Social Finance & the Arts Workshop

You’re Invited: Social Finance and the Arts Workshop

Join us in exploring innovative pathways to financial resilience and sustainability for Canada’s nonprofit arts and culture sector.

Recognizing the growing precarity faced by cultural organizations relying solely on traditional grant-based funding, the Metcalf Foundation, alongside Rally Philanthropy and arts funders nationwide, has been actively developing alternative solutions tailored specifically for the arts. For a brief discussion of this challenge in context, see The Money We Need by David Maggs.

We warmly invite arts organizations, cultural institutions, and creative enterprises to participate in an interactive and insightful three-hour workshop designed to demystify social finance.

This workshop represents a valuable opportunity to collectively envision how repayable finance can enhance your mission, organizational stability, and long-term impact.

Hosted by Michael Trent and David Maggs from the Metcalf Foundation, this engaging session will:

• Introduce the fundamental concepts of social finance, showcasing how repayable, low-interest loans, supported by tailored assistance, can transform organizational capacities and strengthen cultural impact.
• Present inspiring examples from Canada and around the globe, highlighting successful applications of social finance within the arts.
• Facilitate collaborative exploration of practical, real-world use cases tailored specifically to arts organizations, enabling participants to identify potential opportunities within their own contexts.
• Foster dialogue and shared learning, helping us better understand and address the unique challenges and needs of cultural nonprofits.

The workshop is open to more than one person from your organization, ideally senior staff and board volunteers.

The following day (June 6), Michael and David will make themselves available by appointment for one-on-one sessions to further explore your interest in this practice.

We look forward to your participation as we work towards a transformative and sustainable financial future for Canada’s arts community together.