Concerned about the direction of the country? Make your voice—and money—heard, argues financial advisor James Frazier in this guest post. Now that the 2016 presidential election is in the history books, the rough outlines of the next few years are starting to become a little clearer. We can reasonably expect a federal government with less […]
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Slow and Steady Does it for Regulation Crowdfunding
It wasn’t quite the fireworks that some had hoped for, but Regulation Crowdfunding closed the year with a respectable showing. In 2016, 186 companies launched Reg CF campaigns, attracting $19 million in capital commitments, according to year-end data compiled by Crowdfund Capital Advisors (CCA). Investor interest and investment have increased steadily since the law went […]
Crowdfunding: What’s in Store for 2017?
Year-end predictions are always a dicey game, and that’s especially true as we close out a tumultuous year that turned conventional wisdom (and decorum) on its head. But there’s one thing we can say with a modicum of assurance: crowdfinance will continue to pick up steam in 2017, especially in a deregulatory environment. At Locavesting, […]
Four Ways to Create a Community-Scale Investment Fund in 2017
Community capital is about empowerment of communities. It is a set of strategies that allows ventures to raise capital from their ideal investors within their own community, allows anyone of virtually any economic class to invest in their community, and allows communities to build wealth though a cycle of investment, growth, profit, and reinvestment. Community […]
Community Capital: Impact Investing, By and For the People
There’s a refrain we’ve been hearing recently at gatherings of community organizers: “Nothing about us without us is for us.” While these words echo a centuries-old Latin slogan (“nihil de nobis, sine nobis”), they reflect a profound truth as relevant today as it has ever been. Their meaning is something like this: “Don’t try to […]
Venture Funding With a Twist: Founders Have to Give Back
Social entrepreneurship and venture capital are often an uneasy fit. The emphasis on fast growth and outsize returns can push founder to stray from their mission. Now, a new venture fund is marrying social impact and Millennial values with early stage investing—and redefining the term sheet in the process. The fund, Aera VC, is a […]
What Do Financial Advisors Have Against Local Investing?
I was on a panel earlier this year at the ComCap conference in Portland, discussing how my colleagues and I manage to do what other financial advisors seem incapable, unwilling, or downright frightened to do. Audience members recounted tales of bringing this taboo investment subject up to their financial advisors, only to be rebuked, scolded, […]
Crowdfunding Pioneer Indiegogo Makes Its Move Into Equity Crowdfunding
Indiegogo threw its hat into the investment crowdfunding ring on Tuesday, ending months of suspense. The company, which pioneered the rewards-based crowdfunding market in 2008, immediately became the 800-pound gorilla in the fledgling market. To date, more than $1 billion has been raised from 9 million backers for rewards-based campaigns on the site. Now, in […]
These New Crowdfunding Sites Seek Social as Well as Financial Returns
When the JOBS Act was signed into law, it was hailed as a major step in democratizing finance and opening up new pools of capital for small businesses, especially those run by women, minorities and social entrepreneurs who have traditionally struggled to raise funding. For the first time, everyone could be an impact investor. So […]
Will Intrastate Crowdfunding Finally be Fixed?
