Social Impact Purchasing Summit

Social Impact Purchasing Summit
Amplify your Impact

November 7 & 8, 2012
The Salt Building | 85 West 1st Avenue | Vancouver, BC

The Social Impact Purchasing Summit (SIPS) will be the inaugural stage for a multi-stakeholder dialogue on the policy and practice of social impact purchasing. SIPS' will convene purchasers, suppliers, and market intermediaries addressing from their various perspectives the shared goals, barriers and opportunities of implementing the social components of sustainable purchasing.

Event Updates & Follow-up
We are committed to engaging, convening, and continuing the conversation about social impact purchasing, and how we can create change right here in our province. We want to make sure that all of you are part of it!

»Follow us on twitter for updates: @e_n_p or #SIPS

» Subscribe to host newsletters:
Enterprising Non-Profits
LOCO BC
Th e BuySmart Network
ISIS Sauder School of Business

Press Coverage
» SEE Change Magazine: Social Impact Purchasing Buyer Be Aware

        Registration
       » List of participants (PDF)

       Event Materials
       »Download Full Agenda (PDF)
       » Download Flyer (PDF)
       »SIPS Media Release

Panelists & Panel Hosts

Why Social Impact Purchasing?
Host: David LePage, Enterprising Non-Profits (enp)

Inspiration from Scotland
Gerry Higgins, Community Enterprise in Scotland (CEiS)

The Business Case and Benefits of Social Purchasing
Host: Bob Purdy, BuySmart
Panelists:
Rachel Holmes, Ministry of Social Development
David Pilling, LLP Director of Procurement and Financial Management, General Ministry of Finance
Victoria Wakefield, Purchasing Manager, UBC
Andrew Parr, Managing Director, Student Housing and Hospitality Services, UBC

From Policy to Action on Social Purchasing
Host: Coro Strandberg, Strandberg Consulting
Panelists:
Vaness Mountain, BC Hydro
Susan Antoniali, City of Vancouver

How to Build Social Impact Partnerships: Community Benefit Agreements
Host: Alexandra Rutherford, Jim Green Consulting
Panelists:
Kira Gerwing, Vancity Community Investment
Hendrik Hoekma, Building Opportunities for Business
Nathan Edelson, 42nd Street Consulting
Allison Dunnet, City of Vancouver
Shahram Malek, Millenium Development

Resources mentioned during this panel:
An Evaluation of the CBA for the Vancouver Olympic Village Site
Lessons Learned from Negotiating the Vancouver Olympic Village CBA

Little Guys Deliver: Social Impact in Small Business Purchasing
Host: Amy Robinson, LOCO BC
Panelists:
Saul Brown, Saul Good Gift Co.
Mickey McLeod, Salt Spring Island Coffee
Maureen Cureton, Vancity
Heather O'Hara, Potluck Cafe Society
Toby Barazzuol, Eclipse Awards

Moving Forward Forum
Hosts:
Joanna Buczkowska, ISIS Research Centre
James Tansey, ISIS Research Centre

Tradeshow Tables

Climate Smart                                   Common Thread Cooperative         Cowpower
Craft Council of BC                            Demonstrating Value                     Eclipse Awards
EKA Innovations                                Frog Box                                         Inner City Economic Strategy
LFT Group                                        Lotus Pro                                        Mills Basics
Mission Possible                                Novex Delivery Solutions                Office of Small and Medium Enterprises
Potluck Cafe                                     Recycling Alternative                       Saul Good Gift Co.
Starworks                                          The Cleaning Solution                    The Window Community Art Shop
ThirstFirst Coffee Solutions              Tradeworks Custom Products          Vancouver Native Housing Society
Wilderness Committee                       Olla Urban Flower Project

Setting the Stage

Traditionally the purchasing of goods and services has used a very simple and clear-cut policy: strictly evaluate the best value for the least cost. Although still evolving, the consideration of other factors in addition to cost and quality is changing to include environmental and social considerations as well.

Part of the motivation for change is the realization and recognition that every purchase, whether intentional or not, has an economic, environmental and social ripple or outcome.

If we intentionally leverage those outcomes, we will change the impacts from random to managed. In this new paradigm, the challenge is how to alter existing purchasing policies and practices to create ripples that are intentional rather than unintentional.

The procurement policies and the purchasing practices of the three levels of government, non-profits and the private sector hold the key to leveraging their purchasing into intentional impacts. This requires marketing schemes, purchaser and supplier matching, and appropriate incentives to encourage participation in a changing supply chain management model. The options to practice social impact purchasing include targeted purchases, unbundling, and supportive RFP criteria.

Co-Hosts

Enterprising Non-Profits
Enterprising Non-Profits, enp, is a unique collaborative program that promotes and supports social enterprise development and growth as a means to build strong non-profit organizations and healthier communities. The four objectives of the enp BC program are to enhance enterprise skills; ensure access to capital and investment, expand market opportunities, and build health communities.

Th e BuySmart Network
The BuySmart Network (formerly the Sustainability Purchasing Network) is a key source of information and education on sustainable purchasing. Administered by the non-profit Fraser Basin Council, BuySmart benefits from the participation of leaders in business, public bodies and non-profit organizations who are willing to share procurement strategies and learn from each other.

Would you like to help create a cleaner environment, a healthier community and better workplaces by weighing the social, economic and environmental impacts of the goods and services you buy?

LOCO BC
LOCO BC is working to create a diverse, vibrant local economy by strengthening small and mid-sized businesses. They do this by promoting buy local, by fostering business networking, and by ensuring businesses are on the path to sustainability.

LOCO works to support small local business to create a new economy based on relationships, self-reliance, and local economic development. The bias for local is based on the principals of sustainability – that local businesses enhance our community, connect and support us socially, enhance wealth and employment by circulating dollars many times between businesses, and environmentally.

ISIS Sauder School of Business
ISIS at the Sauder School of Business is focused on leveraging business tools to advance social innovation and sustainability, through research, incubation, and application. ISIS defines social innovation as a new approach which fosters initiatives that contribute to solving existing social, cultural, economic, political, and environmental challenges. This encompasses concepts such as social enterprise, social finance, and strategic corporate social responsibility. What it does not involve is simply throwing money at a problem. Rather, ISIS aims to build institutions designed to create value rather than dependency.