Mission Driven Finance®

As we close out the year and encourage our team to rest between Christmas and New Year’s Day, we are grateful to share that in one week this month alone, we disbursed nearly $15 million—about 3x our total “assets into community” (AIC) within our first 5 years of existence COMBINED. As of October 30, 2024 since inception, we have flowed over $150 million AIC across all our strategies. We wish you all safe and happy end-of-year holiday celebrations. See you in 2025!

Help us welcome Hands-On Technology Education to our place-based Advance Strategy portfolio! 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐃𝐎 🧑💻 Founded in 2013 by Dr. Korey Sewell, Hands-On Technology Education provides after-school programs and summer camps focusing on computer science and electrical engineering. About a third of their students are from underrepresented communities and a quarter are from low- and moderate-income families. In addition to programming for students, the company offers professional development opportunities for STEAM (science, tech, engineering, arts, and math) educators. Hands-On Technology Education’s customers include school districts, universities, and families who enroll children in camps and programs. Dr. Sewell is a professional engineer and educator, with experience at Intel, Apple, and Qualcomm. 𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐖𝐄 𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐃 💰 After two years of substantial revenue growth, Dr. Sewell sought working capital to cover operating expenses, including converting contractors to employees. Capital from the fund is designed to help Hands-On Technology Education scale and grow. #impactinvesting #impinv #smallbusiness #smallbusinessloans

Last week, Ted Piccolo, our senior director of Indigenous futures, spoke on two panels at the 5th Annual Native CDFI Network, Inc. Policy & Capacity Building Summit, one of which is covered by Tribal Business News: "During a panel discussion at Friday's announcement, tribal financial leaders highlighted how SSBCI funds are already supporting economic development, particularly in clean energy projects. Ted Piccolo...described a successful collaboration that used SSBCI funding to develop electric vehicle charging stations on tribal lands." More to come on this transaction! 🔋 #Indigenousfutures #Tribalbusinesses #Nativeowned #missingmiddlefinancing #smallbusinessloans #cleantech #evcharging #NCNSummit #NativeCDFI

We are grateful to announce the acquisition of our 20th Care Access Real Estate® property! This means 20 thoughtfully renovated child care hubs in neighborhoods, 20 houses for child care providers to live in with their families, 20 stable locations for women entrepreneurs to grow a child care business, and 244 more slots of quality child care. #impactinvesting #childcareproviders #childcarebusinesses #childcarerealestate #realestateinvestmenttrust #REIT

Help us welcome the very first portfolio company in the ‘Āina Aloha Economy Fund, our collaboration with Hawaii Investment Ready for a vibrant island economy 🌺 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐃𝐎 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐄 ‘Ā𝐈𝐍𝐀 𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐇𝐀 𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐎𝐌𝐘 𝐅𝐔𝐍𝐃 𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐃 💰 Hawaii-based Shifted Energy, co-founded by Native Hawaiian Olin Kealoha Lagon and longtime resident Forest Frizzell, is on a mission to enable widespread access to energy solutions. When Hawaii set the first 100% clean energy mandate in the U.S., Olin, who served on the governing board, became concerned that ideas proposed for the transition to green energy were not inclusive—out of reach to renters and low-income residents. Born and raised in Hawaii’s largest low-income housing project, Olin wanted to enable everyone to participate in the energy transition. Forest, who grew up in Oregon and moved in with a Hawaiian family in Kaʻaʻawa in 1996 and worked in IT and tech, became interested in clean energy as a way to address climate change. Capitalizing on a device found in nearly every home, the company’s first product was a new way to control electric water heaters, allowing for the remote tracking and control of each unit’s power consumption. Shifted Energy has since expanded its analytical and control capabilities; its core product is its Grid Maestro software platform that allows other devices like solar-powered batteries, EV chargers, thermostats, and even entire homes, to be remotely connected, tracked, and controlled. By managing and predicting the power used by each device in aggregate, Shifted Energy can give utility providers more accurate predictions of power usage and manage devices to reduce or shift loads on the grid. “We are proud of headquartering Shifted Energy in Hawaii,” says Forest. “It is not an easy place to start or run a business. The state imports nearly 85% of its food and $5 billion a year in foreign oil. Now, Shifted is working in seven U.S. states, Canada, and Australia. We are exporting world-class energy solutions and data science.” Shifted Energy sells its devices and software to utility and energy management companies. They have completed several pilot programs and commercial contracts, including a project with Hawaiian Electric, the state’s electric utility, in which Shifted connected over 3,000 water heaters in low- and moderate-income homes and apartment buildings to its software platform. The program delivered savings to participants and 2.5 MW of capacity for the utility. Shifted Energy sought debt capital to be deployed alongside equity financing to purchase hardware inventory to be used in its new customers and projects. Funds from the ‘Āina Aloha Economy Fund with Hawaiʻi Investment Ready enable Shifted Energy to purchase hardware inventory and working capital. #impactinvesting #impinv #smallbusiness #smallbusinessloans #hawaiibusiness #islandeconomy

