Five more stories from the non-profit sector hidden behind our (former) paywall in 2025
There may have been stories you missed when we had our paywall up. So we’ve got a nice little list to help you catch up
Five more stories that got stuck behind our paywall in 2025. (Elisha Dacey/Illustration)
As the holiday season continues, it’s always fun to look back on the year before embarking on a new one.
Last week, we did a short roundup of five stories that were hidden behind our (former) paywall.
So this week, we screwed up all our creativity to come up with … five more stories that were hidden behind our (former) paywall.
Take a look!
Doug Lui, Mandy Potter, and Sam Naylor, co-founders, Misfit Ventures. (Supplied photo.)
How are Social Finance Fund recipients selected?
Future of Good took the opportunity of Realize Capital Partners’ second round of announcements to explore the process of how Social Finance Fund recipients are selected. What made those applicants stand out?
If your organization didn’t get selected for the first round of Social Finance Fund investments, This deep dive could be helpful next round.
The city of Victoriaville is trying out a canopy charge taxed on developers who destroy shade while developing their properties. (Canva/Supplied)
Quebec municipality testing ‘canopy charge’ tax to help tackle climate change
Any developer asking for a permit to build units in Victoriaville, Que., will now have to pay a tax of $25 for every square metre of tree canopy they cut down.
“This canopy charge is a model to follow,” said Marc Bishai, a lawyer at the Centre Québécois du droit de l’environnement (Quebec Centre for Environmental Law). “Several relevant stakeholders have thought through it,” he added.
Data shows that social housing is a wise investment for governments, and experts have tips on ensuring those investments go even further. (Canva/Supplied)
4 reasons why social housing is a good investment, and 7 smart tips to stretch those investments further
In Quebec, the government recovers $1.38 million for every $1 million invested in social and community housing construction.
That’s the key finding of the report “Le logement social et communautaire: un investissement qui rapport au Québec,” funded by the Quebec Association of Technical Resources Groups and co-authored by economist Martin Saint-Denis and anthropologist Emilie Dazé.
The financial return of social and community housing investments is 37 per cent, according to a Quebec study; it can be even higher.
Mathieu Caron, the social entrepreneur who initiated Fiducie Emprises. (Catherine Tétreault/Supplied photo)
Restoring polluted land: Unique reforestation land trust launched in Quebec
What do you do when your land trust can’t find any clean land to protect? You use the trust to create some.
In a unique reversal, a group of Quebec citizens launched the province’s first urban reforestation social utility trust, Fiducie Emprises, earlier this month, with the goal of cleaning the air in the Quebec City neighbourhood of Limoilou.
Mathieu Caron, an ecological construction entrepreneur and the catalyst of this innovative initiative, could not rely on the conservation land trust structure for Limoilou. The neighbourhood has almost no green spaces to protect; concrete has been king for decades.
Carl Pelland is VP of Fixed Income and Head of Corporate and Impact Bonds at Addenda Capital. Gabriel Tremblay is CEO of social economy enterprise TAQ Group. Réjean Nguyen is Senior Director of Impact Investing and ESG Integration at Addenda Capital. Alexandre Zarbatany is Director, Client Partnership and Business Development at Addenda Capital (Supplied photo)
Quebec asset manager makes unique investment, draws attention to benefits of community bonds
Earlier this year, Quebec-based asset manager Addenda Capital made a first-of-its-kind investment.
It purchased ten per cent of TAQ Group’s five million community bonds, a move that’s expected to generate returns while supporting a social economy manufacturing enterprise that employs people with disabilities.
Carl Pelland, Addenda’s vice-president of fixed income and head of corporate and impact bonds, said asset managers have not traditionally added community bonds to their portfolios.
Community bonds are becoming popular, but haven’t gone mainstream yet.
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