include the Investment Readiness Program (IRP – 2019-2021, 2021-2024). The IRP was a grants and contributions program designed to strengthen the SI/SF ecosystem and improve the ability of SPOs to participate in the social finance market (i.e. secure a repayable investment).
Source: the department's Program Inventory, via GC InfoBase.
History and lineage
First appears in GC InfoBase's actual spending by program in 2019-20. The data does not record when a program was created; it may be older than its first appearance here, which is limited by the sources (program spending starts in 2010-11, Departmental Plans in 2018-19).
| Program | Relation | Years with data | Actual spending over those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social Innovation and Social Finance Strategy | This program | 2019-20 – 2028-29 | $419M |
No earlier or later program in the same department has a similar name.
Significant changes in scope and budget
Detected from the data: renames between plans, programs it appears to replace, merge with or split into (matched by name), year-over-year changes in spending of at least 25% and $5M, or in employees of at least 20% and 25 FTEs, linked budget measures, and results indicators added or dropped.
| Year | What changed | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2020-21 | Employees (FTEs) 51, against 2 in 2019-20 (+2450%). | FTEs (GC InfoBase) |
| 2020-21 | Spending $31M, against $24.1M in 2019-20 (+29%). | Actual spending (GC InfoBase) |
| 2022-23 | Spending $147M, against $24.4M in 2021-22 (+505%). | Actual spending (GC InfoBase) |
| 2024-25 | Indicators added: Number of SPOs that accessed funding through SI/SF programs. | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
| 2024-25 | Indicators dropped: Number of SPOs that accessed expert services and other resources with IRP funding to enhance their readiness to participate in the social finance market. | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
| 2024-25 | Spending $70.1M, against $122M in 2023-24 (−43%). | Actual spending (GC InfoBase) |
| 2027-28 | Planned spending $3M, against $63M in 2026-27 (−95%). | Latest Departmental Plan |
Success criteria
The program's indicators from its department's Departmental Results Framework: the target set in each year's plan, and the result reported the following year. Source: GC InfoBase.
Historical: targets against results
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | ≥ 120 | 2025 | 83 SFF wholesalers report investment data on a calendar-year basis. As of December 31, 2024, at least 83 unique SPOs had received social finance investment through the Social Finance Fund. Wholesalers will submit data for 2025 with their Annual Reports, due April 30, 2026, at which point this result is expected to increase. | Not met |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-22 | ≥ 400 | 2022 | 0 The renewed Investment Readiness Program was set to begin in 2021-2022. It was expected that agreements to deliver the program would be signed with organizations by mid-2021, however internal processes delayed beginning of signing until March 2022. The program is being fully implemented in 2022-2023 and is being extended into 2023-2024. | Not met |
| 2022-23 | ≥ 600 | 2023 | 441 The target number of 600 social purpose organizations (SPOs) comes from the number of SPOs that accessed services under the Investment Readiness Program (IRP) Pilot (2019-2021). Although the raw number of SPOs that accessed expert services and other resources with renewed IRP funding (2021-2023/24) is lower than the target from the pilot, the proportion of beneficiaries to applicants is the same… | Not met |
| 2023-24 | ≥ 0 | 2024 | 0 The Investment Readiness Program was due to come to an end but was extended into 2023-24 to assist SPOs already in the program. No new SPOs were added in this period. This indicator will be replaced next year to reflect the evolving direction of the program. | Met |
Current: the 2026-27 plan's targets
No indicators in the 2026-27 plan.
Future goals: targets due after 2026-27
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | ≥ 1,500 | 2039 | — | Planned |
Spending and employees: planned against actual
Spending
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | — | $24.1M |
| 2020-21 | $24.6M | $31M |
| 2021-22 | $2.1M | $24.4M |
| 2022-23 | $139M | $147M |
| 2023-24 | $117M | $122M |
| 2024-25 | $64.5M | $70.1M |
| 2025-26 | $64.7M | — |
| 2026-27 | $63M | — |
| 2027-28 | $3M* | — |
| 2028-29 | $3M* | — |
Employees (FTEs)
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | — | 2 |
| 2020-21 | 10 | 51 |
| 2021-22 | 18 | 72 |
| 2022-23 | 44 | 83 |
| 2023-24 | 27 | 61 |
| 2024-25 | 27 | 43 |
| 2025-26 | 27 | — |
| 2026-27 | 17 | — |
| 2027-28 | 17* | — |
| 2028-29 | 17* | — |
Planned spending, plan by plan
Each row is one year's Departmental Plan and its forecast for the next three fiscal years; read a column down to see how the forecast for one year changed. The last row is what was actually spent. Click an amount for its source. Biggest changes in federal spending plans
| Plan | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | 2026-27 | 2027-28 | 2028-29 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-21 plan | $24,633,855 | $0 | $0 | ||||||
| 2021-22 plan | $2,139,181 | $2,138,732 | $2,138,732 | ||||||
| 2022-23 plan | $138,875,343 | $63,675,324 | $63,675,323 | ||||||
| 2023-24 plan | $117,133,975 | $63,746,746 | $63,746,746 | ||||||
| 2024-25 plan | $64,538,874 | $64,641,667 | $63,067,916 | ||||||
| 2025-26 plan | $64,693,496 | $63,106,940 | $3,106,940 | ||||||
| 2026-27 plan | $62,995,531 | $2,989,251 | $2,979,880 | ||||||
| Actual | $30,966,224 | $24,368,686 | $147,358,483 | $122,203,554 | $70,073,958 |
Actual spending is from Departmental Results Reports and the Public Accounts, as published in GC InfoBase. FTEs are full-time equivalents.
