This document provides an overview of social enterprises in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (DTES) area. It discusses how social enterprises have arisen in response to "wicked problems" like the affordable housing crisis and public health issues. Specific social enterprises highlighted include Insight, an overdose prevention site, and LOHA, a nonprofit housing provider. The document also examines definitions of social enterprise, challenges they face around funding and measuring impact, and debates around their role versus government support for social services.

1. THE RISE AND IMPLICATIONS OF SOCIAL
ENTERPRISE IN THE DTES
Contextualizing the Social Economy Within the
Political Discourse of Gentrification
Wes Regan
January 2015, Presented to Groundswell

2. WHO’S THIS GUY AGAIN…?

3. BUT BEFORE ALL THAT….

4. SOCIAL INNOVATION
A RESPONSE TO WICKED PROBLEMS?
 Wicked Problems (Planning/Sociology Term)
 Problems that are extremely complex, sometimes hard to
understand the causes of, most often extremely difficult to solve
 Karl Marx (socialist revolution) aside…
 Can be created by or made worse through
 Lack of political will or ideologically based policy creation
 Competing interests
 Market Failures (Vancouver housing…)
 Loss of an industry or economic shock/restructuring
 Public health crisis (disease, aging etc.)
 Natural disaster, war, famine
 Time

5. INNOVATION VS SOCIAL INNOVATION

6. INNOVATION VS SOCIAL INNOVATION

7. SOCIAL INNOVATION
What can be done NOW?
 Finding unique solutions to social problems or social needs
where government (public sector) or the market (private
sector) has failed to
 Often requires a non-profit or for-profit venture of some kind
that can bring together elements of public and/or private
sector, formal/informal/social economy to take a different
approach
 BUT can also take place within government or a single NGO
or business
 Examples…

8. INSITE – A SOCIAL INNOVATION RESPONSE TO
A PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS
 1998 A Public Health Emergency is declared in Vancouver’s
DTES as growth in intravenous drug use (Heroin) contributes
to a steady increase in HIV/AIDS, HepC and overdoses

9. INSITE: IMPACT AND CONTROVERSY

10. LOHA- A SOCIAL INNOVATION RESPONSE TO
VANCOUVER’S AFFORDABLE HOUSING CRISIS

11. LOHA- A SOCIAL INNOVATION RESPONSE TO
VANCOUVER’S AFFORDABLE HOUSING CRISIS

12. THE SHARING ECONOMY – NEW WAYS OF
BUYING AND OWNING

13. CROWDFUNDING - NEW WAYS OF FINANCING
FUNDRISE (U.S.) - REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT

14. DEMOCRATIZATION OF FINANCE & DEVELOPMENT?

15. SO WHAT IS A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE?
 Definition is ambiguous but generally understood to be:
A business that operates to further a social mission or generates
revenue for a non-profit or charity that does.
 Social Economy (Non-profits, Civil Society, Community Orgs)
 3rd Sector (UK) / CED (USA/Canada)
 Modern Social Enterprise/Social Entrepreneur identified in early to mid
1990s by Leadbeatter (1997) Rise of the Social Entrepreneur. Though
various kinds of entrepreneurial charities have existed for hundreds of years…
 In BC – Enterprising Non-Profits (1997) and later the BC Partners for Social Impact
(2012)
 New Context – Neoliberal government and the turn away from the
Welfare State model, de-funding of social safety net that society had
relied on post WW2

16. FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS
 Blended ROI
 Social ROI
 Patient Capital (longer timeframe for profitability)
 Absorption of additional costs (33% Est. Shahmash,
2010)
 Tax credits? (ENP, Buy Social)
 Social Impact Bonds?
 Community Bonds?
 Emerging Procurement Policies?

17. EMPLOYMENT BASED SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
MISSION POSSIBLE, POTLUCK CAFÉ AND CATERING

18. SKILL DEV/WOMEN’S HEALTH/ECONOMIC JUSTICE
BASED SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
East Van Roasters
Common Thread Sewing
Cooperative

19. MICRO-ENTERPRISE FOCUSED SOCIAL
ENTERPRISES

20. SOCIAL ENTERPRISE REVENUE GENERATOR TO SUPPORT
NON-PROFIT OR CHARITY

21. SOME “MATURE” DTES SOCIAL ENTERPRISES
 United We Can (1995)
 SOLEfood
 EMBERS (2001)
 Weatherization
 Start a Business (SAB)
 Grow a Business (GAB)
 Atira (2002)
 Enterprising Women Making Art
 APMI
 Potluck Café and Catering (2003)
 300,000 + community meals served
 Corporate team building (Telus, Shaw etc.)
 Recipes For Success
 PHS launched several between 2007 and 2012
 Bugs Be Gone
 Our Community Security
 Radio Station Café
 The Window
 Community
 EastVan Roasters
 Blue Shell Laundry (acquired)

22. WHAT IS NOT A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE?
 A coffee shop that has a pay what you can or pay it
forward coffee?
 A business that donates some of its profits to local
non-profits and charities?
 A business that has a low-income person who does
the dishes or odd jobs?
 A business that supports a non-profit or charity
outside of its community or country?
 A business that supports a charity for something
that benefits wealthier people? (Equestrian Club?
Yacht Club?)

