Of special interest to the Centre is the range of legal structure options available to house social enterprise in Canada.
The importance of measuring considerations such as motivation, control / governance, market, and capital against the menu of structural choices cannot be stressed enough.
A 2011 paper, entitled Social Enterprise in Canada: Structural Options, developed by Social Innovation Generation at the MaRS Discovery District, and written by Susan Manwaring and Andrew Valentine of the national law firm Miller Thomson, is the best that we know of on this topic, and is a frequently cited tool for folks requesting structural information from us.
This paper predates the introduction of the Community Contribution Company (C3) in British Columbia, as the newest structural offering available. Do visit our C3 page for more information.
A seminal structural paper was written for the Centre by charity lawyer Richard Bridge in 2010. It is entitled More Reflections on Legal Structures for Community Enterprise.
A year earlier, we co-wrote with Richard Bridge a paper called Legislative Innovations and Social Enterprise: Structural Lessons for Canada.
