Support for Social Economy Mutualization Projects

• Social economy enterprises active in the agri-food, manufacturing or environmental and sustainable development sectors.
• An organization leading a mutualization project for social economy enterprises in the agri-food, manufacturing or environmental and sustainable development sectors. A lead organization must be recognized as such by the social economy enterprises that will benefit from the project (e.g., a federation or group of enterprises).

• Social finance organizations (e.g., credit cooperatives)
• Mutuals (e.g., insurance mutuals)
• Large-scale social economy enterprises (200 or more employees)

Mutualization means the process by which two or more social economy enterprises come together to pool equipment or technologies with the aim of benefiting collectively from this sharing.

As such, supported projects must target the acquisition of equipment or technologies that may be shared by social economy enterprises. Project costs, in addition to the cost of acquiring equipment, may include the sharing of expertise or human resources directly linked to the equipment acquisition project.

The project must involve at least two social economy enterprises or benefit at least two of them, and all equipment users must be known at the time the project is submitted.

Non-repayable financial support under $100,000 that may generally cover up to 50% of authorized costs.

Costs are eligible as of the date the application is submitted.

A social economy enterprise is defined based on the framework provided in Quebec’s Social Economy Act, meaning:

• The enterprise aspires to economic viability. ;
• The purpose of the enterprise is to meet the needs of its members or the community.
• The rules applicable to the enterprise provide for democratic governance by its members. ;
• The rules applicable to the enterprise prohibit the distribution of surplus earnings generated by its activities or provide that surplus earnings be distributed among its members in proportion to the transactions each of the members has carried out with the enterprise.
• The rules applicable to a legal person operating the enterprise provide that in the event of its dissolution, the enterprise’s remaining assets must devolve to another legal person sharing similar objectives. .
• The enterprise is not under the decision-making authority of one or more public bodies.