Propel Impact Professionals Program

Impact Investing Stream

A 12-week, flexibly-paced course designed for professionals to build skills in early-stage impact investing.

Key details:

Dates: 12 weeks from January 13 - April 4, 2025. Five modules in total with one new module released every two weeks. In the final two weeks, you'll receive feedback on your deliverables.
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Estimated time commitment: 4-6 hours per week.
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‍Where: You can be anywhere in Canada - learning will take place virtually.
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Timing: Complete the majority of the requirements (approx. 45 hours) on your own schedule. There will be a synchronous speaker series and facilitated office hour every two weeks on Fridays from 8:30 - 9:45am PT / 9:30 - 10:45am MT / 11:30am - 12:45pm ET. We recommend that you complete each module's requirements every two weeks, but understand that you will have varying availability week-to-week.
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Delivery language: English

Cost to participate: There are three tuition tiers - $499 (for those with professional development funds, $349 (for those paying out-of-pocket), and $0 (a limited number of full scholarships) - see FAQs for details.

NOTE: We are now oversubscribed for our Winter 2025 cohort. Please register by December 13 to be added to our waitlist.

The Propel Impact Professionals Program is supported by:

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Meet Your Instructor

Bruno Lam
(he/him)
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  • Previous Principal at the TELUS Pollinator Fund for Good
  • Co-founder of Propel Impact
  • Current MS Candidate at Stanford University (Learning Design and Technology + Environment and Resources)

What to expect

Drawing on years of experience investing in climate, health, and education ventures, Bruno built this comprehensive course to teach you the fundamentals of investing into early-stage impact companies.

Instead of providing you with lessons and lectures, the learning experience is centered on completing projects – all informed by the tasks and assignments that current impact investors do on a regular basis.

Course Curriculum

Over the course of the 12 weeks, you'll complete five modules.

For each module, you'll be introduced to the types of tasks you would undertake if you were working as an impact investor. You'll then apply what you've learned to a number of exercises, all based on the data room of a fictitious education technology company.

Module 1: Investment Thesis
Jan 13 - 26

Create a framework to decide what to invest in and why.
Module 2: Business and Impact Analysis
Jan 27 - Feb 9

Assess a company's product, market, and team.
Module 3: Financial Analysis
Feb 10 - 23

Analyze a company's financial model and impact model.
Module 4: Investment Structuring
Feb 24 - Mar 9

Complete a valuation analysis; learn about capitalization tables and liquidation waterfalls.
Module 5: Investment Recommendation
Mar 10 - 23
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Compile all of your analysis from previous weeks into an investment recommendation.
Receive Feedback on
Your Memo
Mar 24 - Apr 4

Once you're done with your memo and deck, you'll be provided with feedback from seasoned investors.

Show off your work

By the end of the program, you'll have developed an investment memo and an
investment thesis deck to add to your personal portfolio.

Programming

On top of learning modules, you'll have access to a range of programming:

Speaker Series
We'll bring in expert speakers from Canadian impact investing funds and early-stage impact ventures to share their knowledge with you.
Office Hours
At the end of every two weeks, we'll run a guided office hours for the cohort to discuss the assignments and any questions you have.
Connections
We'll set you up with one coffee chat with an impact investing professional so that you can build relationships in the Canadian sector.

We are now oversubscribed for our Winter 2025 cohort.
Please register by December 13 to be added to our waitlist.

Register here

FAQs

What are the eligibility requirements?
This program is designed for people…
1. With 8-15 years of work experience
2. Based anywhere in Canada (open to learners based within a North American time zone, pending availability)
3. Committed to engaging with fellow learners throughout the course
4. Who want to build a professional network within the impact investing community
What are the long-term outcomes for participants?
That depends on your goals:

Are you hoping to pivot into a career in impact investing? If so, this program will help you build some of the skills you need to be on your way.

Are you working in an organization where impact investing is being explored? The Propel Impact Professionals Program will help you become more familiar with the steps that go into making an impact investment, so you can bring your learnings back to your team.
I don't have a finance background - is that ok?
Definitely! We designed this program for individuals of all skill sets. For those with less experience with investments, the exercises will be accompanied with video tutorials and the spreadsheets will have many hints to help you along your way. Our goal is to help you get comfortable with the investment process.
I already have a finance background - is this for me?
This program aims to provide an inside look at the impact investment process. For example, you will learn how impact metrics are integrated into business models, gain tools to analyze a problem from a systems perspective, and how venture capital investments are structured. If you have a finance background, but want to begin learning more about (1) impact investing and (2) direct investments into early-stage companies, then this program is for you.

On the other hand, if you already have experience conducting due diligence on social enterprises, then this program will cover topics you may already know.
What will this program not help me achieve?
This program is designed to provide a snapshot of the investment process. This program is not designed to provide in-depth quantitative analysis training such as complex capitalization table calculations, building out financial models from scratch, or simulating liquidation waterfalls. However, rest assured that you will have the opportunity to roll your sleeves up and dig into the analysis.
What are the various tuition pricing tiers?
There are three tiers available:

1. $499 - for learners who have professional development funds available to them through their employer

2. $349 - for learners who are paying for the Propel Impact Professionals Program out of pocket

3. $0 - a full scholarship for select learners who cannot participate in the program otherwise. We have a small number of scholarships available, supported by the TD Ready Commitment. We will ask you to write a short paragraph in your application.
Can I participate if I'm outside of Canada?
Depending on availability, we will consider admitting participants from people outside of Canada, as long as you are located in a North American time zone (required for real-time Zoom sessions).

However, please note that we will only be providing education using Canadian examples and outlining the Canadian impact investing sector.
We are currently building a program catered towards individuals outside of our current audience, including mid-career professionals. Sign up here to receive updates. If you are on the edge of our current age requirements (ex. recently turned 31), please connect with our team.

Get in
touch

We thrive on feedback. We want to learn how we can best support you. We love connecting. So, get in touch.
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