How One San Diego Philanthropist is Using Impact Investing to Create a Better Future [Interview with Kara Ballester]

Posted by Tyana Smith
On August 28, 2019
In Investors

As lead investors in our Homebuilding Investment Fund, Kara Ballester and her husband Andy were instrumental in jumpstarting our efforts to accelerate affordable housing with San Diego Habitat for Humanity. We wanted to know–what motivated Kara to invest in affordable homeownership and what her experience with impact investing has been like. We like to kick […]

5 Things to Know About Getting an Impact-Based Loan for Your Business

Posted by Tyana Smith
On August 27, 2019
In Borrowers, Resources

There comes a time for many small businesses and nonprofits when you’re ready to grow and expand, but find yourself in an awkward, in between space–you’ve outgrown microfinance and often SBA loans, but don’t quite fit bank financing criteria. That’s where we come in. While you have great plans, you might need customized transaction structures […]

How Friends of Willow Tree Uses Creative Capital to Connect Students with Nature [Interview]

Posted by Tyana Smith
On August 18, 2019
In Borrowers

When we first met Bethany Chaffin, director of the education enrichment center Friends of Willow Tree, in 2018 she faced a challenging capital gap. Friends of Willow Tree needed a loan ahead of private and state payments to pay for staff, materials, and supplies at the start of the school year. After restructuring from an […]

How Can We Make Investing in Our Community a Great Investment? Flip the Traditional Finance Model on Its Head.

Posted by Tyana Smith
On July 22, 2019
In Investors, Resources

When we first launched Mission Driven Finance, we developed the Advance Fund with one primary question in mind: how can we make investing in our community a great investment? The answer we found is to reimagine and reinvent finance to put the community’s needs first. We discovered incredible businesses and nonprofits committed to their communities […]

LuckyBolt Uses Creative Capital to Develop Community

Posted by Tyana Smith
On July 18, 2019
In Borrowers

When we first met Kris Schlesser, founder of LuckyBolt, he was six years into a quest to make the perfect breakfast burrito easily accessible to professionals on the go. He had been financing the business with high-interest credit cards and microloans. Though he had met some venture capital firms interested in last-mile food delivery, they […]

SPECTRUM reflections on expanding the impact economy

Posted by Lauren Grattan
On June 18, 2019
In Community Engagement, News

Building an inclusive, expansive economy is a daily practice. This work happens through big commitments and small actions as well. Prompted by Spectrum‘s conference moderator, Nadia Brigham, to find a partner for a listening exercise, a Black woman of a similar age to me a few rows up turned to scan the area and made […]

Storytelling for Change: Going Beyond Diversity to Create Belonging at Work

Posted by Tyana Smith
On June 13, 2019
In Resources

Recently, our communications team completed the Storytelling for Change course, a free eight-week online course led by global changemakers Acumen. We expected to learn strategies to better communicate with the public, but we walked away with so much more than that. We ended up with a stronger understanding of our own personal stories and how […]

Thoughts from the Road: Small Business Drives Strong Communities Across the Country

Posted by Lauren Grattan
On May 23, 2019
In Community Engagement, News

David and I spent National Small Business Week on the road in New York; Columbus, Ohio; and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. We spoke with stakeholders from different walks of life who all recognize the transformative power of small business from varied angles. Let me tell you. It was wild. Mental gymnastics at its finest, switching gears […]

Women Build the Future

Posted by Tyana Smith
On May 17, 2019
In Community Engagement, Events

This month, we had the honor of hanging out with inspiring women leading change in our community during our Women Build the Future breakfast, co-hosted with San Diego Habitat for Humanity. It was an uncharacteristically cold and rainy morning for sunny San Diego, but that didn’t temper the enthusiasm of the women who turned out. […]

Supporting African Artisans at Work and Beyond

Posted by Tyana Smith
On May 16, 2019
In Borrowers

In honor of the one-year anniversary of our official launch party, we’re catching up with one of our very first borrowers, All Across Africa. Since our investment in late 2017, All Across Africa has: Employed 400 new artisans. Provided solar lights to their artisans in Rwanda on a lease-to-own model, 37% below market price. This […]

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