Work at CSI for the day with our new Lounge Pass!

Are you looking to increase the capacity of your charitable organization?

Social Venture Partners is a unique partnership that brings together a group of professionals who invest their time and funds to help socially-focused organizations build capacity in order address the most pressing challenges facing the city. It is based on a proven venture philanthropy model that has attracted 3,200 partners working in affiliate chapters in more than 40 cities around the world. SVP believes that by pooling partners’ time, professional expertise and funds, they can create a greater impact beyond what any one of us could achieve alone.

Their mission is to:

  1. Connect and engage individuals:​ helping them make the greatest impact with their desire to become change-makers and their philanthropic giving.
  2. Fund and strengthen nonprofits:​ helping innovative and progressive nonprofits increase their ability to create positive change in Toronto through investment and deep engagement.

They are in search of a non-for profit organization to contribute their capabilities and funds towards helping build capacity. Since their focus is on engaged philanthropy, they are targeting organizations and projects with an opportunity for a high level of engagement and impact. In addition to strategy, leadership, technology, and digital marketing, SVP will also contribute a monetary donation ($2,500 – $10,000) to better drive the capacity building initiative.

Click here for more info, then contact raissa@socialinnovation.ca to find out if your org would be a good fit!

 

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CSI Spadina in the ground floor kitchen, looking out towards the lounge and meeting rooms. In the foreground is a kitchen counter, with waffles, toppings, and glasses of coffees and teas. In the background, CSI CEO Tonya Surman is speaking into a microphone on the left. In the middle and on the right, a variety of people stand and sit, listening to her speak.
One of the keys to CSI's magic is our Community Animator Program (CAP) and, specifically, the Community Animators themselves! Through this program, we've worked with more than 1,000 exceptional individuals who have each brought a little something different, and a little sparkle, to our spaces. And we're so glad to have had them in our community, because we've learned that each and every one of them has some exceptional talents, skills, and experiences to offer the world!  
Third floor lounge of CSI Spadina. In the foreground is a light blue loveseat sofa. In the background, we see two people working separately at coworking desks and tables. On the ceiling is a chandelier; to the right, a progress Pride flag.
The CSI staff team includes Pride veterans, newcomers, and everywhere in between! This year, as we celebrated Pride in our spaces and with our member community, we turned to our staff team to learn what Pride means to them. Some experienced it for the first time this year and were awash in the joy; others delighted in the fact that Pride remains such a fun celebration decades later. Others noted the increasing corporatization, which draws our attention away from the central premise of Pride - a protest.
whai header
CSI is many things - a coworking space, a non-profit organization, and a launchpad - but, first and foremost, we are a community. A community of innovators, of changemakers, of neighbours, of people putting people and planet first. And the awesome work that our members do, each and every day, never ceases to amaze us! So of course, we do our best to highlight our members whenever possible. Recently, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Molly Bannerman, Director of Women HIV/Aids Initiative (WHAI), a community-based response to HIV and AIDS among cis and trans women in Ontario. Below is an edited summary of our chat, where we discussed the work of WHAI and their latest Collective Action Community Change report.
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