Jumpstarting Canada’s Purpose Economy

By Mary Ellen Schaafsma, Director, and Coro Strandberg, Advisor, United Way Social Purpose Institute

Mar 28, 2022

In the face of the troubling issues we confront daily, including the climate emergency, systemic racism, rising inequality and the pandemic – to which we now add the devastation in Ukraine – there is a glimmer of hope. Society is discovering that businesses can be a force for good and their leaders are discovering this too. The Yale School of Management, for example, maintains a growing list of global brands curtailing operations in Russia because of that country’s war against Ukraine, over 450 and counting.

To harness and scale this trend to businesses adopting a social purpose as their reason to exist, and mobilize all their assets and resources to address the problems of people and the planet, the United Way Social Purpose Institute convened the first-ever national dialogue on social purpose business in Canada: Propelling Purpose Summit 2021. Over 300 thought leaders and leading thinkers, including 70 diverse panelists, gathered from across the country to design the roadmap for Canada’s Purpose Economy, and here it is: Propelling the Canadian Purpose Economy: A Framework for Action.

The Summit’s results, captured in this booklet, are designed to help business leaders, investors, policymakers, academics, media, civil society, and social purpose professionals grasp the potential of this burgeoning movement – and find their place in it.

Read this e-book to:

  • Learn about social purpose in business and the new agenda to create a Purpose Economy for Canada
  • Pick up tips, actions, and resources to help you and your organization on the purpose path
  • Become informed about this new trend in business and the players who are accelerating it
  • Gain an understanding of the levers that are being harnessed to mainstream purpose in business and the role you can play to accelerate progress.

We are at a historical moment where the potential exists to design an economy whose purpose is long-term well-being for all on a thriving planet. Check out this resource and join us in reinventing business and transforming the economy – for good!

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