Sustainable Livelihoods Canada

Name

Sustainable Livelihoods Canada

Legal name

Sustainable Livelihoods Canada

Website

https://slcanada.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Social Impact Consulting and Capacity Building Services

NAICS

Individual and Family Services (6241)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Management Services (8741)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYBPADABAO

Technical Cooperation, Capacity Building & Policy Advisory Programs

Business & Public Services/International Organizations & Development/Bilateral Development Agencies & Aid Programs

Keywords

• Nonprofit capacity building
• Social impact evaluation
• Sustainable livelihoods training
• Community development consulting
• Strengths based framework

Headquarters

HQ city

Toronto

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices8 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Training and Education Services: SLC generates revenue through public training sessions (offered twice per year online) and customized training and consultation engagements with community-based organizations. Public training covers the Motivational Interviewing-Informed SL Training delivered over seven half-day sessions. Customized training is tailored to organizational goals and budget.
2. Evaluation and Consulting Services: Full-service evaluation shop offering developmental and special program evaluations, evaluation capacity building, and evaluation coaching. Revenue generated through client-funded evaluation engagements with organizations seeking external evaluation, internal capacity building, and coaching.
3. Government and Foundation Grants: SLC receives grant funding from government and foundation sources. Most notably, a $575,000 grant from Women and Gender Equality (WAGE) Canada over 33 months for the 'From Crisis to Collaboration' project to support GBV organizations. SLC acknowledges support from Women and Gender Equality Canada. SLC is one of over 160 organizations receiving support from WAGE's Women's Economic and Leadership Opportunities Fund.
4. Research and Knowledge Mobilization: SLC conducts community-engaged research with partner organizations and clients, producing reports, knowledge mobilization products, and convening communities of practice. Revenue is derived from research contracts and project-based work with partners and funders.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Sustainable Livelihoods Canada (SLC) delivers training, coaching, full-service program evaluation, community-engaged research, policy analysis, and advocacy built around the Sustainable Livelihoods (SL) framework — a holistic, strengths-based approach adapted from the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex to the Canadian context. Services are delivered directly to community-based organizations, social enterprises, funders, and government bodies across Canada through customized engagements, public online trainings, and grant-funded projects.

Product overview

Sustainable Livelihoods Canada (SLC) is a national not-for-profit social enterprise offering a comprehensive suite of training, coaching, and evaluation services centered on the Sustainable Livelihoods (SL) framework. The core offerings include Sustainable Livelihoods Training for framework introduction, Motivational Interviewing-Informed SL Training combining motivational interviewing techniques, individual and group SL Coaching, and Organizational Implementation support. Additional services encompass in-house evaluation and research capabilities, evaluation capacity building, community-engaged research, knowledge mobilization, communities of practice facilitation, and policy advocacy. The organization also provides downloadable resource tools including the SLC Backgrounder, Asset Map, Livelihoods Continuum, Asset Mapping Tool, My Plan Tool, Community Capacity Asset Guide, and How Women Build Sustainable Livelihoods infographic.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Sustainable Livelihoods Training
• Sustainable Livelihoods-Informed Motivational Interviewing Training
• Sustainable Livelihoods Coaching
• Organizational Implementation Support
• In-House Evaluation Expertise
• Building Evaluation Capacity
• Evaluation Coaching
• Community-Engaged Research
• Reporting and Knowledge Mobilization
• Communities of Practice
• Building Social and Economic Inclusion Strategies
• Building Policy and Advocacy Agendas

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 100 front-line staff and managers at 20+ organizations trained in MI-informed SL coaching
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

