Social and Enterprise Development Innovations (SEDI) is a charitable nonprofit organization whose mission is to expand economic opportunity for Canadians living in poverty through program and policy innovation.

Our work to combat poverty currently focuses on three areas: financial literacy, saving and asset building, and entrepreneurship.

SEDI was founded in 1986 by Canadian social entrepreneur Peter Nares. Since then, SEDI has worked with numerous businesses, governments and over 800 nonprofit community organizations across Canada to transform good ideas into large-scale opportunities for people to make their way out of poverty.

Impacts and highlights of SEDI's initiatives

WHAT WE DO

•  Generate ideas to reduce poverty

We identify and develop ideas that expand social and economic opportunity for all Canadians and contribute to a more inclusive, prosperous society. Currently, we focus on ideas in three areas: financial literacy, saving and asset building, and entrepreneurship.

•  Test ideas

We shape promising ideas into pilot programs and test them in partnership with community groups, businesses and governments across Canada. We collect evidence to verify the need for and viability of these ideas.

•  Bring ideas to scale

We work with key actors in the public, private and nonprofit sectors to develop policies and programs that take good ideas to scale and impact more people. In doing so, we help low-income Canadians plan and save for the future and invest in long-term assets such as education, a home or a small business.

Case study: How SEDI's unique idea-driven model is bringing financial literacy to scale in Canada