23. TYPOLOGIES AND AMBIGUITY
 Social Venture
 Social Purpose Business
 Social Impact Business
 Social Enterprise
 Enterprising Non-profit
 Community Interest Company (Nova Scotia)
 Community Interest Corporation (UK)
 Community Contribution Company (BC – 3C)
 Benefit Corporation (B-Corp)
 Etc. etc.

24. SO WHAT’S WHAT? AND DO THEY DELIVER THE
SAME TYPE AND SCALE OF BENEFITS?

25. WHAT ABOUT THE SOCIAL SAFETY NET?
 Is it a good thing that Social Enterprise, Social
Purpose Business etc is “booming” in the DTES?
 Or is this just further proof that we need to demand
accountability and proper levels of investment into
the social safety net from Government?
WHY DO WE DO THIS?

26. CAN EVEN UNDENIABLY “GENUINE” #SOCENT EVEN
HAVE NEGATIVE IMPACTS TOO?

27. YET HERE WE ARE….
 Social Enterprise has come to play an increasingly
important role in the economy of the DTES
 Social Impact or Social Purpose Businesses have also
gained profile
 Save on Meats, Olla Flowers, Recycling Alternative
 Estimated to be roughly 60 Social Enterprise in the area
with over 300 in BC and Alberta (Hall, Markey, 2010)
and more than 220 in BC (Hall, 2009) this has likely
gone up since then.
 The largest concentration of social enterprise and most
mature social economy network in Canada (Nicole Chaland
on DTES Social Enterprise)
 Serving a range of needs for a range of people

28. WHAT WILL BE KEY MOVING
FORWARD?COMMUNICATING INTENTION AND
IMPACT
 The need to be realistic about intended impact
 The need to be transparent about actual impact
 The need to adopt methodologies to measure
impact
 Social Return on Investment or Blended ROI
 Demonstrating Value
 B Corp
 3C
 Report to the Community
 Social Impact Assessment
 CommunityWise (?)
 Certification (?)

29. WHAT MAKES A GOOD SOCIAL ENTERPRISE?
SOME ANSWERS FROM OUR RESEARCH…
 Clear Social Mission
 Clear attachment to a legitimate well governed non-
profit or charity
 Accountability and transparency in the community
 Operations are part of the mission (not just about
raising money for a non-profit)

30. WHAT MAKES A BAD SOCIAL ENTERPRISE?
Some more answers from our interviews…
 Is not financially feasible and takes money from the
non-profit or charity for operations
 Goes bust because it thought it would have an
advantage thanks to being a social venture
 Does not deliver on impact (SROI) or exaggerates
impact

31. FUNDING AND RESOURCES FOR STARTUPS
 For-profit
 3F (Friends, Family and Fools) Debt financing (loans, line of credit), equity
raise (Eligible Business Corporation, issue shares to investors – tax
creditable for EBC) Crowdfunding (Indiegogo, Kickstarter) Futurpreneur,
Small Business BC, Angel Investor (the Unicorns of the investment world)
LUSH FUNd
 Non-profit
 Foundations - Vancity Community Foundation, Vancouver
Foundation, the Real Estate Foundation, Mconnell Foundation,
Central City Foundation, Tides Foundation, Ashoka, Lush
 Government Granting Agencies – Provincial (Proceeds of Crime,
BC Gaming) City of Vancouver (Direct Social Services Grants,
DTES Capital Grants, Social Innovation Fund,
 Greenest City) Federal Government – Arts Council, IRAP
(technology)

32. THE PIPELINE
(OR ECOSYSTEM OR SOMETHING….)
 Groundswell
 RADIUS, ISIS (UBC), THNK
 Futurepreneur
 Ashoka (BC Ideas)
 DTES Community Investment Fund (BOB)
 Community Futures (Regional ED in BC)
 Small Business BC
 WESBC
 IRAP
 Tides
 Vancity
 DevCo (BC Co-op Association)
 Foundations/Government Grants
 BDC/investors (scaling up)

33. SOME FOOD FOR THOUGHT FOR STARTUPS
RISK, FAILURE AND LEARNING
 Part of entrepreneurship is assuming risk
 It’s ok to be a little bit scared or intimidated, this is totally
natural, but the more you validate your assumptions (or
prove them wrong and pivot) the more confidence you
will gain
 Don’t let fear of failing stop you from starting
 But if you do fail, embrace it fully as a learning
opportunity
 For social entrepreneurs you are taking on additional
challenges as running a “regular” business is hard
enough as it is!
 That being said…BE ACCOUNTABLE. What you are
doing will affect people. Be responsible.

