The Social Investment Organization is seeking proposals for a short-term consulting assignment to conduct research into impact investment funds in English-speaking Canada.

Overview
The research would update work conducted by the Canadian Community Investment Network Co-Operative (CCINC) in 2008 in preparation of the report Building Local Assets (http://socialfinance.ca/uploads/documents/community-investment-in-canada-2008.pdf).

SIO has obtained some modest funding to retain a consultant on a short-term assignment to update the research in Building Local Assets, and to prepare a short analytical report on the state of the impact investment fund sector. The research will cover funds in English-speaking Canada. A parallel study is currently underway to identify impact investment fund assets in Quebec.

The goals of the research are the following:

• To identify the assets of impact investment funds in Canada as part of the upcoming 2010 Canadian SRI Review
• To provide an inventory of impact investment fund assets to support the work of the SIO Impact Investment Project and the Social Finance Task Force, which recently recommended creation of the Canada Impact Investment Fund, a fund of funds for the social enterprise sector
• To create a short analysis of the state of development of the impact investment fund sector, following on from CCINC’s work in 2008

Project Dates
This is a short-term project with tight deadlines:
Literature review/project outline by Feb. 4
A preliminary datasheet and analysis by Feb. 18
A draft report by March 18
A final report by March 25

Fee
The consulting fee for this project is $6,000. The consultant must bring all consulting costs, including HST, within this fee. SIO will support web, telephone and office costs for the project.

Application deadline
Please respond by email to me by Jan. 26, 2011 at the address below, indicating your interest in this project and knowledge of the impact investment sector.

Proposals will be assessed according to SIO’s RFP policy, which evaluates proposals on the breadth and depth of understanding of the RFP, experience and price. All other factors being equal, SIO will award the assignment to a consultant who is a member of the SIO.

Eugene Ellmen, Executive Director
Social Investment Organization
416-461-6042 ext. 111
ellmen@socialinvestment.ca