Similar to programs that are dedicated to attracting more venture capital into a particular sector or area, there are tax benefits associated with a CEDIF. If you as an individual are investing in a nominated or designated CEDIF in Nova Scotia, you as an investor will receive a benefit on your income, which is advantageous.
Beyond the incentives there are also other pools of capital or catalytic capital that have been created with resources you already have at your disposal. In Canada $532 million is sitting in dormant accounts that are currently managed by the Bank of Canada. In the U.K. they were successful in moving and motivating that capital into a new institution or intermediary called Big Society Capital, thereby being able to redirect some funds into the social finance marketplace to finance intermediaries and bring in other investors.
Not only can you use tax incentives as a way to get money from the retail public or from individuals that's then going to bring more capital to institutions and intermediaries at a local level, but you can also bring in capital at a high level from existing government sources that can have a huge catalytic effect that could come alongside the Resilient Capital fund or New Market Funds, or the Community Forward Fund, or others. It's a proven approach and from a government perspective it is not adding a significant amount of money on top of existing allocations.
