This year the Buy Social Canada Social Procurement Champion Awards recognize organizations who are taking real strides forward to get things done in the social procurement ecosystem – either through direct action or through advocacy and sustained engagement with stakeholders. Each of this year’s award winners see the potential for social procurement and work towards a better future for their communities.

Join us virtually at Marketplace Impact: Social Procurement in Action on May 16, 2024 to celebrate changemakers from across Canada. This year, we’re happy to celebrate three Social Procurement Champion Award winners.

City of Edmonton

The City of Edmonton first adopted a purchasing policy with ethical and environmental considerations in 2010, and then added social value in their policy in 2019 with support from Buy Social Canada. By 2022, they also added Indigenous purchasing into their procurement program.

Now, the City’s Sustainable Procurement Policy has four guiding principles: Ethical Standards, Environmental Sustainability, Indigenous Procurement, and Social Value Considerations.

In 2022, the City began an action-focussed implementation project with an ambitions and impressive suite of tools and resources. They have also been leading the way on tracking and sharing transparent progress of their implementation with a Measurement and Reporting Framework and a Diversity Spend Reporting Framework.

Other activities include:

• Sustainable Procurement Menu with contract requirements for social and environmental outcomes
• Community Benefits Framework
• Sustainable procurement advisory committee
• Indigenous set aside approach
• Training and networking events

Through their many initiatives and frameworks, they are taking social procurement from policy to action, and learning and improving each year.

City of Winnipeg

The City of Winnipeg officially adopted a Sustainable Procurement Action Plan (SPAP) in 2022, following extensive stakeholder engagement with community, industry, and internal staff.

The City’s framework has a four-pillar model which promotes a comprehensive approach to sustainable procurement that addresses supply chain opportunities across four pillars: Environmental, Ethical, Social, and Indigenous.

One year into implementing the SPAP, the City has accomplished:

• Website with program information
• Ongoing engagement through a multi-stakeholder sustainable procurement advisory table
• Social Procurement Supplier Registry
• Environmental and social value questionnaires for bids
• Social Value Menu with clauses for social, Indigenous and environmental
• Council motion to approve inclusion of social procurement on $1 billion water treatment plant – moving ahead with 5% target for design-build
• Developing a process for Indigenous set-asides and non-profit direct awards

The City of Winnipeg is committed to continuously showing up and taking steps to create opportunities for social value suppliers in their procurement practices.

Ontario Nonprofit Network

Ontario Nonprofit Network (ONN) is the independent network for the 58,000 nonprofits in Ontario, focused on policy, advocacy, and services to strengthen Ontario’s nonprofit sector as a key pillar of their society and economy.

Celebrating their 10th anniversary this year, they work to create a public policy environment that allows nonprofits to thrive. They engage a network of diverse nonprofit organizations across Ontario to work together on issues affecting the sector and channel the voices of their network to governments, funders, and other stakeholders.

As demand for social procurement grows, ONN has been a champion for social procurement in Ontario. They frequently lead or are involved in provincial advocacy with Government of Ontario, Supply Ontario, Metrolinx, and others. They:

• Wrote a briefing note for social procurement advocacy to public purchasers
• Co-facilitate the Ontario Community Benefits Network (OCBN)
• Hosted a community wealth building event series focused on social procurement

In addition to advocacy and convening around social procurement, ONN has also been a strong supporter of social enterprise as a key component of the Ontario nonprofit community. They are also long-time collaborators with Buy Social Canada, Toronto Community Benefits Network, and others as they work to create a supportive ecosystem for the social value marketplace.

Congratulations to all recipients, and thank you to all the other ecosystem leaders moving this work ahead!

Get your free tickets now to join the conversation.