17 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• York Region Centre for Community Safety (YRCCS)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 December 2024YRCCS is a co-located and coordinated single access point hub for holistic and integrated services within York Region to meet the needs of those affected by intimate partner violence and sexual violence. YRCCS is a core partner in SLC's WAGE-funded GBV project, engaging in systematic strengths-based research on staff and organizational wellbeing.
• Huronia Transition Homes (HTH)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 December 2024HTH is a multi-service agency serving women who experience gender-based violence, offering shelter and trauma-informed services in Simcoe County. HTH also operates a vertical farm that provides training and employment for women who have experienced gender-based violence. HTH is a core partner in the WAGE-funded project, engaging in research and co-creation of pilot programs.
• YWCA MuskokacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 December 2024YWCA Muskoka is a multi-service organization striving for positive change for girls, women and gender diverse people in Muskoka region through holistic support, education, leadership and advocacy. YWCA Muskoka offers programs to prevent and disrupt gender-based violence and human trafficking and is a core partner in the WAGE project.
• University of Guelph — Community Engaged Scholarship Institute (CESI)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 December 2024CESI research students will support research, solution designing, and knowledge mobilization activities for the WAGE-funded GBV project. SLC works in partnership with CESI and has a history of collaborating with the University of Guelph on community-engaged research initiatives.
• Indigenous Consumer Assistance Network (ICAN)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerICAN provides consumer education, advocacy and financial counselling services to Indigenous consumers in Australia. Through adopting and adapting the SL framework to its financial counselling services, ICAN has embedded a strengths-based well-being framework to support people from crisis ('surviving') to 'thriving'. ICAN co-produced the report 'From Surviving to Thriving: Embedding a well-being framework into financial counselling practice' (2024).
• Momentum (Calgary)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMomentum is a leader in Sustainable Livelihoods with over twenty years embedding SL practice into its programming and evaluation. Over the years, the Momentum team has developed its own flavour of SL, creating customized evaluation tools and practices. Momentum has also prepared a Community Capacity Asset Guide adapted from SLC's asset map and offers a 45-minute asset mapping self-assessment online.
• Resources for Results (Toronto)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerResources for Results produced learnings from the evaluation of the Community Harm Reduction Response Teams (CHRRT) project of Street Health in Toronto, including harm reduction reports (Pathways to Inclusion Findings, HR Capacity Checklist, CHRRT Model Evaluation Findings) and tools (CHRRT Organizational Capacity Asset Map, CHRRT Harm Reduction Support Worker Asset Map).
• Canadian Women's FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Canadian Women's Foundation is a long-standing partner of SLC. SLC prepared 'Barely Keeping It Together: Final Evaluation Report' for the Rebuilding Lives Grant Stream 2020-2023 (2024), along with a graphic novella illustrating systemic barriers women can encounter. The Foundation also supported the SL framework development through the 'Beyond Survival' collaborative fund.
• ONESTEP OntariominorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSLC collaborated with ONESTEP on the External Evaluation of the Sustainable Livelihoods Coaching Pilot Project (2018–20), documented in the Cathexis Consultants report 'Steps toward a Sustainable Livelihood' (2021).
• In Good Company (Partnership of Canadian Women's Foundation, Catalyst Canada, Plan International Canada, YWCA Canada)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerIn Good Company is a partnership aimed at creating a sustainable, feminist pandemic recovery. SLC partnered with them on applying the Sustainable Livelihoods framework to address gender-based and sexual violence through partnerships focusing on identifying and addressing structural barriers to socioeconomic inclusion and leadership.
• YWCA TorontominorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSLC supported YWCA Toronto throughout its 2010-2023 Building Sustainable Futures initiative to promote livelihood and employment opportunities for marginalized populations across Canada using customized SL tools for training and outcomes evaluation. SLC participated in producing the YWCA Building Sustainable Futures Compendium.
• Common Approach (Impact Measurement)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSLC joined Common Approach for a one-hour webinar on Social Impact Measurement for the Social Purpose Sector in March 2023, introducing the SL framework and discussing how to use internal data to support learning and improvement.
• ACEM MontrealminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerACEM Montreal is a partner organization in SLC's network pioneering SL Programming. Listed among 21 partner organizations across Canada.
• National Educational Association of Disabled StudentsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed as a partner organization pioneering SL Programming with SLC. Works on disability-related social and economic inclusion.
• Job Skills (York Region)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner organization in York Region working with SLC on implementing the sustainable livelihoods framework in employment services.
• SEED WinnipegminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSEED Winnipeg is a long-standing partner of SLC and a pioneer of SL Programming in Canada, focused on social and economic development.
• YES Employment Services (Thunder Bay)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerYES Employment Services in Thunder Bay is a partner in SLC's SL practice network, supporting employment and livelihood programming in Northwestern Ontario.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Momentum: Momentum (Calgary) is a Canadian non-profit that has been a leader in Sustainable Livelihoods for over 20 years, embedding SL practice into programming and evaluation. It is one of SLC's closest peers, having developed its own SL evaluation tools and trained practitioners across Western Canada.
• Tamarack Institute: Tamarack is a Canadian institute that builds collaborative capacity for poverty reduction and community change, directly comparable to SLC's training and evaluation mission. Eric Leviten-Reid (SLC board director) was previously at Tamarack, evidencing deep overlap in the Canadian poverty-reduction capacity-building ecosystem.
• SEED Winnipeg: SEED Winnipeg is a long-standing SLC partner and pioneer of SL programming in Canada, focused on community economic development and social enterprise. Both organizations serve community-based non-profits in Canada and have overlapping practitioner networks in the SL framework.

Broad incumbents

• Canadian Women's Foundation: The Canadian Women's Foundation is one of Canada's largest women's funding organizations and a long-standing SLC partner. SLC conducted its four-year Rebuilding Lives Grant Stream evaluation (2020-2023). It is a much larger incumbent that occasionally commissions work SLC performs.
• Maytree Foundation: Maytree is a major Canadian foundation focused on poverty reduction and systems change. It operates at a larger scale across similar policy, advocacy, and capacity-building domains as SLC, with overlapping funder and government relationships in Canadian social policy.
• McConnell Foundation: The McConnell Foundation is one of Canada's largest private foundations, funding social innovation, including the Innoweave capacity-building program. It serves as a major funder of the broader non-profit capacity-building space in which SLC operates.

Emerging players

• Common Approach: Common Approach is a Canadian initiative developing impact measurement standards for the social purpose sector. SLC co-presented with Common Approach on social impact measurement in 2023, indicating direct overlap in evaluation methodology development for Canadian non-profits.
• Innoweave: Innoweave (McConnell Foundation program) provides capacity-building tools, training, and coaching for Canadian non-profits and social enterprises. It is an emerging player with comparable training/coaching services targeting the same Canadian non-profit customers as SLC.

Regional players

• Indigenous Consumer Assistance Network (ICAN):

Others

• Caledon Institute of Social Policy: Caledon Institute is a Canadian social policy research organization where SLC board director Eric Leviten-Reid previously worked. It does not directly compete with SLC but operates in adjacent policy research and advocacy on poverty and social inclusion in Canada.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sustainable-livelihoods-canada

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Sustainable Livelihoods Canada