New Support Association to engage with members and educate Canadians

December 1, 2016

Greetings,

We are pleased to provide you as members and supporters of Oikocredit with an update on some changes that have recently taken place.

Oikocredit in Canada is organized through support associations working in collaboration with the national office. These networks are key to building Oikocredit awareness in Canada through local events, activities and communications.

In 2016, the board of our western association – Oikocredit Canada West – decided that the time had come to wind up its operations. After a long history of successfully raising co-op share capital on behalf of Oikocredit International, regulatory pressures made it impossible to continue business as usual. Oikocredit Canada West officially dissolved in November 2016. OCW’s reserve from investor donations is being donated to Oikocredit International, with about half the $290,000 reserve pledged to the Capacity Building Fund and half to the Donate to Invest Fund. These donations were decided at the OCW annual meeting in April.

In response to OCW’s closure, the board of Oikocredit Canada Central – the volunteer network in Ontario – reached out and offered a solution – expand its mandate to cover western Canada and invite Oikocredit members and supporters in the western provinces to join a new national support association. Even though the support associations are no longer able to raise investment capital for Oikocredit, they are still very engaged in promoting the Oikocredit mission of poverty reduction through micro finance, renewable energy and sustainable agriculture in developing countries. We will also collaborate with the National Office in engaging with credit unions that will be offering savings products tied to Oikocredit as a means to raise capital in Canada.

So earlier this year, Oikocredit Canada Central changed its legal name to Oikocredit Canada, and adopted a new mandate to serve members from BC to Ontario. The association will collaborate with Oikocredit Canada Atlantic, which will continue to serve members in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland.

Mandate to engage with Canadians

Oikocredit Canada has received additional funding from Oikocredit’s international office to expand its activities and to reach out to members and supporters. We have retained Aysha Dawood as a part-time events and volunteer coordinator. She has already organized some very successful events in Toronto and we are planning to hold similar events in Vancouver, Victoria and other western cities with the assistance of local volunteers.

We also plan to host national webinars on key issues involving Oikocredit on the themes of inclusive finance, sustainable agriculture and renewable energy.

We’re also planning to adopt a higher profile by working cooperatively with outside organizations that share our mission. Oikocredit Canada has already kicked this off by supporting the Toronto Microfinance Summit to bring famed microfinance pioneer Mohammed Yunus to Canada as well as a series of local meetings on fair trade coffee.

In June, we are planning to hold one or more local events in BC in conjunction with the national conference of the Responsible Investment Association. This conference is the national gathering of the responsible investment industry and it will be a great opportunity to showcase Oikocredit’s activities to supporters in the Vancouver area.

As well, we are working collaboratively with our volunteers at Oikocredit Canada Atlantic so that we have a national strategy to raise awareness of Oikocredit’s work in development finance. Oikocredit Canada is not operating in Quebec yet, but the national office is involved in discussions on strategies to make this happen.

Finally, while investment is Oikocredit’s principal activity, the organization also provides capacity building donations to many of our partners in the developing world. This is essential to make prospective new partners ready to receive loans from Oikocredit, or to improve the social impact of existing partners. One of the campaigns we are considering is an effort to raise funds for this critical part of Oikocredit’s mission.

Membership to include all current members

To all of the members of Oikocredit Canada West and Oikocredit Canada Central, let me say to you that you will be welcomed into this new association at no cost to you. The board is developing a plan to fully integrate all existing members and Oikocredit International Share Foundation investors into the new association. For new members, the board is looking into creating a new one-time fee of $25. Details will be finalized in the New Year.

So we have an ambitious agenda for 2017 and the years to come. The objective is to raise awareness of Oikocredit across Canada. With your help, I think we can achieve this goal, and I look forward to communicating with you soon about our plans. If you would like to share any ideas with us, send us an email at canada@oikocredit.org.

On behalf of the board of Oikocredit Canada, I would like to thank the board members and active volunteers of Oikocredit Canada West for their years of dedicated service to Oikocredit. You helped to lay a strong foundation for Oikocredit in western Canada.

And to all of you, I wish you a happy holiday, and best wishes for 2017.

Warm regards
Jack Vanderkooy
President, Oikocredit Canada Support Association
canada@oikocredit.org

Board & Staff members

Abhishek Bhasin, Vice President -- Toronto

Karl Braun – Kitchener

Joe Howse – Halifax

Heather Keachie – Toronto

Lisa Leong – Vancouver

Jack Panozzo, Toronto

Michelle Peterson – Vancouver

Arlene Tober, Toronto

Jack Vanderkooy, President -- Collingwood

Aysha Dawood, Events and Volunteer Coordinator

Brigid McQuaid, Administrator