Shows
Agents of NonprofitCommunity-Financed Nonprofit Spaces with Tonya SurmanIn this inspiring episode of Agents of Nonprofit, I sit down with Tonya Surman, CEO and co-founder of the Centre for Social Innovation (CSI), to explore her decades-long mission to redesign how nonprofits operate, collaborate, and finance their futures. As the conversation unfolds, Tonya challenges traditional ideas around ownership, scale, and capitalism, offering a vision of a regenerative, relationship-centered economy built on circular design principles.Topics We Cover:Tonya Surman’s journey from grassroots activism to nonprofit innovationThe founding vision of the Centre for Social Innovation (CSI)How shared resources evolved into a thriving so...2025-07-2149 min
Good Investing with Tim NashInnovating Finance: The Future of Community Bonds with CSI (Summer of Good)Welcome back to the Summer of Good series! In this episode we welcome Tonya Surman (CEO) and Kyle Shantz (Managing Director) from the Centre for Social Innovation (CSI) to discuss the transformative power of community bonds. Tonya and Kyle share the story of how CSI’s beginnings as the first co-working space in Canada expanded to reinventing the social innovation space, successfully buying their buildings through community bonds. They highlight how the community bond model has evolved and expanded to help nonprofits and social enterprises access much-needed capital - and what needs to still be done. You can...2025-06-3033 min
Growth for GoodS2 E3 | Growing with Tonya Surman, Centre for Social Innovation (CSI)Tonya Surman is fuelled by her belief in the power of collaboration and belonging. She knows that putting the right people in a room is only the first step in creating real change, and that you need to build a culture where everyone knows they have value and a voice to radically redesign our futures. She did this with the Constellation Model, an entirely new take on governance. She did this with the Centre for Social Innovation, which re-invented the workplace by collecting social purpose organizations under one roof. She did this with Community Bonds, an innovation that allows...2023-05-3147 min
Impact ConversationsConstant Strategic Innovation at the Centre for Social Innovation, or CSI at CSI. In this conversation with Tonya Surman, CEO of the Centre for Social Innovation, or CSI, we hear about the effect of COVID on their core social purpose coworking space and significant strategic changes happening at CSI. We see the value of CSi (and other nonprofits) owning real estate, unpack SI Canada’s new role, learn about their leadership on an Impact Dashboard with a Common Approach, and a pilot social enterprise in Muskoka for healing, connection and learning for impact leaders…and much more. Resources Tonya Surman : https://socialinnovation.org/team/tonya-surman/ Centre fo...2022-09-2933 minImpact ConversationsCatalyzing Social and Environmental Change: a conversation with SI Canada’s Andrea NemtinOur guest today is Andrea Nemtin, Executive Director of SI Canada. Sally and Andrea talk about what Social Innovation is, the history of the field in Canada, and how Social Innovation Canada (SI Canada) came to be. Andrea talks about the priorities of the organization as our country emerges from COVID, and how solutions to the complex challenges of social justice and climate change can be catalyzed and aligned through education, intentional networking at local and national levels across all sectors, and storytelling. Resources: Social Innovation Canada: h...2022-07-2133 min
Responsible Investing for a Sustainable EconomyBuilding and investing with community bondsGuests: Tonya Surman of the Centre for Social Innovation and Rudy Ruttimann of the Sketch Institute Real estate in Toronto is red hot, leaving a lot of prospective buyers out in the cold. So, how the heck does a non-profit buy real estate in downtown Toronto? The answer is something called a community bond. Add that to your bricks and mortar! Today on “Responsible Investing for a Sustainable Economy,” we talk with Tonya Surman, co-founder and CEO of the Center for Social Innovation, and Rudy Ruttimann, the founding director of Sketch Institute.2021-12-0329 min
The Jeffrey Van Dyk ShowFrom impoverished hippie childhood to leader of social innovation in Canada, with Tonya Surman and Jeffrey Van Dyk - EP#14Tonya Surman is a master gardener of social innovation. Tonya’s journey began when she was four years-old. Her mother left, and her father became the sole parent. Tonya, her Father and younger sister struggled with poverty. She says, “My father raised us on love, not food.” She points to this experience as the source of her resilience, strength and a need to create an impact. At the age of 19, Tonya left university life behind and traveled the world. While she was living in a small hut on the Andaman Sea in Thailand, news arrived that a nearby village had be...2021-11-0354 min
Startup Canada PodcastBusiness: A Tool for Good with Tonya Surman – March 31st 2020
Ever wondered if your business could solve more than just your customers’ problems? Then Tonya Surman, CEO of the Centre for Social Innovation wants to talk!
Tonya is one of Canada’s leading social entrepreneurs. Her clients: people and planet. Her superpowers: visionary ideas that inspire, models that harness collaboration, and spaces that accelerate systemic change.
Highlights from her 20-year career include co-founding and leading the Centre for Social Innovation, a pioneer in the coworking and social enterprise movements that has catalyzed more than 100 world-changing initiatives; developing the Constellation Model, a multi-stakeholder partnership framework that was...2020-03-3129 min
Disruptive ConversationsS2: Ep. 80: The job of the disruptor is to harness self-interest. A Disruptive Conversation with Tonya SurmanTonya Surman is the CEO of the Center for Social Innovation. One of the largest purpose driven coworking spaces, likely in the world. In this conversation, we explore a number of lessons that she has learned over the years. A few that stood out for me are:The goal of the work is to understand how to better support people.A major theme in this episode was about how do we support people? How do we help communities thrive? We discuss a number of ways in which Tonya’s work has always centred around helping other pe...2019-05-1553 min
Social Entrepreneur015, Tonya Surman, Centre for Social Innovation | The Master GardnerTonya Surman is a master gardener of social innovation. Tonya’s journey began when she was four years-old. Her mother left and her father became the sole parent. Tonya, her father and sister struggled with poverty. She says “My father raised us on love and not food.” She points to this experience as the source of her resilience, strength and a need to create an impact.At the age of 19, Tonya left University and traveled the world. While she was living in a small hut on the Andaman Sea in Thailand, news arrived that a nearby village had be...2015-12-0747 min
Social Entrepreneur015, Tonya Surman, Centre for Social Innovation | The Master GardnerTonya Surman is a master gardener of social innovation. Tonya’s journey began when she was four years-old. Her mother left and her father became the sole parent. Tonya, her father and sister struggled with poverty. She says “My father raised us on love and not food.” She points to this experience as the source of her resilience, strength and a need to create an impact.
At the age of 19, Tonya left University and traveled the world. While she was living in a small hut on the Andaman Sea in Thailand, news arrived that a nearby village had been devastated by a m...2015-12-0747 min