So, what exactly is Slow Money anyways? It’s a movement that organizes investors and donors and helps steer new sources of capital to small food enterprises, organic farms and local food systems. It brings together engaged investors, farmers and entrepreneurs as well as many others working to see the local food-driven economy thrive and they’re bringing that business back to its roots on home turf.
Slow Money Canada‘s inaugural conference will be kicking off in Vancouver on the evening of June 5 and all day on June 6, bringing together a group of engaged farmers, investors, entrepreneurs and those determined to see the local food economy thrive.
The inspiration for Slow Money stems from a vision author Woody Tasch had while writing his book, Inquiries Into the Nature of Slow Money – Investing as if Food, Farms and Fertility Mattered, in 2008.
Post-publishing, Tasch founded the non-profit and has since seen a significant increase in interest and momentum with chapters popping up across the United States as well as one in France.
Through the combined activity of Slow Money’s local and regional chapters, investment clubs and individual action, more than $30 million has been invested in over 200 small food enterprises from 2009 to date. That’s a lot of green, helping to create room for growth.
For the first time, Slow Money is gathering north of the border featuring keynotes, panels and an Entrepreneur Showcase. Keynote speakers will include:
Woody Tasch – Woody Tasch, Founder and Chairman, pioneered the integration of asset management and philanthropic purpose in the 1990s as Treasurer of the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation and Founding Chairman of the Community Development Venture Capital Alliance. For 10 years, through 2008, Tasch was chairman of Investors’ Circle, a network of angel investors, family offices, and social purpose funds and foundations that has invested $150 million in 230 early stage sustainability-promoting ventures and venture funds since 1992.
Jean Martin Fortier – Jean-Martin Fortier and his wife Maude-Hélène Desroches are the founders of Les Jardins de la Grelinette, an internationally recognized micro-farm known for its high productivity and profitability using low-tech, high-yield methods of production. A leading practitioner of biologically intensive cropping systems, Jean-Martin has more than a decade’s worth of experience in organic farming.
Leslie Christian – Leslie Christian, a leader and innovator in social and environmental investing, is focused on the development of Integrated Capital, a framework for investing that accounts for the global risks of our time as well as the vision, values and aspirations of each client. Through Leslie E. Christian, LLC, Leslie offers consulting and advisory services to individuals and institutions seeking an integrated capital approach. She also serves as Integrated Capital Specialist at NorthStar Asset Management in Boston and as Senior Advisor at RSF Social Finance in San Francisco. Leslie is a board member and Treasurer for the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE).
Panelists for the conference will include Michael Ableman from Vancouver’s SoleFood, Elana Rosenfeld, CEO of Kicking Horse Coffee, Ann Marie Gardner, CEO and Editor in Chief of Modern Farmer Magazine, Ross Beaty, VP of the Sitka Foundation, and Moira Teevan, Community Investment Associate at Vancity.
The Vancouver Slow Money Conference will take place at the Arts Club Revue Stage on Granville Island June 5 and 6, 2014. Tickets are priced at $175 for regular guests and $200 for investors. For more information about the event and to purchase tickets, click here.
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