LIFT identifies and works with SPOs with the potential and ability to generate the largest social outcomes leading to meaningful employment. We help SPOs to strategically reimagine their offering while investing in their impact measurement and organizational capacity. Increased effectiveness and efficiency lead to greater reach and impact.
Our highly engaged, specialized approach includes hands-on management support from our impact team, business expertise, resources from our national network of pro bono partners and strategic funding made possible by the financial contributions of our investors.
We leverage concepts of venture philanthropy that have been proven effective internationally. Our difference is applying business discipline to SPOs that are already impactful, bolstering their capabilities so they can do even more, faster.
Organization
Strategy
Leadership
Cohorts
Our Methodology
LIFT is now a premium brand of choice for SPOs. We are validation that an SPO is efficient, measures performance and delivers real social impact. We have a proven and disciplined model to identify and scale up SPOs. Our endpoint is when an SPO has built the necessary foundation to support sustainable growth.
We seek out SPOs with the potential and ability to generate the largest social outcomes leading to meaningful employment. Through careful screening, tapping into networks, and deploying marketing strategies, we reach out to those SPOs best suited to our model.
The process can take months and demands commitment from the SPO’s senior leadership team. Areas reviewed during the due diligence period include business planning, financial history, measurement data and market analysis. An internal case for investment, including growth potential and milestones, is presented for decision.
In the early investment stage, we focus on long-range business planning and establishing specific milestones along the way that will position the SPO for a step change in its operation.
We help SPOs demonstrate, through evidence, the impact they are having on their clients’ lives and identify opportunities to enhance their impact. For example, our focus is not on how many youths attended a skills workshop but on how many youths found and kept jobs.
We work with each SPO to ensure they have the requisite capacity to grow by addressing key challenges and leveraging organizational strengths. During this phase, the focus is on building the capacity of the SPO through the transfer of skills.
We support SPOs’ ability to effectively manage change by enhancing their depth and breadth within the current market and assessing the feasibility of new markets and areas for expansion.
We design activities and convene in-person and virtual forums as an opportunity for SPOs in our portfolio to jointly learn, share and eventually partner for enhanced outcomes and impact.
Our endpoint is when an SPO is capable of meaningful, measurable and scalable social outcomes, and is prepared to move on to the next phase of its growth and development. LIFT begins a natural reduction in involvement with SPOs.
Why We Do It
Building better lives for Canadians requires fostering the most resilient, innovative, globally competitive, and inclusive economy possible. As a country, we must come together to address systemic barriers preventing Canadians from gaining meaningful employment.
Now, more than ever, SPOs must be able to scale up and deliver meaningful impact; however, many lack robust systems and structures, consistent funding, effective governance, accurate impact measurement data and the ability and capacity to scale up to address critical social needs.
We are changing that by collaborating with organizations across sectors to achieve better, faster and more inclusive impacts to ensure access to meaningful employment for Canada’s most vulnerable, and ultimately, create a stronger country where everyone thrives