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Social enterprises

Social impact organizations

Social impact organizations provide a blended value, creating financial returns alongside positive environmental and social impacts. The Conestoga Social Innovation Lab works with social impact organizations by assisting in designing and implementing applied research projects to meet partner needs. When working with social enterprises our applied research focuses on a quadruple bottom line approach. Effective social enterprises have impacts that are social, environmental, cultural, and economic. 

Supports offered 

  • Background research: We can help you explore what is known about a topic in the academic literature to help inform decision making or build towards a larger project. 
  • Opinion research: We can help you explore opinions and attitudes of the public related to a topic to help inform organizational operations. 
  • Problem solving: We can help implement a developmental evaluation alongside your project to aid you in learning from your own work. 
  • Organizational development: We can help create structures and processes to ensure your work is optimized. 
  • Impact evaluation research: We can help you design a process to measure and assess your work to provide environmental, social, and/or cultural accountability alongside your fiscal measures for capital providers. 
  • Knowledge transfer: We can help turn information from the journal articles and professional reports into an accessible format to share with your team. 

Opinion research 

The Conestoga Social Innovation Lab staff designed a study exploring perceived barriers Ontarians face to entering the housing market and understanding of alternative models of homeownership (i.e. shared equity, co-ownership, and rent-to-own models). The results are being used by Ouboro to optimize its messaging to ensure renters are widely aware of its shared equity mortgage solution. Learn more about the project here.

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