Director, Expanding Access to Impact Investment job in Toronto

Director – Expanding Access to Impact Investment

You’re a seasoned professional with some combination of business, financial, non-profit or government experience and are looking for the right opportunity to use your skills and expertise to create meaningful, positive impact in your community and across Canada.

You also have the exposure to know that the social finance sector in Canada is a growing and innovative space and there is a lot of opportunity for new initiatives and community-driven solutions.

That’s why we’re here, and why we need you.

We’re New Market Funds (NMF), a multi-fund management company and a certified B Corp with a mission to deliver investment opportunities that have a lasting benefit on communities.

Recently, we’ve partnered with the Government of Canada to deliver part of the Investment Readiness Program (IRP), a $50 million program aimed at strengthening social purpose organizations (SPOs) and the social finance ecosystem in advance of the $755 million Social Finance Fund. Part of our IRP work is to identify opportunities and mechanisms to expand the current investor base for Canada’s impact funds, with a focus on accredited and non-accredited investors.

Director, Expanding Access to Impact Investment

Your goal in this position is to work with the NMF team and the general IRP Coordinator, with the guidance of an NMF Managing Partner, to lead the work of:

• Assessing the needs and challenges being faced by mature and more recent impact fund intermediary organizations interested in collaborating on the initiative to expand the investor base;
• Improving the understanding of the most effective legal structures and business models that can sustainably service a broad range of social finance intermediaries, including the option of establishing a common non-profit platform; and,
• Leveraging the work done by existing funds and other intermediaries that have made investments in accessing accredited and non-accredited investors.

Practically speaking, here is what you’ll be doing day-to-day:

• Project Reference Panel – Establish and support a panel of stakeholders who will engage in the project, inform work plans and work strategies, comment on the results of research and proposed structuring approaches, and validate findings and conclusions form the project.
• Guide and Support Legal Review Work – Lead the development of a work plan for engagement and management of legal resources to support the work of the project.
• Develop models/structures – Develop options for collaborative platforms, structures through which a range of impact investment funds can efficiently and effectively access nan expanded investor base including accredited and non-accredited investors; test these models for support among interested impact investment intermediaries and potential investors
• Project Management – Collaborate with internal and external resources to execute specific project deliverables including research, report writing, survey design, data analysis, marketing materials creation and technology development.
• Budget Tracking – Oversee project expenditures and track them against the project budget and spending forecasts.
• Teamwork and Stakeholder Relations – Communicate and collaborate effectively with various other staff and consultants to maximize integration across the three areas and accomplish shared project goals.

Aside from your experience in delivery of complex projects that engage a broad range of stakeholders, project management and delivery of innovative and viable solutions, you’ll be a great fit if you are:

• An organized thinker who sees the forest and the trees – You see the big picture but roll up your sleeves and dive into the detail and back up again.
• Comfortable with multiple tasks – You effectively juggle lots of balls in the air and know what it takes to get it all done on time and on budget.
• An excellent communicator – You know how to get your message across clearly and effectively and to different audiences. Whether it is through email communication, in-person conversations or formal reports, you’re concise and thoughtful with your messages.
• Proactive – You can spot problems well in advance and mitigate risk appropriately. Your forward-thinking enables you to plan ahead and avoid problems.
• Detail-oriented – You make sure all the small details that combine to make seamless execution have been completed in advance.
• Excited about social finance – You relish the opportunity to help build and grow Canada’s emerging social finance sector through national, government-supported initiatives.

Working with New Market Funds The hours of work will be negotiated with the successful candidate. This can be a full-time, or mostly full-time position and is temporary, ending March 31, 2021. Compensation will be commensurate with the experience and role. Our preference is that you will work out of our Toronto office in a dog-friendly co-working space where we share our premises with other purpose-driven organizations. You may travel up to 15% of the time across Canada to support project work. Our core hours are Monday to Friday from 9:00am to 5:00pm, with flexibility as needed.

We’re a mission-driven team, and we love knowing that the work we do positively impacts others. We’re close-knit, we work hard, take pride in our success, and enjoy having fun at work. We love being part of an organization that’s growing and evolving, all while making a difference. We hope you’ll be excited to share our values of investing in and building community and capacity.

Qualifications

• Understanding of the financial services environment and the securities regulatory environment in Canada
• 5+ years of experience in a project management or similar role
• 2 years of direct experience in social finance, impact investing or a similar field
• Post-secondary degree
• Experience in the establishment and management of a social impact fund, or similar experience
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), Slack and Asana
• Bilingual in French and English and CFA designation is an asset

How to Apply

To apply for this position, please email your cover letter and resume to Carla Pellegrini at cpellegrini@newmarketfunds.ca by September 30 with the subject line “EAII Director – [your name].”

We strive to build a team that reflects the diversity of the community we work in and encourage applications from traditionally underrepresented groups such as women, visible minorities, Indigenous peoples, people identifying as LGBTQ2SI, veterans, and people with disabilities. If we can make this easier through accommodation in the recruitment process, please contact us. All qualified applicants are invited to apply. We thank all applicants, however, we will only contact those applicants selected for an interview.