In a recent Asset Funders Network webinar, Mission Driven Finance® VP of Care & Education Laura Kohn shares how Care Access Real Estate® (CARE) acts as a child care-friendly landlord and a provider's story: ——— Our partners on the ground are supporting our tenants to thrive in their new space. They're all growing their business in our house, which is a challenge for any small business owner. They're also going through licensing...so our partners on the ground support our tenants with those needs. Another special feature of the CARE approach is that our lease includes an opportunity to purchase the property that we're leasing to the provider after at least two years of occupancy. That's not typical landlord behavior. And in fact, in most of our leases, we include a provision where...there's been an increase in the value of the property from our cost basis to the fair market value, when [providers] buy it from us we'll split that appreciation profit with the provider 50-50 as a credited closing to help increase the odds that they will become an owner of that property and an asset owner...building wealth through asset ownership. Our partners on the ground, in the meantime, are coaching and supporting the providers to become mortgage-ready... As a mission-aligned landlord also operating as a socially just landlord…we will not use a credit score in qualifying tenants. Instead, we...decide with our prospective tenants how much rent they can afford to pay once they've grown their business and will only match them with a property that both we and they judge they will be able to afford. We integrate rent discounts whenever there's subsidy capital available as there is in Nevada. That basically turns us into an affordable housing provider for child care providers. Finally, I wanted to bring it to life with an example property. When I met [Tina] at the house for her matching visit, she accepted on the spot…She just got her license two weeks ago [to serve up to 12 at a time], so she's busy enrolling families off of her waitlist to grow her business. Tina shared that she had previously started child care businesses in four houses, and each time had gotten pushed out by landlords who were uncomfortable with her running child care in the home. When she moved into this house, her son asked her, “Mom, why do you think this is different? Aren't we gonna just get kicked out again?” And she said, “No, no, CARE picked me to be their tenant. They want me to do child care here.” She and her family are now able to plan for the long term, settle into this property, and build a thriving child care business. ——— Disclosure: At 36:04 of the webinar, the experience of Tina—a current CARE provider tenant—is shared. No compensation was involved in connection with the experiences shared. #careeconomy #childcareproviders #childcareentrepreneurs #childcarerealestate #realestateinvestmenttrust #REIT #socialpurposeREIT #socialimpact #impactinvesting

Help us welcome Cell-Ed, Inc. to our place-based Advance Strategy portfolio! 🎉 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐃𝐎 🤳 “I set out to create a radically accessible training platform so everyone has the opportunity to thrive,” says Jessica Rothenberg-Aalami, founder and CEO of Cell-Ed, Inc., short for cell phone-based education (no smartphone required). The youngest of five children, Jessica noticed early on that some children don’t have reliable access to food and housing, let alone books and libraries. Learning that adult low literacy is a leading cause of economic instability for families, she set out to address literacy divides in the U.S. throughout her 30-year career. Via a mobile phone, her team offers an automated way for these learners to access audio lessons offered in microdoses and the participant’s understanding is confirmed before proceeding to the next lesson. Today, Cell-Ed serves governments including state agencies and counties reaching those receiving public assistance; health care providers educating vulnerable populations; education providers like libraries and community colleges offering programming for low-literacy groups; and employers such as hospitality chains delivering training to frontline employees. According to its website, since its inception, Cell-Ed has “helped improve the lives of over 10 million people in 54 countries.” “Our goal is to reach a billion people,” says Jessica. 𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐖𝐄 𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐃 💰 Cell-Ed, set up as a public benefit corporation, was introduced to Mission Driven Finance after receiving bridge funding from RSF | Regenerative Social Finance and Open Road . Now in expansion mode, Cell-Ed sought funding to train tens of thousands of direct care workers in California through a “learn-to-earn” model. Capital from Advance California is intended to enable Cell-Ed to grow while it retains working capital for service delivery. #impactinvesting #impinv #smallbusiness #smallbusinessloans

