What is Social Innovation?
Before you get in too deep, you might want to know what we mean by “social innovation.” At CSI, we define social innovation as the creation, development, adoption, and integration of new and renewed concepts, systems, and practices that put people and planet first.
Social innovation comes in many forms and spans many sectors, but put simply: it’s people looking for inventive ways to help each other.
We’re often asked how social innovation occurs. We’ve learned there is no single or simple answer. Social change is the result of a tremendously complex mix of ingredients. Environmental conditions, social conditions, and individual actors collide to spark world-changing ideas. There is an underlying magic to social innovation that precludes any simple recipe for success.
Looking for proof that social innovation works? We’ve got it. We believe that shared resources bring us all closer to the Next Economy, so we’re sharing all our ideas here!
On This Page
Our Innovations
Community Rent Pool
Senate Special Committee on the Charitable Sector
Community Bonds
Ontario Catapult Microloan
CONSTELLATION MODEL OF GOVERNANCE
MAKING SOCIAL CHANGE AND HAVING FUN DOING IT
Our Publications
Unlocking Canadian Social Innovation
The Collider Magazine Series
Pilot Lessons
Basic Impact
Emergence
Rigour
Proof
From Social Enterprise to Social Franchise
The Community Bond
Crowdfunding Guide for Nonprofits, Charities and Social Impact Projects
Network Evaluation
Our Videos
Here is a sampling of some of the video content we’ve made over the years. Want more? Check out our Youtube channel!
Looking for more reading material? Check out our blog!
CSI Stories is our way to share new ideas, community & member updates, learnings from the social innovation field, and more.