Despite Dragsted’s coherence and inherent logic on a policy for cooperatives in Denmark, he writes little on the external pressures and barriers beyond Scandinavia, where many surrounding European countries have moved in the opposite direction. Beyond Denmark and Scandinavia the combination of legislation and supporting networks, which is essential for cooperatives’ expansion is difficult to find. Policies elsewhere in Europe have facilitated the repositioning of community mutual structures to become the deliverers of public services, so that those entities favoured by Dragsted are now relocated in a market setting.
Although Founder’s Syndrome is known to be caused by the leadership behaviours of the founder, what is less known is how founders with Founder’s Syndrome maintain public support for their activities. Through 95 semi-structured interviews with both founders and individuals who surround the founder leader, I uncover a social structure that exists around the founder to support their public image and keep it in place, which I call The Founder Pedestal. This article focuses on the first group of people that keeps the founder in place within this social structure: their loyal inner circle. I explain the process of how the inner circle is developed within The Founder Pedestal and share its implications.
Cet article analyse la distribution temporelle, sectorielle et spatiale du mouvement coopératif en Ontario (Canada), à l’exclusion des caisses d’épargne. À partir des données d’incorporation de 1 792 coopératives fondées en Ontario depuis 1913 et encore actives, il met en évidence quatre périodes (1913–1973, 1974–1994, 1995–2012 et 2013 2021) qui se distinguent par le rythme de formation des coopératives, leur secteur d’activité et leur répartition sur le territoire. Plus spécifiquement, l’analyse montre que le mouvement coopératif ontarien que l’on connaît aujourd’hui s’est surtout développé après les Trente Glorieuses. On dénombre ainsi 1 608 incorporations de coopératives (soit près de 90 % des coopératives qui ont survécu) entre 1976 et 2021. Aussi, les données révèlent une plus forte spécialisation sectorielle et une dispersion spatiale du mouvement coopératif ontarien pendant les périodes de fortes incorporations, et, par contraste, une diversification sectorielle et une concentration spatiale pendant les périodes d’incorporations plus faibles. Par ailleurs, les coopératives en Ontario sont principalement actives dans les secteurs du logement, des services et des garderies. Ces différentes observations offrent des perspectives intéressantes pour appréhender l’évolution du mouvement coopératif en Ontario et comprendre les facteurs qui soutiennent son développement ainsi que ceux qui lui nuisent.
This article examines the cultural welfare ecosystem of Bologna’s Santo Stefano District as part of a national research project funded under the Projects of Relevant National Interest initiative. Drawing on a qualitative and participatory action research design, the study is based on semi-structured interviews with 18 local associations, from which four domains of the district’s cultural ecosystem emerge: cultural citizenship and accessibility; education and training; inequalities and social inclusion; and culture-led urban regeneration for social cohesion. Within this ecosystem, cultural welfare operates as a relational infrastructure in which artistic, educational, and community practices foster proximity, belonging, and collective agency, strengthening social cohesion and countering fragility. The article conceptualizes it as a form of second-welfare social infrastructure generating collective well-being and agency through community-embedded cultural practices.
Member-owned institutions (MOIs) meet the livelihood needs of people who are excluded from formal business systems. Cooperation, group economics, and the pooling of resources are all strategies that humans have historically turned to in the face of exclusion. However, the mainstream development sector often views such “alternatives” and “cooperatives” as Western inventions, which is a problematic narrative. A vast literature on the social economy shows the significant contribution of the Global South to the social and solidarity economy. In this study, we survey 1,214 members of MOIs in the state of Kerala, India. Kerala’s MOIs underline the value of citizen engagement and action to improve social provisioning and equity, making it a model for an inclusive economics of global importance.
Poverty is a complex issue that requires systemic and collaborative responses. This article examines the systems change strategies implemented by the Inclusive Economy Team at EndPovertyEdmonton (EPE) to address poverty through inclusive economic development. Using community-based participatory and strategic learning approaches, data were drawn from internal documents, learning debriefs, and 26 interviews with EPE staff and network members. Five strategies emerged: building networks, advocating for policy change, advancing economic reconciliation, testing approaches to shift economic systems, and fostering learning in inclusive procurement and workforce development. The Inclusive Economy Team functioned as a convenor and “fourth space” actor, bridging nonprofit, government, and business sectors. These findings illustrate how nonprofit actors can support social innovation and influence policy through collaborative, equity-oriented systems change.
Although free access to food is a common response to food insecurity, it does not guarantee consumption. Our research examines how the concept of pleasure can be incorporated into food support programmes offered by community organizations in Qu & eacute;bec. A mixed methodology was employed to analyze the relationship between experienced food insecurity and the pleasure of eating. The results offer theoretical and practical ways forward, emphasizing the importance of considering the notion of choice in interventions. They provide food for thought and suggest to public decision-makers that they adopt a collective approach to combating food insecurity, enabling people to rediscover the pleasure of eating.
Foundations are under increased scrutiny as to the source, investment, and use of their assets. Although disclosure of total assets and disbursements is mandatory in many countries, information on investment portfolios is not required and, historically, foundations have rarely volunteered suchninformation. However, the rise of trust-based philanthropy and interest in impact and responsible investing encourage greater voluntary investment transparency. This article examines the current state of investment transparency among Canadian foundations, which collectively hold over $135 billion in long-term investment portfolios. Through interviews with foundation leaders, it explores the perceived benefits and barriers to investment transparency, and the factors that support or inhibit greater openness. While the findings indicate that Canadian foundations value transparency in general, voluntary disclosure on investments is limited due to a variety of risk factors and the lack of demand from stakeholders or the public. The study also points to emerging trends that are raising expectations for greater investment transparency by foundations.
