Fund Development & Impact Investment
Funders increasingly favor organizations that are rigorous about impact reporting. Proven programs with evidence are the new backbone to successful funding.
Terrapin links research and evaluation results with fund development strategy to secure investment for social impact programs.
Case Study
Who
In 2021, 10 Carden Shared Space (10 C) will launch Harvest Impact Fund Co-operative Inc. with the immediate goal to raise $3 Million and a mandate to finance new food sector companies arising from Guelph-Wellington’s Circular Food Economy initiative.
Challenge
When Guelph-Wellington was chosen in the Smart Cities Challenge to establish Canada's first circular food economy, 10C was invited to join the initiative as social finance partner. This would involve leveraging experience gained in a recently successful community bond campaign to develop a bigger, more robust platform to raise impact capital. Terrapin was invited to provide research and evaluation support and to contribute to the design of the new impact investment fund.
Approach
10C wanted to compare their success with other Canadian community bond campaigns. An environmental scan made it possible to gauge their success against key performance indicators derived from a sample of 10+ recent community bond programs. Next, 10C's bond holders and other prospective impact investors were surveyed to understand their motivations and to assess the local market for future social finance investments. Research results indicated an under served market of investors willing to include local impact investments in their financial plans. This finding set the stage for the establishment of a permanent local impact investment fund in Guelph-Wellington.
Outcomes
The Smart Cities initiative demanded a bigger more permanent impact investment fund. Terrapin and 10C researched other Canadian impact investment models - legal structures and capacity to raise impact capital. After weighing the pros and cons of each model, 10C landed on a share capital investment cooperative which suited the needs of investors and investees involved in the Smart Cities Circular Food Economy. Harvest Impact will launch Q2 2021 with an immediate goal of $3 Million to help finance new food sector companies in Guelph-Wellington.
Terrapin will continue to assist 10C to make evidence based decisions about program design and implementation through research and evaluation findings.
“Terrapin has a knack for addressing both established and emerging challenges and opportunities. Together, we’ve approached our project like a discovery journey using mixed-methods research to help us map the social finance ecosystem, recognize and draw on 10C’s core capacities, and design a new social impact investment fund.”