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Vartana's work saw support from a number of stakeholders: from the sector - especially when it was meaningfully engaged, the federal government, Canada's Big 5 banks, various professional services firms, and finally a variety of foundations who were donors. This section shares both documentation of that as well as a review of key aspects of the work done with stakeholders: especially the government and the banks. It also looks at the thinking and strategy behind Vartana's fundraising strategy.

Government

In many ways one of the key areas of work for the Vartana initiative: there was substantial interest and support from the federal government from near the beginning of the initiative. The following is a synopsis of Vartana's work with the government: work that was both about getting charitable status for the bank, as well as critically a much needed infusion of capital to support the launch of the bank. The support that Vartana saw was incredible including inclusion in the Federal Budget in 2004 (part 1, part 2), support from the Prime Minister (part 1, part 2), as well as across many different departments, and across the bureaucracy.

There were a variety of materials that Vartana developed to make its case as well as in pursuit of other social innovation agendas that may be helpful in the future. These touch on a variety of policy questions that were at the core of the proposition, and the ethos behind the initiative itself.

• Submission on capitalization, governance and accountability for the Bank
• Submission on various government financing structures
• Submission on the job creation potential of lending into the social sector
• Submission in Budget 2005 making the case for government investment
• Summary of government participation in other countries
• Submission on the creation of a Canadian Social Innovation Fund

Given that Vartana turned down funding from the government the question remains about the kinds of strings that would have been attached. These are enumerated in the following document for the second offer of funding.

Banks

For a variety of reasons Canada's Big 5 Banks were largely supportive of the initiative, and were willing to work with the project on a number of aspects: including providing infrastructure (branch access across the country), donation support, as well as being open to considering supporting the equity investment needs of the banks. All 5 banks were also willing to be on the record regarding their support including making statements to the government indicating as much: RBC, BMO, ScotiaBank, TD, CIBC.

Fundraising strategy

Vartana's unique proposed structure - as a bank and a charity was both a great strength, creating a compelling vision, as well as a structural challenge. It meant that Vartana had a hard path to raising funds that would be needed, and was fundamentally circumscribed in terms of the parties from which it could raise those funds, and the nature of those funds (such as whether it could be Tier 1 capital, or a loan, or a donation). The following document explores those challenges.