Bien que l’accès gratuit à des aliments soit une réponse courante à l’insécurité alimentaire, il ne garantit pas leur consommation. Notre recherche examine comment la notion de plaisir peut s’intégrer aux offres de soutien alimentaires des organismes communautaires québécois. Une méthodologie mixte a permis d’analyser les liens entre l’insécurité alimentaire vécue et le plaisir de manger. Les résultats proposent des pistes théoriques et opérationnelles, insistant sur l’importance de considérer la notion de choix dans les interventions. Ces pistes proposent des réflexions tout en suggérant aux décideurs publics d’adopter une approche collective dans la lutte contre l’insécurité alimentaire afin que les personnes mangeures puissent renouer avec le plaisir de manger.
Community wealth building (CWB) offers a place-based approach to impact investing, fostering local economic development and wealth retention (Dowin Kennedy, 2021; Guinan & O’Neill, 2019; O’Neill & Howard, 2018; Ratner, 2019). Community bonds (CBs), a CWB tool, challenge traditional wealth models but remain underutilized due to limited awareness (Surman & Hughes, 2012; Hughes, 2013). This study examines risk perceptions versus financial performance in the Canadian CB market, arguing that addressing information asymmetry is key to unlocking capital and scaling impact. Using historical repayment data, it introduces a dataset of CB offerings and proposes a bond rating system to reduce risk. The study also develops an investor typology and explores partnerships among investors, issuers, and intermediaries through a CWB lens.
Community housing is central to addressing Canada’s housing affordability crisis. In rural areas, nonprofit organizations play a lead role in the provision of community housing. We conducted research in Kaslo and Nelson, rural communities in British Columbia, to determine the causes of housing affordability challenges and assess the efforts of nonprofit organizations to address them. Key informant interviews revealed that housing demand is fuelled by amenity migrants and second home owners, and that there is low availability of rental units. Efforts to increase housing supply are complicated by infrastructure limitations and high costs. Nonprofit community housing providers face barriers associated with limited capacity, funding structures, and NIMBY sentiment. We conclude that regional cooperation and funding structures that are sensitive to geographical context provide paths forward.
This article examines relationships between federal government funding and reported spending by charities on what the Canada Revenue Agency defined as “political activities” over the period 2003–2017. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many charities in Canada see dependence on government funding by other charities as a factor that limits policy engagement. Comparative research generally suggests that government funding is positively associated with policy engagement by charities, but also that it channels charities away from outsider or contentious forms of advocacy toward less confrontational, insider strategies. The CRA data on political activities analyzed here adds important insights because it tracks outsider advocacy involving public calls to action, which government funding is expected to constrain. This analysis finds that charities with federal funding were more likely to report political activities than those with no federal funding, but only to a point and with important differences based on the size of charities.
Women are a growing population in prisons in Canada. When women leave prison, community-based organizations (CBOs) can provide immediate material resources, and facilitate connection to healthcare and other services. We conducted an environmental scan of CBOs that support women leaving prison in order to identify potential gaps in service delivery, and identified 86 CBOs distributed across ten provinces, with a lack of services in rural areas and a general lack of housing. The rapid growth in the incarceration of women has not been met with an investment in CBOs. We call for an investment in, and increased attention towards, community-based housing as both a reentry service and an alternative to incarceration.
Social economy enterprises are usually seen as organizations characterized by horizontal management, aiming for social objectives rather than profit maximization. Based on semi-structured interviews (n = 25) conducted with three social economy organizations in Montreal, our article examines the advantages and disadvantages of opting for an open-plan space. This choice compensates for the reduced workspace through a hybrid work organization and shared premises among different organizations. We observed the adjustments in balancing the passage to the open-plan office with working from home. Findings suggest that this setup allows for cost savings and suits employees, provided there is some flexibility in their working hours, while offering more opportunities for networking and exchanges. The people working for social economy organizations appear to appreciate this context more than those in the public and private sectors. They are more willing to go to work in these open spaces.
This article presents the results of exploratory research on social and solidarity economy ecosystems. In the discussion section, it introduces a reflective analysis addressing four questions inspired by the advances and learnings emerging from the consulted documents. Finally, it lays the groundwork for a research agenda on the concept of ecosystem in resonance with the transformations currently observed both at the geopolitical level and in terms of the current situation.
A research partnership of eight territorial community development structures has highlighted initiatives that have led us to the idea that the social and solidarity-based economy could offer a privileged avenue for translating into concrete projects efforts to achieve the transition from an economy focused on a growth imperative to an economy of sobriety aimed at better collective living. The article begins by outlining how the transition issue arises in the development of the territorial communities where the research was carried out and then identifies how much these initiatives fall within the social/solidarity-based economy and how this perspective offers for socioecological innovations a pathway to the systemic transformation demanded by the socioecological transition. The prospect of developing economically viable businesses seems to us to be a necessary step if socioecological transition initiatives are to become an effective lever for systemic change. In this respect, inclusion in Qu & eacute;bec's social economy expertise is an interesting avenue.
