The United Church of Canada Has an R&D Unit
Why It Matters
If the established order recognizes the need for research and development, then the rest of the social impact world must take this as a signal.
The United Church of Canada established EDGE, a future-focused entity within the church, in 2011, which they liken to the โresearch and designโ arm of the organization.
Itโs tasked with finding solutions to the problem of declining congregations and, in 2015, they decided to focus on how embracing social innovation as a way to help churches grow and stay relevant.
The Church has allocated 10 percent of their budget to support EDGE. Of this, $1 million per year is allocated to funding social innovation projects.
Over the last two years, this has funded 280 initiatives ranging from food trucks to arts programming for children with special needs.
Over the past three years, EDGE has organized more than 25 social innovation challenge competitions across Canada from
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