Intrastate crowdfunding is poised to take a giant leap forward next week when the S.E.C give a thumbs up—or down—to important changes proposed to two key exemptions that underlie all state-based crowdfunding activity. The Commission will meet on Wednesday morning to consider whether to adopt rule amendments related to Securities Act Rules 147 and 504 […]
Blended Capital Fund Helps Small Scale Farmers in Arkansas
The funding world used to be fairly straightforward: there was philanthropy for nonprofits, venture capital for startups and bank loans for existing businesses. But in the age of social enterprise and impact investing, those lines are blurring. As more businesses combine a social mission with a for-profit business model, finance is adapting, giving rise to […]
Republic Wants to Bring Angel Investing to the Masses
A new investment crowdfunding platform joined the fray over the summer. Founded by AngelList alumni, Republic.co brings with it a high level of street cred—and ambitions to match. It focus: everyday investors and companies that are innovative, diverse and mission-driven. Since it was launched six years ago, AngelList has become the gathering place for early […]
Credibles: Supporting Local Businesses With ‘Edible Credits’ is Just the Start
Investment crowdfunding may get all the attention these days, but there are other ways of support businesses you love—without all the red tape. One of those is Credibles, an app that lets you pre-pay at your favorite restaurant or food purveyor (like Love & Hummus, shown in photo above), and earn edible credits. Think of […]
Before You Invest: The Basics of Financial Due Diligence
Interested in investing in a company that is raising funds under Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF), Regulation A or Regulation D? That means doing your homework— understanding what you are investing in and making an “informed investment decision. In other words, due diligence. In this article, we’ll explore the basics of financial due diligence, which includes […]
PRIs: An Underused Funding Tool for Family Foundations and Social Enterprises
“It’s like startup nation! There are so many different businesses. And there’s so much money out there—and you can find these people.” – Joanne Wilson, Angel Investor, NYC Great advice, right? Then why do so many entrepreneurs and investors struggle to find one another? The answer is that yes, there is a lot of money […]
For Crowdfunders, Revenue Sharing Can Have Benefits Over Equity
When raising money through crowdfunding, one of the most important decisions entrepreneurs need to make is how to structure the offering. The appropriate structure will depend on a lot of factors, including the business’ stage of development, its performance to date, growth plans and the targeted capital source. But the options generally fall into one […]
Bill to Improve Regulation Crowdfunding Passes House
The legislative process has been compared to sausage being made. That was certainly the case with Regulation Crowdfunding, the provision of the JOBS Act that allows for mainstream investment crowdfunding open to all investors. In their desire to protect mom & pop investors, lawmakers modified the original bill in ways that made it too cumbersome to be […]
The White House on Crowdfunding and American Innovation
In May, the final “crowdfunding” rule of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) went into effect, making it possible for entrepreneurs across the country to raise small-dollar investments from ordinary Americans. This new rule is a result of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act. When President Obama signed the bipartisan JOBS Act, he […]
Crowdfunding Campaigns Can Help Raise Additional Outside Capital, Says Study
Can crowdfunding help you raise outside capital from conventional sources? There are certainly examples. After being turned down by venture capitalists, the inventors of the Pebble Watch went on to smash records on Kickstarter, raising $10 million in a 2013 campaign. Then the VCs came calling, investing $15 million in the smart watch venture. And […]
Who’s Crowdfunding? A Snapshot of Week 1 of Regulation Crowdfunding
Will Regulation Crowdfunding be the game-changer that it was expected to be when the JOBS Act was signed into law four years ago? Time will tell. In the meantime, we decided to take a closer look at the offerings floated under the new rule, which opens up investment in private companies to all Americans and […]
Advertising Rules for Title III Crowdfunding Are More Flexible Than You May Think
Like most legislation, Regulation Crowdfunding, aka Title III of the JOBS Act, was a compromise. The final bill and the subsequent rules written by the Securities & Exchange Commission attempted to balance competing views on the best way to increase access to capital for the nation’s small businesses while protecting investors. One result of that […]
Fixing Crowdfunding: Congress Mulls JOBS Act Version 2
In Silicon Valley, it’s almost dogma that you start with a minimum viable product and iterate—the techie version of throwing spaghetti against the wall and seeing what sticks. So why shouldn’t it be the same with investment crowdfunding? As we prepare for the long awaited roll out next month of Title III, the final and […]
A New Option For Investing in Crowdfinance Alternatives From Your IRA
Investment crowdfunding is coming. But will you be able to invest? If you’re like many Americans, you may not have a pot of money sitting around to sink into crowdfunding investments. Heck, most Americans don’t even have the suggested rainy day fund set aside. But many of us do have individual retirement accounts, or IRAs—about […]
