What is social procurement?
When we focus on ‘best value for money’ procurement is much more than a financial transaction, it is a tool for building healthy communities.
Social Procurement
Every purchase has a social, economic, cultural, and environmental impact. Social procurement is about using your existing purchasing to capture those impacts to achieve overarching institutional, governmental, or individual goals that helps shape inclusive, vibrant and healthy communities.
Community Capital
Community capital recognizes that in a healthy community there is respect for culture, employment opportunities for everyone, equity in financial well-being, value and respect for the natural and built environment we live in, and nurtures relationships with family, friends, and neighbours.
Social procurement is an opportunity to create different types of value and capital through your existing purchasing.
Learn more about creating community capital in David LePage’s book ‘Marketplace Revolution – from Concentrated Wealth to Community Capital’
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How do I Buy with impact?
It’s never been easier to practice social procurement – explore tools, resources and the Certified Social Enterprise Directory to determine your next steps.
You can implement social procurement by:
- Adding a social value consideration to existing purchases
- Adjusting the criteria considerations for purchasing products and services
- Weighting the value of criteria in an RFX
- Evaluating bids and vendors to achieve social, cultural or environmental goals
To help put your social procurement into practice we offer:
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What is Social Enterprise?
Social enterprises exist in almost every sector in communities across Canada, supporting social, cultural, and environmental missions.
What is the social value marketplace?
The intersection of social enterprise, social procurement and social value finance, a place where value and wealth mean more than dollars and cents.
Take our training courses
Wherever you are at in your social procurement journey, our customizable courses deliver for teams of any size.
Ready for social procurement?
Buy Social offers support for both social value suppliers and purchasers. From certification, networking, consulting, training, community engagement and advocacy.