34. RADIUS – FAILURE WAKE 2013

35. BUT DON’T BE AFRAID OF SUCCESS EITHER!

36. CONCLUSION
BE PRESENT AND EMBRACE THE PROCESS,
BE CURIOUS, BE HONEST, BE HUNGRY
Good luck social entrepreneurs!
https://www.linkedin.com/in/wesleyregan
wes@shapecontent.com

37. BIBLIOGRAPHY
 Issues In Social Enterprise and Social Entrepreneurship, Bielefeld, Wolfgang (2009) Journal of Public Affairs Education, Vol.
15, No. 1, 69-86
 Crainer, Stuart (2012), Social Enterprise: The Quiet Revolution, Business Strategy Review, Issue 4, 14-21
 Cooney, K (2011), An Exploratory Study of Social Purpose Business Models in the United States, Nonprofit and Voluntary
Sector Quarterly, Volume 40
 Issue 1, 185 – 196
 Dart, Raymond (2004), The Legitimacy of Social Enterprise, Nonprofit Management & Leadership, vol. 14, no. 4
 LePage, David (2011), The Progression of the Puzzle, Social Enterprise in British Columbia, Canadian Community Economic
Development Network
 Nicholls, A. (2010). The legitimacy of social entrepreneurship: Reflexive isomorphism in a pre-paradigmatic field.
Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, 34, 611-633. (Topic 1)
 Peter R. Elson and Peter V. Hall (2013) Plowing the Fields: Provincial surveys of social enterprises in Canada, 4th EMES
International Research Conference on Social Enterprise, Liege, 2013
 Markey, Sean Patrick (2011), Social enterprise legal structure: options and prospects for a ‘made in Canada’ solution, Simon
Fraser University
 Inspiring Innovation: The Size, Scope and Socioeconomic Impact of Nonprofit Social Enterprise in Ontario. Canadian
Community Economic Development Network (CEDNet)
 Leadbeater, Charles (1997) The Rise of the Social Entrepreneur, Demos

38. BIBLIOGRAPHY
 Myers, Jan, and MacDonald, Martha (2014), Reciprocal relationships: the role of government
and the social economy in the construction of social policy in Atlantic Canada, Canadian Public
Policy 40, 17-25
 O’Connor, Pauline, (2014) The new regulatory regime for social enterprise in Canada: potential
impacts on nonprofit growth and sustainability, Presented to the AFP Foundation for
Philanthropy Canada, April 15th 2014
 Perotin, V. The voluntary sector, job creation and social policy: Illusions and opportunities.
International Labour Review Vol 140 (2001), No. 3: 327-362 (Topic 1)
 Social Enterprise 2.0 Moving Towards a Sustainable Model, Jim Schorr, Stanford Social
Innovation Review, Summer 2006
 Simple Measures for Social Enterprise, Brian Trelstad, Innovations, Summer 2008, MIT Press
 Teasdale, S., Lyon, F. & Baldock, R. (2013). A methodological critique of the social enterprise
growth myth. Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, 4. (Topic 3)
 Teasdale, S. (2012). What’s in a name? Making sense of social enterprise discourses. Public
Policy and Administration, 27, 99-119. (Topic 1)