The JOBS Act at Four: A Status Report
It doesn’t get much attention outside of crowdfunding and financial circles. No one mentions it in presidential campaigns, either to take credit or disparage it. But it’s hard to understate the importance of the JOBS Act, the landmark securities legislation signed into law on April 5, 2012 by President Obama with broad bipartisan support. As […]
New Funding Options Take Root For Food And Agriculture Ventures
Raising capital is difficult for any startup or small business. But it’s especially challenging for entrepreneurs in food or agriculture. Margins are often low, especially in the beginning. There’s also enormous risk due to factors outside of an entrepreneur’s control, like unexpected weather impact on crops. Providing collateral that lenders will accept can be difficult for […]
How The JOBS Act Gets it Wrong—And DPOs Get it Right
The last few years have been exciting ones, as new crowdfunding laws at the state and federal level have been passed that allow people to easily invest in small, growing companies—the kind of investments that, since the Securities Act of 1933, have been the exclusive purview of accredited, or wealthy, investors. In many ways, it […]
With New Offering, StreetShares Opens Small Business Lending to All Investors
Ordinary investors across the country can now lend money to small businesses, thanks to a regulatory greenlight given to online lender StreetShares. The move comes as the industry gears up for Title III, the long awaited JOBS Act provision that will open up investment crowdfunding to the mainstream when it goes into effect on May […]
Social Impact Bonds: Something Republicans And Democrats Agree On
Democrats and Republicans don’t seem to agree on much in this fractious campaign season. The exception may be Social Impact Bonds (SIBs), an innovative new financing model that is being welcomed with a warm bipartisan embrace. Also known as pay for success, SIBs are a new mechanism for financing initiatives aimed at addressing social ills, […]
A Crowdfunding Platform For Equitable Real Estate
“I like the grittiness of cities,” says Eve Picker, a Pittsburgh resident of 31 years who maintains a healthy Australian twang. “I like to think about places that have been left behind. What will it take to get people to put their money into places like that?” For Picker, it’s not just a rhetorical question. […]
Social Impact Fashion Comes to Main Street
In 2012, Alok Appadurai and Jade Beall, co-owners of a yoga and arts studio in Tucson, Arizona, began designing and selling t-shirts and donating a portion of each sale to local nonprofits that feed the hungry. Little did they know where that simple idea would take them. As they learned more about the fashion industry, […]
Move Over Microbrews, Cars Are the New Crowdfunding Darlings
Are cars the new beer? You might think so from the latest spate of high profile crowdfunding campaigns. As new securities regulations go into effect that allow significantly larger amounts of capital to be raised, a new breed of issuer is grabbing the spotlight. In the last several weeks, boldly imaginative car and aircraft makers have […]
Is Student Debt Crushing Millennial Entrepreneurship?
Mention the words entrepreneur or founder, and images of ambitious, be-hoodied youth might arise. Thanks to Silicon Valley, youth and entrepreneurship are intertwined in the popular imagination. But the reality is starkly different. Millennials lag behind older age groups in starting and running their own businesses. And a new study suggests that student debt loads […]
A Mud-Riding ‘Geeky Girl’ Beats the Crowdfunding Drum in Mississippi
Jennifer Gatewood calls herself ‘Mississippi’s Geeky Girl.’ After a career in information technology, she started Peer Elevate to “bridge a gap and lift people up.” When Mississippi enacted an intrastate crowdfunding exemption in May 2015, she saw an opportunity to create Mississippi’s first crowdfunding portal, Peer Elevate Funding. But first, there was a lot of education […]
As Population Becomes More Diverse, Funding Options Grow
The gorgeous mosaic that makes up the U.S. is becoming more so. African-Americans, Asian Americans and Hispanics collectively account for 38% of the U.S. population, and are expected to surpass 50% by 2044. And the Millennial generation is not only large, it is the most racially diverse in the nation’s history. This multi-culti melting pot […]
The Research is Clear: Local Business is Good for What Ails The Economy
Here at Locavesting, we always perk up when we see the Hometown Advantage Bulletin land in our mailbox. Put together by Stacy Mitchell & team at the Institute for Local Self Reliance, the newsletter is always full of insightful articles and research on local economy issues. In fact, for 40 years, ILSR has been at […]
Demystifying CDFIs: How to Invest in a Loan Fund
Aeris (formerly known as CARS) is an information and ratings service for U.S. community investments—you might think of them as the Moody’s or Standard & Poor’s of the nonprofit finance world. Aeris rates organizations on their financial strength and social impact to help investors make informed decisions. Karen Seabury, Director of Ratings at Aeris, shares […]
Michael Shuman on Pollinators, Social Enterprise and Remaking Economic Development
