Social Procurement Vendor Portal

Welcome to York University’s Social Procurement Vendor Portal. Thank you for your interest in the program. We hope that you’ll find everything you need to learn more about York’s Social Procurement Vendor Portal during your visit here. Check back regularly for news, resources and updates!

The Social Procurement Vendor Portal program is an opportunity for diverse vendors and social enterprises to register their interest in having their business listed on York University’s Social Procurement Vendor Directory. York University community members and our partner institutions will be able to search the publicly available Directory when seeking to purchase goods and services.

Please read the instructions carefully and note that being on this list does not guarantee future contracts with York University or its partners.

Important Links

How to Apply

The Portal is open to businesses that fall in either one of the following two categories:

Diverse Vendor: A diverse vendor is a business that is more than 51 percent owned, managed and controlled by person(s) from an equity-deserving community. These communities include, but are not limited to: women, veterans, Indigenous persons, visible minorities, persons with disabilities and LGBTQ2S+.
Social Enterprise: A social enterprise is a business that sells goods and services; it embeds a social, cultural or environmental purpose into the business, and reinvests most of its profits into a social mission.

There are two ways to apply to the program:

This option is for businesses who are members of an approved third-party organization and are able to provide a proof of membership with that organization. To see if the organization you belong to is currently recognized as a third-party validating organization, check out the validation bodies tab in the application form below. Please select the appropriate validating body from the drop-down menu. If the certifying body or organization is not included on the list, then the non-third-party validation option must be used. Please do not send in documentation of validation from organizations or certifying bodies that are not found on the list.

If you belong to a third-party organization body that you think would support the aims of the Social Procurement Vendor Portal that is currently not listed as a validation body, please reach out to us. We are keen to hear from you.

Once the application form has been completed, a digital copy showing proof of validation as a diverse supplier or social enterprise, must be emailed to Brent Brodie: bbrodie@yorku.ca, for the application to be reviewed.

Application Form for Third-Party Validated Businesses
How to Certify your Business

Businesses that are not recognized through third-party validation must submit a digital copy of the information requested below, along with proof of business ownership such as: Articles of Incorporation, Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, Corporation or Cooperative to Brent Brodie: bbrodie@yorku.ca.

Please provide a digital copy of one of the documents listed with the equity-seeking group you have selected:

Indigenous: Status Card, Metis Nation of Ontario Citizenship, Letter of Attestation from Band Council signed on letterhead
Veteran: Veteran Services Card, CF One card for active members
Visible Minorities: The Canada Employment Equity Act states that visible minority pertains to any non-Aboriginal or Caucasian person. Government issued identification: Canadian passport, drivers’ license, enhanced health card (with a photo), age of majority card, Canadian permanent residency card.
Women: Government issued identification: Canadian passport, Canadian drivers’ license, enhanced health card (with a photo), age of majority card, Canadian permanent residency card.
Persons with Disabilities: Signed medical note from your health-care professional confirming status, letter confirming ODSP eligibility, receipt of eligibility of disability tax credit. Please do not send personal medical information to York University.
LGTBQ2S+: At this time, businesses that are more than 51% owned and controlled by LGBTQ2S+ persons will need to be certified by a diverse-supplier council.
Social Enterprise: Articles of Incorporation and Mission Statement

Application Form for Non-Third Party Validated Businesses

*Your personal information will only be used for assessing your application. Your information will be securely stored and will not be shared with anyone. In the public directory, your business will only be referenced as DV for diverse vendor, IB for Indigenous-owned businesses or SE for social enterprise in addition to your business’s information. No personal identifying labels will be included in the directory.

Once we have received all of your information we will inform you of the outcome of your application. If successful, your business information and contact information will be found here.

Learn more about York University’s Social Procurement Policy here

Name of Organization: Please provide the legal name of the business. This is required to verify the information in the business ownership documentation provided.

Brand Name: If you use a different name from the business’s legal name, it must be added here. The name entered in this field will be used to identify your business in the directory.

Year of Inception: Please identify when your business began trading under its current form. If there is additional information you would like to provide, please include this in the email with your eligible third-party certification or supporting information.

Address & Website: Please provide the business address and URL so that we can hyperlink to your website.

Name of Primary Contact: Please provide the name and contact information of a person that we can contact to verify the application. This information will be included on the vendor directory so that members of the York community can connect with this person when seeking to purchase goods and /or services. If the name you provide is different from the name you would like to see in the directory, please specify this in an email.

Company Description: Please provide a summary of your business, clearly describing the type of business and the good and/or services you provide. This information will help to match your business offerings to that of the needs of potential customers.

Community and Social Impact: This space is designed to let you communicate the impact your business has on your community and/or the mission you support. You may consider including apprenticeships, mentoring or other hiring programs, profit redistribution or how your business promotes empowering and sustainable outcomes. Please note that your admission to the program is not assessed based on this statement.

Business Category: Please select the business category that best describes your business offering. If the options do not clearly or closely describe your business, you are welcome to add your own. This will be a searchable field. You are limited to one category. For example, select ‘stationary’ if you sell pens and pencils.

Validating Body: Please select the name of organization that has validated your business. If you are not certified/validated by any of the validating organizations/bodies listed, please proceed to Option 2: Businesses without third-party validation link. Submissions of validations from bodies other than those listed will not be accepted and will result in rejection of your application.

Non third-party validated

Please refer to the instructions and guidance above on how to join this program.

Equity-Seeking Group: Please select the most appropriate equity seeking group that best describes your business model. If your business has multiple owners who fit into more than one category, please select the equity-seeking group of your most senior person. Please send along supporting documents of other owners of the business in your email if it impacts the eligibility of your business in the program.

If you are a social enterprise, please select social enterprise. A social enterprise is not admitted on the basis of ownership, so please do not include documents demonstrating equity-seeking community membership. You will need to include your Articles of Incorporation and Mission Statement to prove your business model.