(858) 880-0252 [email protected]
San Diego local & impactful shopping guide

San Diego local & impactful shopping guide

by | Dec 17, 2019 | Insights & Resources

Shop these eight impactful San Diego businesses for all your gift-giving needs

Are you still finishing your holiday shopping list? Don’t worry, we waited until the last minute, too. Luckily, these local San Diego businesses are here to save the day. The following handpicked businesses are sure to satisfy everyone on your list while supporting local business owners who care about our community.

For that friend who keeps fresh flowers on deck

Native Poppy

Native Poppy is a one-of-a-kind flower shop offering a changing menu of seasonal flowers, branded merch, and even weekly and monthly subscriptions for the truly fresh flower obsessed. Check them out in person in South Park and Solana Beach, or order online for next-day local delivery.

For that friend who loves to decorate

Locally-based business All Across Africa creates impact here and abroad

Kazi Goods by All Across Africa

One of our very first borrowers! All Across Africa’s Kazi brand offers a breathtaking array of handwoven baskets, wall decor and more, all created by talented artisans in Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, and Ghana. In addition to offering beautiful household wares, All Across Africa continues to make strides towards improving the lives of its artisans and office employees by providing quality jobs. Shop online for quick local delivery or ship straight to your friends & family.

For that friend who always has her nose in a book

The Book Catapult

The Book Catapult began as a successful book blog in 2006 before becoming one of only a few San Diego independent bookstores in 2017. Visit them in South Park where you’ll discover a range of books from this history of humankind to this peek-through picture book, all carefully chosen by fellow bibliophiles.

For the kids and kids at heart

Replay Toys Boutique

Reduce landfill waste and give gently used toys like these incredibly detailed Harry Potter puzzles a new life by shopping at Replay Toys Boutique in North Park. Have a neglected stash of toys and games at home? Trade them in for store credit and let the next child enjoy them!

For the tea lover in your life

Paru Tea Bar

Serving and selling teas made of organic, high-grade ingredients harvested during peak season, Amy Truong of Paru Tea Bar lists growth, wellness, community, and creativity as their values. Choose from teas, tea-drinking instruments, gift sets, and even tea-infused chocolate. Want to gift an experience? Paru Tea Bar offers tea flight tastings and hosts tea blending workshops too.

When you need a ton of unique options

Moniker General is a local San Diego business on a mission to do good

Moniker General

A local collective of eight community impact-focused businesses and Mission Driven Finance borrower, Moniker Group is truly a jack-of-all-trades. Stop by Moniker General in Liberty Station for an equally eclectic variety of lifestyle and home goods for everyone on your list, including barware, candles, and these chic and surprisingly affordable art prints.

Artelexia

In addition to offering a dizzying selection of fun Mexican and Latin American inspired gifts (snag these plushy concha slippers and matching concha zip pouch for less than $40),  Artelexia gives back in a major way. A percentage of every purchase made is donated to Fundación En Via, a Oaxacan nonprofit that provides interest-free loans and education to women entrepreneurs in the Oaxaca Valley region.

Simply Local

To shop for picky recipients with varying tastes and interests, look no further than Simply Local in North Park. Owner Brian Beevers is passionate about the power of local businesses to revitalize local economies, and channels that passion into a creative shop which houses over 55 local San Diego businesses. Score goods ranging from these homemade chili pepper caramels to this handcrafted moon phases jewelry hanger.

Changing the face of finance through the Community Finance Fellowship

Changing the face of finance through the Community Finance Fellowship

by | Dec 17, 2019 | News

To build an inclusive economy, we must transform the world of finance. Communities need good businesses, and good businesses need access to affordable capital. But our financial systems, structures, and policies have restricted access to capital and opportunity—whether intentionally or not. We believe the lack of diversity in finance perpetuates unequal access to capital and opportunity, and that there is no real power without economic power. To build this talent pipeline, we are launching our Community Finance Fellowship.

The fellowship is all about building capacity, connectivity, and cultural awareness so that capital flows in new ways to communities that are often overlooked and underestimated.

  • Capacity — of individual fellows with lived experiences that inspire them to understand and change capital flows 
  • Connectivity — between Mission Driven Finance and communities that are currently un- or underrepresented in our investments
  • Cultural awareness — of the nuances that have prevented capital from moving into these communities so that we can reimagine and reinvent new strategies to shake things up, sensitively. 
Why do a fellowship with Mission Driven Finance?

If you’re passionate about getting capital to your community but not sure how, let’s talk. The Community Finance Fellowship ultimately creates economic power for overlooked and underestimated communities and provides an accessible on-ramp for strong finance careers that have been hard to get to. We want to break that vicious cycle of “can’t get a job until you have experience and you can’t get experience until you have a job,” especially for our industry.

As a fellow with us for one year, you’ll get paid, hands-on experience in impact investing and community finance through formal training and practical project-based learning. We’re committed to providing livable wages and access to benefits as well as a supportive work environment where you can learn, grow, and move on to your next chapter with great skills.

Why Mission Driven Finance is launching a Community Finance Fellowship
Who should apply?

You want:

  • The world to understand how amazing your community already is, and see its potential to be even greater.
  • Your community to be stronger and healthier—and you know that access to capital could help make that happen.
  • To learn about how investments traditionally get made.
  • To explore new ways to invest to create impact.
  • To change the field of finance to better reflect the life you’ve lived and lives you’ve seen in your community. 

You have:

  • A desire for action, not just more talk (though talking is also important).
  • A growth mindset. You are inquisitive, wondering, and ready to explore how to increase deal flow in your community.
How do I apply?

Sign up below to get updates on the fellowship program.