Michael H. Shuman is an economist, attorney, author, entrepreneur, and one of the world’s leading experts on community economics. (He is not, however, a famous rock drummer). His eighth book, (we think, we’ve lost count) The Local Economy Solution: How Innovative Self-Financing “Pollinator” Enterprises Can Grow Jobs and Prosperity, takes on the economic development profession […]
SEC Move Could Determine the Fate of Intrastate Crowdfunding
Will this be the year that intrastate crowdfunding catches fire? The answer may depend upon the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is considering updates to a federal rule that underlies the vast majority of intrastate crowdfunding laws. After a public comment period ends on Monday, the agency will begin deliberating on changes that could make—or […]
Social Impact Investing: the Outlook for 2017
For all its faults, we may look back at 2016 as the year that impact investing was democratized. Once the exclusive domain of wealthy individuals and institutions, impact investing is now within reach of any American with $100 to invest—thanks to the passage of the JOBS Act and new investment vehicles like those offered by […]
2015: The Year in Impact Investing & Social Enterprise
The idea that business can be a force for good has been gaining steam for years, but 2015 may have been the year that it went mainstream. Here’s a look back at some of the year’s most notable developments in the world of social enterprise and impact investing. Mark Zuckerberg embraces impact investing. When the Facebook […]
Crowdfinance: Experts Predict What’s in Store for 2016
2016 will be the year that the long-awaited Title III “Regulation Crowdfunding” goes into effect. That, along with Title II (for accredited investors), Regulation A+ (Title IV) and intrastate crowdfunding, will open up new avenues for entrepreneurs, investors and portals alike. But where will it all lead? We asked some experts to weigh in on […]
Three Direct Public Offerings You Can Invest in Today
Starting May 16, all investors, regardless of wealth, will be able to invest in private companies when the last piece of the JOBS Acts goes into effect. In the meantime, there’s an alternative: direct public offerings, or DPOs. These offerings use pre-JOBS Act exemptions to allow private companies to extend investment opportunities to ordinary investors. […]
A New Index Shows Main Street Entrepreneurship on the Rise
It was a good year for Main Street entrepreneurs. A new Kauffman Foundation index of small business entrepreneurial activity showed a large increase in 2015, marking the first big gains since the onset of the financial crisis six years ago. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation has long been a champion of entrepreneurship, especially the kind […]
Closing The Racial Wealth Gap Through Business Ownership
A recent report published by FIELD at The Aspen Institute and Asset Funders Network explored how philanthropic funders can help narrow the racial wealth gap in the U.S. through programs that support business ownership. Joyce Klein, director of FIELD and co-author of the report, offers some thoughts on the topic in this guest post. Much […]
The Worker-Owned Sharing Economy Aims to Disrupt the Disruptors
Tech-based startups are drawing on cloud computing, algorithms and mobile phones to create a new on-demand service economy, conjuring help with the press of a button. There’s Uber for transportation, Handy for home cleaning, and Task Rabbit for everything from running errands to assembling furniture. In the process, they are changing the nature of work […]
Debating The New Economy And Whether Capitalism Can be Saved
There’s a lot of talk about the new economy – including on this media site. But what does the term really mean? And what should this new economy we are creating look like? Sometimes it’s useful to poke our heads up and ponder the big questions. Megan Stanek reports on one such discussion from New […]
In Hawaii, a Utility Cooperative Leads The Way in Renewable Energy
As Hawaii considers the ramifications of a contentious $4.3 billion sale of its major electric utility to Florida-based power giant NextEra, Kaua’i Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) stands out as an alternative model of utility ownership. KIUC is one of around 900 electric cooperatives serving some 42 million electric consumers in 47 states. Like all cooperatives, […]
‘Tis The Season to ‘Shop Small and ‘Buy Local.’ What About Investing That Way?
In the next few days, a wave of shopping ‘holidays’ hits one after another—Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, all in preparation for, well, the holidays. But a more conscious consumerism seems to be emerging. Last month, outdoor sports retailer REI vowed to close all of its 143 stores on Black Friday, prompting other […]
An MBA Program Aims to Train a New Generation of Co-op Leaders
Co-ops are on the rise. There are 30,000 cooperative businesses in the U.S., which generate over $500 billion in total revenue, pay out $25 billion in wages and benefits and employ nearly 1 million people. The International Cooperative Alliance has declared this the Decade of the Cooperative and has invited the world to make co-ops […]
The New Crowdfunding Rules: What They Mean For Investors
Sherwood (Woodie) Neiss is a principal at Crowdfund Capital Advisors and a leader of the securities-based crowdfunding movement. In the second of a three-part series, he looks at what investors need to know about the newly approved Regulation Crowdfunding rules (aka Title III), which are expected to go into effect next spring. The new crowdfunding […]