39. WEB SOURCES
 http://www.sauder.ubc.ca/Faculty/Research_Centres/Centre_for_Social_Innovation_and_Impact_I
nvesting/Resources/~/media/6196C5D2961E4665BC3639F3266CF6A5.ashx
 Community Interest Companies (known as C.I.C.’s) are one of the fastest growing community
oriented enterprise movements in the country. Roughly 1 in every 200 new companies last year
was aCIC, and as of Mar 2014 there are almost 9000 CICs on the Regulators register…The CIC
legislation was introduced as a legal form under the Companies Act 2006 and subject to that Act
and company law generally” Community Interest Companies Association accessed June 3, 2014
at http://www.cicassociation.org.uk/about/what-is-a-cic
 “The question of whether a simple non-profit (i.e. without charitable status) can own a C3 is more
nebulous. Non-profit ownership of a C3 may signal profit intent, which could jeopardize the income
tax exemption of the non-profit itself. CRA will provide opinions on a case-by-case basis.”
Accessed July 12th at http://www.centreforsocialenterprise.com/C3_BC.html
 Feeding Vancouver's poor a foundation for business: For Save On Meats owner Mark Brand,
launching a charitable foundation could be the key to making his social enterprise profitable,
Business In Vancouver, Dec 11, 2012 accessed June 3, 2014 at
http://www.biv.com/article/20121211/BIV0106/312119944/feeding-vancouvers-poor-a-foundation-
for-business
 Is Save On Meats’ token gesture to the poor still a money maker for gentrifier Mark Brand?
Carnegie Community Action Project accessed June 3, 2014
athttp://ccapvancouver.wordpress.com/2012/12/07/saveon/

40.  Simon Fraser University Adjunct Professor and lawyer Tony Wilson describes the area in
the Globe and Mail as: “It’s world-renowned for having the poorest postal code in
Canada. The landscape is replete with boarded-up buildings, squalour, poverty,
intravenous drug users, sex trade workers, crackheads, meth, cocaine and heroin
addicts, and the homeless, not to mention crime. It’s an urban slum and many
businesses gave up on the neighbourhood decades ago.” The Globe and Mail, February
26th 2013
 Former police officer Leo Knight describes the DTES as “…a neighbourhood that plays
host to the world’s largest open-air drug bazaar” Money Wasted on Vancouver’s DTES,
24 Hours Vancouver, Tuesday July 1st 2014 accessed July 3rd at
http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/2014/07/01/money-wasted-on-vancouvers-dtes
 Wendy Pedersen was one of a handful of instrumental people who were recognized at
the Potluck Café and Catering Ten Year Celebration: “Please join us for a lively
celebration and silent auction in the historic District 319 theatre. Ticket price includes
tapas by Potluck Catering and one complimentary wine/beer.Our event will also feature
awards honouring the following: Potluck Pioneers: Ken Lyotier, Wendy Pedersen,
Elizabeth Lougheed Green & Scott Fitzsimmons” Accessed July 2nd at
http://www.ticketweb.ca/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=3
894945
 Pidgin protests in Downtown Eastside concern activist funder, Frances Bula, The Globe
and Mail, April 29th 2013 accessed July 3rd at
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/pidgin-protests-in-downtown-
eastside-concern-activist-funders/article11623767/

41.  Pidgin owner defends controversial new Vancouver restaurant, CBC News, Feb 18th 2013 accessed July 3rd at
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/pidgin-owner-defends-controversial-new-vancouver-restaurant-
1.1411431
 Downtown Eastside eatery is a bold entrepreneurial move, Tony Wilson, The Globe and Mail, Tuesday February 26th
2013
 Anti-gentrification strategies in the Downtown Eastside get as much attention as the actual gentrification, State of
Vancouver, accessed July 3rd 2014 at http://www.francesbula.com/uncategorized/anti-gentrification-strategies-in-the-
downtown-eastside-get-as-much-attention-as-the-actual-gentrification/
 Carnegie Community Action Project, a social justice advocacy and activism organization in Vancouver’s DTES, has been
resolutely critical of for profit social entrepreneurs like Mark Brand. His business Save On Meats was targeted by anti-
gentrification activists who stole his sandwich board in an act of righteous indignation.
 Save On Meats hit by vandals; owner suspects anti-gentrification “anarchists” The Vancouver Sun, August 26th 2013
accessed June 3, 2014 at
http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Save+Meats+vandals+owner+suspects+anti+gentrification+anarchists/8129222/story.
html
 “ Mark Brand, one of Vancouver’s most recognized social entrepreneurs, will discuss the challenges and victories of
operating businesses in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side. Having successfully opened seven businesses in the DTES,
Mark will share stories and answer questions about integrating diverse communities and finding unconventional solutions
to social issues. It is through his philanthropic efforts that Mark has found a unique balance, proving that you can be
successful in business while serving the greater needs of your community.” VancityBuzz, March 12th 2014 Accessed
June 3, 2014 at http://www.vancitybuzz.com/events/mark-brand-serial-entrepreneur/
 Young Entrepreneur works to help a community to help itself with revitalization of Save-On-Meats, Vancity Credit Union,
Stories of Impact accessed June 3, 2014 at
https://www.vancity.com/AboutVancity/InvestingInCommunities/StoriesOfImpact/Realestate/Saveonmeats/