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The CSI Community Bond

An innovation in Social Finance 

The Community Bond allows a nonprofit or charity to leverage its community of supporters to pursue its mission, build its resiliency, and create more vibrant communities.

CSI invented the Community Bond in 2010 as a means to turn a non-profit’s social capital into financial capital. Today, the Community Bond is a household name in impact investing, having been replicated around Toronto, and the world.

We used the first Community Bond to raise $2M to purchase our first building, CSI Annex, in 2010. We used the bond a second time in 2014 to raise $4.3M from 227 community investors to buy CSI Spadina. In 2020, we used the Community Bond to invite our community of members and supporters to invest in programs that put people and planet first. 

CSI has never missed an interest payment, and now has built enough equity to pay out its bondholders many times over. Our success is linked to the success of the Community Bond.

Community bonds are for impact investors

Most of CSI’s community of over 200 investors have been with us from the start. They include members, former members, community supporters, and some of the biggest foundations in Canada. More that 75% of our investors choose to renew their bonds at maturity, many hold more than one bond, and a quite a few have been purchased as gifts. CSI Bonds are popular!

A POWERFUL TOOL FOR NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS

If you’re thinking of using Community Bonds for your organization, and you’re a non-profit, charity or co-op, a good place to start is with our guidebook. After that, if you’re convinced the Community Bond is right for you, there are some handy legal templates you can use here.

If you want more of a concierge approach, you should connect with our friends and long term partners at Tapestry Community Capital.

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