Foundations in Focus
Join us to hear learn how your foundation’s investments can power local change in Southwestern Ontario!
We are excited to invite you to an engaging virtual dialogue, “Foundations in Focus,” where we’ll explore how foundations are driving meaningful change across our communities through their impact investments.
Across Southwestern Ontario, changemakers are redefining how business can build a better world - tackling challenges like poverty, housing insecurity, and climate resilience. Yet, one critical barrier remains: access to capital.
That’s where the VERGE Breakthrough Fund II (VBFII) comes in. This $5 million local impact investment fund connects purpose-driven investors with social enterprises that are creating sustainable solutions for our region’s most pressing challenges.
Join us to:
Understand how impact investing works and why it’s gaining traction.
Hear from foundation and institutional investors, who will share how their organizations are leveraging their portfolios to create change.
Learn how VERGE Breakthrough Fund II supports local enterprises and community transformation.
Engage in a live Q&A with our speakers.
🎙️ Speakers:
Our moderators, Andre Vashist and Michelle Baldwin are well known across Canada for their leadership in impact investing, philanthropy and social innovation.
Lina Bowden, Founder of Verge Capital, is a local advocate for place-based impact investing.
Michelle Baldwin, Co-Executive Director, Impact United Academy
André Pawan Vashist, Director, Learning and Collaboration, Philanthropic Foundations Canada
Our Foundation and Institutional Investor panel includes:
Mritunjay (MJ) Sinha, Impact Investor, CIO for Foundations & Family Offices
Alison Moeller, Chief Financial Officer, Oakville Community Foundation
Henry Thuss, Finance Committee, Ursuline Sisters of Chatham