Toronto-based MaRS Discovery District announced Thursday that substantial funding support from the Rockefeller Foundation and the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation will be made available for the Centre for Impact Investing, to be housed at MaRS.

The Centre for Impact Investing will build upon the foundational work of MaRS and Social Innovation Generation (SiG), including the landmark report, Mobilizing Private Capital for Public Good, by the Canadian Task Force on Social Finance.

The Centre will be a national hub that will increase awareness for and effectiveness of social finance to catalyze new capital, talent, and initiatives dedicated to tackling social and environmental problems in Canada.

The Centre will help focus Canadian efforts into the emerging field of impact investing, delivering programs and initiatives focused on research and policy, market and product development, and education and engagement initiatives to enhance the ability to mobilize private capital towards public good.

The Centre is expected to open for operation in early Winter 2011.

A recent report by J.P. Morgan and the Rockefeller Foundation estimates that impact investing assets will grow to between $400 billion and $1 trillion. These are investment opportunities that have demonstrable social and/or environmental impact alongside financial return, from affordable housing to renewable energy.

The total Canadian impact investing market is $2 billion today; it is expected to grow to $30 billion in 10 years.

IE