Tonya Surman has been working with social mission groups to collaborate, innovate and achieve success for over 15 years.

She is a co-founder and executive director of the Centre for Social Innovation, whose mission is to catalyze, inform and support social mission projects that use collaborative and entrepreneurial strategies to advance our social and environmental wellbeing. She has been the Partnership Director for the Canadian Partnership for Children's Health and Environment, a senior partner in the Commons Group, founding business manager for rabble.ca and executive director of Web Networks. Tonya has been founding and managing social enterprises for over 10 years and has built her body of knowledge around multi-sectoral collaboration and entrepreneurship for social change. She is focused on building system innovations and transformations that address the root causes of our social and environmental challenges.

Tonya is a mother of two boys and is actively engaged in her community organizing street parties, movie nights, founding a cooperative day care, building a community garden and whatever trouble she can get herself into.

Executive Director - Centre for Social Innovation
The Centre for Social Innovation catalyzes, informs, inspires and supports social innovators and social mission initiatives. Through collaboration, social enterprise and capacity-building programming, the Centre for Social Innovation is a community hub for social innovators working towards solutions to our shared problems. Jan 2004 - present

Partnership Director - Canadian Partnership for Children's Health and Environment (CPCHE)
CPCHE is a partnership of 11 national organizations - from the environment, children and health sector - that are working together to move children's environmental health issues into the minds of decision-makers, service providers, parents and the public. October 2001 - present

Collaboration Design and Start Up - 215 Centre for Social Innovation
The mission of the 215 Centre for Social Innovation is to catalyze, inform, and support innovative initiatives that advance the social, environmental and economic well-being of Canadians. We are doing this by bringing social innovators together in a co-location initiative and by creating a space for events and programming that will enable us to achieve our mission. Commons Group has played a lead role in catalyzing this project. 2003-present

Partnership Development and Facilitation - CPCHE
The Canadian Partnership for Children's Health and Environment (CPCHE) is an affiliation of 10 organizations working together to protect children from environmental contaminants. CPCHE is working to move children’s environmental health issues into the minds of decision-makers, caregivers and the public. Commons Group has ushered this partnership through its inception, creating governance models, partnership agreements, project development, fundraising, conflict mediation, communications strategies, policy development and coordinated voice. 2001 - present

Community Catalyst - Kinder Garden Coop Day Care
The Kinder Garden is a parent run cooperative day care whose goal is to provide a loving, family-like environment for children to learn and grow in. The Garden is a small (6 children), multi-age (1 – 5 year), vegetarian and organic, parent owned and operated, informal day care that is focused on learning through creative play. Tonya has played an instrumental role catalyzing and coordating the parents in this community-driven enterprise. 2002-2004

Partnership Development - Children's Aid Society of Hamilton
Working with the Hamiliton CAS, Comons Group has guided the Child Abuse Prevention Partnership of Hamilton through the early stages of a partnership development process. This has involved facilitation, collaboration design, research design and project management. 2003 - 2004

Show Me the Money: Funders Forum - Ontario Trillium Foundation
For non-profits on the hunt for funding, figuring out who to ask for what can be daunting. Funders each have their own goals and requirements, and getting to know them can be the difference between a match made in heaven and a frustrating waste of time for both sides. Tonya presented CPCHE as a case study to explore how to leverage multiple funders. November 2005

Space-making Intermediaries - Artscape's Creative Spaces Conference: Risk Revolution
Presentation and discussion of the role of a third party catalyst in the provision of multi-tenant non profit centres. Tonya's focus was on the value-add of more intense cooperation amongst tenants and the role that the covener plays in this work.

Collaboration for Social Innovation @ Bruce Mau's Massive Change Exhibit - Change Makers Speakers Series @ The AGO
Key note conversation about the role that collaboration must play in moving social innovation forward. March 2005

Board Member - Conservation Council of Ontario
2005-2006

Steering Committee Member - Canadian Conference on Social Enterprise
Participant in the planning of the Canadian Conference on Social Enterprise being held January 28-31, 2007. May 2006 - January 2007

Board Member - Nexus Consulting - Rotman School of Business
Nexus Consulting is a non-profit consulting service based out of the rotman School of Business whose mission is to link social mission and business minds. The project involves providing Rotman MBA students with the opportunity to provide their business services to non-profits and charities in Toronto., thus providing valuable expertise to social mission groups and better enabling them to take on social enterprises.
2005

Student - Executive Director's Institute
The York University - Maytree Foundation Executive Directors' Institute focuses on strategic leadership that calls for individuals to be creative, inspiring, innovative and visionary in leading effective organizations and communities in a rapidly changing voluntary sector. The program design extends beyond managing organizations in the nonprofit sector and focuses on building strategic alliances, new directions in human resources, complexity-inspired governance, social entrepreneurship and social marketing. 2005-2006

Personal Productive Thinking Process - ThinkX
April 2005

Art and Craft of Effective Facilitation - Julian Griggs
This 5 day facilitator training with Julian Griggs at Hollyhock Retreat Centre provided excellent training and skills development for overall group facilitation skills. May 26-30

Building Constellation-Based Partnerships
A Tool for Multi-Organizational Collaboration in the Social Mission Sector Jun 20 2006

Best Practices for a Healthy Child Care Facility
A Look at the Kinder Garden Apr 22 2004

It Takes Two to Tango
Jan 08 2004