You are investor at a fund that is looking to support a social enterprise that has an environmental focus. There are three cases of social enterprises in Ontario that have caught the attention of your team; ZooShare Biogas Co-operative Inc., Young Urban Farmers, and Summerhill group’s Shuttle program. You and your team are to conduct an in-depth review of each social enterprise (check out their websites, facts, and profiles) and as investors you are to choose one of the three that your fund will support.
I would like to pick this one. • ZooShare Biogas Co-operative Inc. is a non-profit renewable energy co-operative that is developing a 500-kW community-owned biogas plant on the grounds of the Toronto Zoo. It is turning the Zoo’s annual manure output as well as food waste from Toronto-area grocery stores into electricity, heat, fertilizer and cash for the Zoo.
• Cultivate Toronto + Young Urban Farmers is a non-profit organization that aims to reconnect people in Toronto―city dwellers―with fresh, locally-grown food. It does this by converting Toronto backyards into a sustainable source of fresh, delicious produce. Young Urban Farmers distributes this food via a community shared agriculture (CSA) model.
• Summerhill group’s Shuttle program is an innovative program that will measure personal vehicle use in Ontario. This sophisticated tool will effectively encourage more efficient driving.
Your objective is to pick one of the three that you would support based on your findings. Discuss why you chose the social enterprise that you did by presenting a rationale based on your analysis (be sure to compare to the other two social enterprises and discuss why you would not choose them – i.e., what is the information that is missing or challenges that you can see arise with the enterprise).
