In a moment when we have seen the urgency for a more united, more sovereign Canada, it is more important than ever that we have a set of institutions to build and maintain our communities and economy. Community finance strategies have been pooling Canadian capital to bridge the country’s existing capital gaps and many of its critical social and environmental challenges. Community finance provides the key infrastructure needed to build a shared future where Canadian capital unlocks local and national economic growth, while serving overlooked communities and driving shared community wealth and prosperity.
Community finance institutions (CFIs), also known as Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), are the key lever for community finance in Canada. They are the intermediaries that direct local capital towards local initiatives to create both financial returns and community benefits. They address core capital gaps by creating a defined community of interest and prioritizing mission. A defined community includes place-based areas, bioregions, or specific communities of First Nations, Black and women entrepreneurs, etc. Rather than prioritize return maximization only, these financial institutions aim to serve their local community. Their community-led and purpose driven emphasis allows community finance institutions to fill essential gaps in traditional finance. They may use a mixture of philanthropic and private capital, providing support where mainstream lenders and capital markets fall short.
But we do not have a full picture of this critical market. There has been a gap in the data and market profile of these kinds of institutions. Given the variety of active community finance institutions and definitions of community finance, this report aims to provide a framework for the community finance market in Canada, scope its size, and build a profile of the market including product type, geography, return profile and target impact. This report draws from two main sources of data, the Catalyst Community Finance Collection and the Canadian CFI interactive map. The Community Finance Collection is a sub-collection within the wider SVX Impact Index Collection and encompasses 202 unique products from 107 different organizations. To strengthen alignment across the community finance network in Canada, SVX has also collaborated with other organizations to map CFIs across the country and combined their findings in an interactive map. In addition to the 107 organizations in the Community Finance Collection, the map adds data from 661 additional organizations. For further information about our methodology and classification process for community finance institutions, see the Appendix .
We hope through a shared alignment and understanding of our community finance market, we can collectively strengthen the community financing network that will build a shared future that addresses capital gaps and serves our communities from coast-to-coast-to-coast.
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