LEAP Pecaut Centre for Social Impact

Published purpose

This 42-month cost-sharing project aims to increase the economic security and prosperity of women in Canada, particularly among those from equity-deserving groups. The LEAP Pecaut Centre for Social Impact (LEAP) will define, select, and scale innovative, high-impact programs across a cohort of not-for-profit Canadian organizations working to address the systemic barriers to women’s economic well-being. Programs and services will address one or more of the key barriers to women’s economic well-being: basic needs and social supports, education and training, the opportunity cost of caregiving, and workforce opportunity. LEAP has secured financial and in-kind commitments from private sector donors in the amount of $3.425M, for a total project budget of $6.925M. The project will define, select, and scale programs up to 4x-10x that address key barriers to economic security through investing in a cohort of eight (8) social ventures focused on women’s economic well-being. LEAP will provide scaling strategy and execution support together with pro-bono professional services from best-in-class private sector partnerships. The project will also distribute funding in support of targeted scaling strategies across the cohort, measure the impact of the program against LEAP’s Impact Framework, and disseminate knowledge across public, private, and social sectors. As a result of LEAP’s model to scale social impact, women’s economic security and prosperity will increase, organizations will become more sustainable, and the collaboration between organizations and private sector will be strengthened. This initiative will contribute to a more equitable and resilient future by strengthening and modernizing organizations across Canada. The first supplemental funding will allow for a deepening of the impact of the project through two additional activities focused on strengthening systemic change measurement across the cohort, and on better understanding potential innovative program models among the cohort. The second supplemental funding will further strengthen the capacity of participating organizations to measure impact across the cohort, including through the adoption of technology infrastructure for data management.