Check out Duanne's Nickull's interview with Joel Solomon at Open Everything, a conference that happens every year at Hollyhock, hosted by Renewal investee Communicopia.

Renewal will move in early January to our fabulous new space on the 2nd floor of The Tides Renewal Centre located at the Flack Block. The Centre’s four floors of offices with LEED certified commerical interior build out, will also house Tides Canada Foundation, along with a number of other exceptional social entrepreneurs.

The Renewal team was deeply troubled to learn about the unfortunate death of Ben Banky, CEO of Tallgrass Distribution. Ben was a frequent participant at our annual Social Venture Institute at Hollyhock and he will be deeply missed by many. We extend our condolences to Ben's family and colleagues during this challenging time.

Check out the pictures from the 2008 Toronto Partners for Change Party!

Social Change Institute (SCI)  alumni Vanessa Richards presents a new song for our times, called Occupying Army.

Check out Carleen Hawn's article on patient capital and a "grow slow" response to investing today, based on an interviews with Woody Tasch, Chairman of Investors' Circle, and Eric Becker, money manager with Trillium Asset Management.  "There is a growing awareness that to have a truly sustainable civilization we need to have sustainable food systems, and to get there we need to rethink capitalism to make it work at a pace that can help finance sustainable agriculture and food systems."

The great economic contraction that began officially in September of 2008, has created a crisis for the charitable sector in North America and globally.

Stories of massive losses for venerable grantmaking Foundations abound. Thousands of non profit salaries, millions of people in need, and extraordinary social change strategies depend on those sources of funds. Individual donors are starting to freeze, all waiting to see what happens next. Big commitments go on hold.

Renewal Partners has invested in many dozens of early stage businesses since 1994. From the mid 80's our people have been active in North American networks of players in social ventures, change oriented philanthropy, mission based investing, entrepreneurial non profits, real estate for social purpose, the intersection of environment and making money, community wealth creation, and the leadership and capacity development that supports all these initiatives.

It's anybody's guess what our collective economic future will be. All bets are off as unimaginable tectonic shifts destabilize the very foundations of the market economy.

What was already a highly conceptual realm of blind faith for many, may scar current generations of citizens as our grandparents carried the memory of The Great Depression of the 30's. Will wealth placement return to a buried tin can in the back yard? Or currency and gold coins stashed under the mattress?

Gregor Robertson is Mayor elect of Vancouver. A strong team from Vision Vancouver, COPE, and Green Party won office alongside him. The wise agreement of those parties to run in unity was notable. We've all seen the often damaging results of three or more parties running against each other.