Social Enterprise Procurement Strategy
Our procurement policy is to secure catering, supply rentals, printing, etc from socially/environmentally responsible vendors, and where possible social enterprises. It makes sense. Our hard earned Framework dollars can go further if our spending helps support social enterprises doing important community work through a viable business. Here are some of the questions we are continually asking ourselves:
The following illustration explains our method to determine which types of vendors are included in our calculation. We purposefully procure from enterprising charities or nonprofits plus social enterprises for a portion of our total budget.
- Of all the catering we source, how much comes from a social purpose business or social enterprise?
- Of all the printing we contract, how much comes from a social purpose business or social enterprise?
- What are the other opportunities to share our budget to help other social purpose businesses or social enterprises evaluate market opportunity?
- How do we work with other funders and like-minded charities to surface the buying power we have?
- How do we make this exercise really simple and straight forward from an administrative process?
The following illustration explains our method to determine which types of vendors are included in our calculation. We purposefully procure from enterprising charities or nonprofits plus social enterprises for a portion of our total budget.
The following summary provides a glimpse of our actual and planned expenditures for printing and catering. The methodology - our whole team - thinking about procurement and stakeholder engagement allows us to actively think about using our buying power to support social purpose businesses or social enterprises. Instead of taking days and months to compile, our team can do this in minutes or hours. Sharesies!
The Social Enterprises we partner with
Here is the list of Social Enterprises we partner with from across Canada. Our goal is to provide as much of our revenue to social enterprises as possible.
Artist Run Galleries & Co-Operatives
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Nonprofits that have Art Engagement Programs
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Afgans Womens Catering
"The Afghan Women's Catering Group was created in 1997. The primary purpose of this Community Economic Development (CED) project was to alleviate the economic and social hardship experienced by Afghan women and their families living in the Greater Toronto Area, particularly as a result of the cutbacks to social assistance and services."
Diversity Catering, Winnipeg
"Diversity Food Services is a joint venture of the University of Winnipeg's Community Renewal Corporation's(UWCRC) & SEED Winnipeg. Together their specific community objectives include job opportunities in the food industry for new Canadians, Aboriginal people, community residents and University students.
Potluck Catering, Vancouver
"Potluck is a leader in social enterprise and an inspiring entrepreneurial model for Downtown Eastside community economic development and revitalization. Through its business activities, Potluck has directly improved the quality of life for residents of our DTES community."
The Hub, Newfoundland
"Profits made from our commercial operations are used exclusively to assist persons with disabilities to lead better lives. We are the major employer of persons with disabilities in this province and the larger we become the better we become at providing employment for this group. It is recognized that in certain cases, persons with disabilities are not as productive as able-bodied persons. Generally this refers to physical labour. And recognizing this we develop our work schedules to include more people to maintain the same high quality of output. This may cost us more but we are a revenue neutral organization and our goal is always to maximize employment.
Phoenix Print Shop, Toronto
"The Eva’s Phoenix Print Shop is a socially and environmentally responsible commercial printer that supports Foundations of Print, an award-winning training program for homeless youth. Located at Eva’s Phoenix, a transitional housing and employment facility for homeless youth, the Eva’s Phoenix Print Shop is a social enterprise of Eva’s Initiatives."
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