Building a Better OREC: What You Shared in Our 2025 Membership & Investment Survey

OREC is listening to our members - and even nonmembers - about what how we can improve for the better.

At OREC, our mission is to build a better future, and we know that starts with listening to you, our members. We recently launched our 2025 Membership and Investment Survey to get your thoughts on how we can evolve, stay progressive, and ensure we're always representing your priorities. We also asked non-members for their opinions because it's important to learn what would convince someone to join OREC who hasn't joined yet. The survey was promoted in our Newsletter — be sure to sign up to participate in future surveys!

The response was fantastic — 64 responses so far — and your insights are already guiding our path forward. While the survey doesn't commit OREC to any action, we want to share some of the key takeaways we'll be considering from your feedback.

What We Learned

Investing for Impact and Returns

Your top priority for OREC investments is clear: community and environmental impact (94%). This was followed by investment growth and portfolio diversification (42%). We also heard a strong preference for shorter-term investment options with 91% favouring terms of 5 years or less versus the longer 10- and 20-year terms which originally helped OREC build its first projects. Sure enough, the 5 year @ 4% interest Member Investment Notes in our current Series 11 offering sold out within five weeks! This tells us you want flexibility, and we'll be exploring how we can meet that need better in future offerings.

Expanding Our Co-op

You showed strong support for making OREC membership and board eligibility more inclusive. In fact, 95% of respondents were either supportive or very supportive of expanding membership to individuals outside of Ontario. Similarly, there was high support for creating an institutional membership category for like-minded organizations, with 84% of you showing support.

However, you also shared valid concerns about potential challenges, such as new regulations or the risk of a "corporate takeover" that could change our grassroots feel. This is exactly the kind of transparent, direct feedback we need to address these issues thoughtfully.

Attracting New Investors

Your feedback showed that you understand the importance of attracting high-net-worth investors to fuel OREC's growth and reduce our reliance on traditional financial institutions. 82% of you expressed support for this idea. Many of you also said you'd be interested in making a major personal investment yourself if the terms were right, showing your commitment to our collective future.

Your Voice Matters: Our Next Steps

We believe in transparency and are committed to keeping you informed. The OREC Board will thoroughly review every piece of feedback you provided. Based on this input, we will develop recommendations for any necessary actions or bylaw changes, which will then be presented to you, the membership, for approval.

Thank you for being an engaged and vital part of the OREC community. Together, we can continue to build on our progress and create a sustainable, impactful future.