We are proud to welcome A Dozen Cousins to our place-based Advance California portfolio! 🎉 Just in time for holiday meal planning 😋 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐃𝐎 🥘 A Dozen Cousins is a California-based natural food brand founded in 2017 by CEO Ibraheem Basir , who comes from a Brooklyn family of 10 children. “I grew up in a Black and Latino melting pot,” says Ibraheem. With his mother’s Southern background and neighbors from around the world, the family ate a mix of Creole, Southern, Caribbean, and Latin foods at home. “There was Jamaican jerk chicken, biscuits…sometimes mom would come back from the laundromat with recipes on scraps of paper. My sister got a recipe from a classmate to make empanadas. We loved it.” Ibraheem says he always knew he wanted to work in the food industry because of the joy food gave him growing up. “Food was the glue—conversation and connection,” he says. “It was an affordable way to celebrate: graduations, holidays, sports…” After working on several natural food brands, he fell in love with the industry, but he noticed that few brands catered to the food and culture he was accustomed to. When it came time for Ibraheem to launch a food brand, he knew two things: the palate he grew up with would inspire him to make those foods more convenient for the everyday kitchen, and he would call it A Dozen Cousins, in honor of his daughter, who is the “dozenth cousin” to Ibraheem’s 11 nieces and nephews. He also knew A Dozen Cousins would combine his joy for food with his passion for health and sustainability. Ibraheem set out to create vegan, gluten-free, and nutrient-dense foods that are Non-GMO Project Verified. The brand centers around using wholesome, easy-to-recognize ingredients like beans, vegetables, and nutrient-dense avocado oil while avoiding genetically modified components and artificial flavors. Knowing that healthy foods are not always accessible to all communities, the company also provides grants to nonprofit organizations working to eliminate socioeconomic health disparities across the U.S. A Dozen Cousins’ microwavable, ready-to-eat pouches of rice, beans, and seasoning can be found online—at adozencousins.com, Amazon, Thrive Market, and Hungryroot—and in retailers nationwide including Whole Foods Market, Sprouts Farmers Market, Kroger, Target, Costco Wholesale, and Walmart. 𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐖𝐄 𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐃 💰 Funds from Advance California will enable A Dozen Cousins to refinance a higher-interest loan and provide general working capital. #impactinvesting #impinv #smallbusiness #smallbusinessloans #thanksgiving

We are proud to have partnered with the Cheyenne and Arapaho Community Development Corporation CDFI (CACDC) to support Commercial Furniture Refinishers, an Oklahoma-based small business owned by Cheyenne and Arapaho citizen Marshall Franklin. The loan enables Marshall to purchase a 28-foot box truck to facilitate the company’s moving services. This investment represents the first for both CACDC and Mission Driven Finance®’s Indigenous Futures Fund, a strategy within the Initiative for Inclusive Entrepreneurship (IIE). More dollars can flow to Marshall’s business thanks to federal funding from the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) managed by CACDC and matched by Mission Driven Finance (the Indigenous Futures Fund provided more than 1:1 in match dollars to “unlock” these federal dollars). Most Tribes need supportive investors to fully use the program and fund as many Native businesses as possible. (Without match capital, many Tribes would not be able to use their allocations, and therefore Native- and Indigenous-owned businesses would lose out on investments designed for their growth.) Thank you to Rosemary Stephens and the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes Tribal Tribune for covering Marshall’s story! U.S. Department of the Treasury Shane Jett Jordan Adams Ted Piccolo #impactinvesting #smallbusinessloans #smallbusiness #Indigenousentrepreneurs #Nativeowned

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘐𝘚 𝘔𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘋𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦®? Our Co-founder & CEO David Lynn chats with Grant Trahant on this episode of the Causeartist Investing for Impact Podcast about David's journey to co-founding an impact asset management firm (with Chief Community Officer Lauren Grattan), who funds our work, and how businesses can get themselves ready for impact financing due diligence. “We take a very relationship-based approach…We meet with founders, get to know their businesses, and then structure deals to match cash flow patterns…we’re looking for companies where the biggest risk is time. This way, if growth is slower than expected, we can still work with them to reach successful outcomes…we’re primarily looking for consistent cash flow…Many of our clients are business-to-business or government-focused with growing contract opportunities.” 🎧 https://lnkd.in/e52BsFzk #impactinvesting #smallbusinessloans #smallbusiness