The Centre For Social Innovation – And Your Small Business

(Please note that this blog post has been modified. The location of the Centre has been corrected.)

A few weeks ago my colleague and I were lucky enough to be invited to tour The Centre for Social Innovation on Bathurst Street in Toronto. Natasha Stephens, manager of the Regent Park branch (slated to open in the fall) showed us around this location in the Annex.

What is social innovation? It's a difficult concept to pin down, but the Centre defines it this way:

"Social Innovation refers to new ideas that resolve existing social, cultural, economic and environmental challenges for the benefit of people and planet. A true social innovation is systems-changing – it permanently alters the perceptions, behaviours and structures that previously gave rise to these challenges."

The Centre's goal is to support social innovators of all types: profit, non-profit and charities.

How does it work?

The Centre provides, for a fee, work space, meeting space and community space to support your business. The work spaces consist of anything from private office space to desks in open areas to "hot desks" that rotate on a reservation system. As you work to achieve your dream, you'll be surrounded by people like you: inspired, action-oriented and excited about how they can make a difference!

Right now, 33% of the organizations that are members of the Centre are social purpose businesses. The rest are non-profits and charities. To get a better idea of what sort of companies and organizations are involved, have a look at the list of companies and organizations that currently are members of the Centre.

The Centre hosts many great events, both large and small. H ere's a list of what's coming up!

If you would like to keep up with what's happening with the upcoming Regent Park branch, check out Natasha's blog for updates and information.

The Toronto Public Library carries many books on social innovation. Have a look: