Mission Driven Finance?

We can't wait to share incredible milestones across multiple strategies with our subscribers. ? Sign up to be the first to get stories about small businesses, nonprofits, and investors using finance as a tool for change. ?? https://eepurl.com/deNFUL ?? ????'?? ???????? ???? ?????????????????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ?????????????????????? ???? ?????? ????????. #impactinvesting #socialimpactstories #socialimpact #financestories #financeforgood #businessforgood #certifiedBcorp #socialimpactfinance #socialfinance #communityfinance

We are proud to welcome A Dozen Cousins to our place-based Advance California portfolio! ?? Just in time for holiday meal planning ?? ???????? ???????? ???? ?? 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. ?????? ???? ???????????????? ?? 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

???????? ???????? ???? ?????????????? ???????????? ???????????????? 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

We love it when portfolio companies send us love notes. ?? Here’s one from Bayside Community Center, a community-based organization that received a loan from the nonprofit pool of the COVID-19 Small Business & Nonprofit Loan Program in 2020. "Support from Mission Driven Finance? during the pandemic gave us the stability and the platform from which to not only sustain but also to grow our operations. We were able to lead with our mission instead of worrying about how our donors and funders would react to the pandemic. With the investment from Mission Driven Finance, we built momentum that has culminated in the re-establishment of the Linda Vista Community Garden." — Kim Heinle, Executive Director, Bayside Community Center (The loan was repaid in 2023. Bayside Community Center is not a current client, investor, or borrower. Mission Driven Finance provided no compensation for the endorsement. No material conflicts of interest are known.) #impactinvesting #communityfinance #communitygarden #nonprofitloans?

Thank you to Women of the World Endowment and Tesser Capital Management for spotlighting Care Access Real Estate? in a new white paper exploring how investors can integrate a care lens into a multi-asset class investment portfolio. ?? “Mission Driven Finance? (MDF) launched Care Access Real Estate (CARE) to address the critical need for child care, particularly in underserved communities. This innovative real estate investment trust (REIT) focuses on acquiring and developing properties to be ideal childcare facilities where more licensed care capacity is needed. “MDF identified real estate as both a challenge and an opportunity in growing child care. Many providers rent their spaces and list various real estate challenges as common barriers to expansion. CARE is a childcare-friendly landlord that helps alleviate those challenges for providers—overwhelmingly women and largely women of color—and allows them to focus on stabilizing their families and growing their businesses. CARE enables investors to support the care economy by investing in the underlying real estate that care providers need but often cannot afford to purchase. “They chose a REIT structure for both its familiarity to investors and because the return profile matches providers’ need for stability. A REIT relies on rental income rather than high-stakes exits, which benefits both investors and tenants with more predictability. In addition, CARE has a goal of building the wealth and sustainability of childcare providers. Tenants in good standing have the choice to eventually purchase the properties they rent, sometimes becoming first-time homeowners. CARE is designed to help set a new standard for investing in the care economy with a social justice lens. “CARE targets market-rate returns, making it ideal for investors seeking both financial and social impact. MDF leverages a blended capital stack, including public agency grants from state and federal funding, PRI equity capital from foundations (including anchor investors the Annie E. Casey Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and The Conrad Prebys Foundation), equity investments from family offices and impact investors, and short-term acquisition financing.” #impactinvesting #careeconomy #investingincare #childcare #REIT #investinginrealestate

Next week, on Thursday, November 14 at 9 a.m. Pacific / 12 noon Eastern, our VP of Care & Education Laura Kohn speaks on an Asset Funders Network + Home Grown webinar entitled, “Investing in Home-Based Childcare Entrepreneurs to Stabilize Their Businesses, Expand Childcare, and Build Wealth Through Homeownership.” “Home-based child care providers play a critical role for our workforce and early childhood development ecosystems. These solo entrepreneurs provide a significant share of care in this country with over 1 million paid providers and caregivers caring for over 3 million children ages 0–5…yet they often face barriers with their main asset—their homes—due to licensing regulations, zoning and HOA restrictions, as well as lack of access to capital to purchase their homes or grow their businesses. And the income derived from these essential services often falls short in providing stability for the business to grow, build wealth for the entrepreneur, or to stabilize the supply of child care in their area.” Joining Laura on this critical topic are: ?? Hayley Village, Bay Area-based licensed home-based child care provider ?? Natalie Renew, Home Grown ?? Cynthia Melde, LISC Phoenix ?? Camille Abrahams Emeagwali, The New York Women's Foundation Register ?? https://lnkd.in/gZWxZmdv #childcareproviders #impactinvesting #socialimpact #realestateinvesting #REIT

Join members of our business development team, Marquise Jackson and Bernina Gray, for this webinar from Better Business Bureau | New Mexico and Southwest Colorado next week, Wednesday, 11/13 from 11 a.m. to 12 noon MST.

Inside Philanthropy recently highlighted the importance of philanthropy’s role in impact investing: “The Elevance Health Foundation recently launched a new, $10 million impact investment project to make it easier for minority and women entrepreneurs to secure loans…The Elevance Health Foundation is calling for applications in California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Missouri and Texas, and working with Mission Driven Finance?, [an] impact investment firm whose focus is ‘getting capital to flow where it doesn’t but should.’ ‘We fund food banks and similar nonprofits in order to improve the supply of food available to a community and to get that distributed,’ said [Dr. Shantanu Agrawal, the chief health officer at Elevance Health Foundation]..." "[Mission Driven Finance] will be vetting and working with the foundation to help select applicants for the small business loans. These differ from traditional bank loans, which typically give preference to borrowers who already have three years of experience operating a business, have a certain amount in personal assets, and where borrowers are offered differing interest rates based on risk, according to Lauren Grattan, Mission Driven Finance’s chief community officer. Instead, says Grattan, ‘Everybody is going to get the same rate…while you get started and get over a hurdle.’” Thank you Laurie Udesky and Inside Philanthropy for covering this topic and partnership. #impactinvesting #businessgrowth #smallbusinessloans #nonprofitloans #healthaccess #healthequity #healthentrepreneurs

Meet child care provider Marcisa, who moved into a property acquired by Care Access Real Estate?! ?????????? ?????? ???????????????? ?? Care Access Real Estate’s (CARE) 11th property is a single-story home centrally located in Las Vegas, near a large public park, golf club, elementary school, and middle school. This property boasts a large outdoor area and an extra large driveway. The spacious primary child care area features a clear line of sight from the entryway to the backyard sliding door. Initially equipped with two bathrooms, CARE added another half bath adjacent to the primary child care area. ?????????? ?????? ???????????????? ?????? Marcisa (pronounced mar-KEE-sa) grew up in Long Beach, California, and has “always been around children.” She began caring for her younger siblings and cousins at a young age and helped at her grandmother’s child care in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the summers. Children have an overwhelmingly positive effect on Marcisa. “I’m an energy person; I enjoy the natural light that children have,” she says. “Even if they are having a bad day, they’d be sad one second and the next they’re just laughing and bubbly. It’s really hard for me to be low-vibrational when children are around.” Her love of early childhood led Marcisa to child care as a career but feeling like she didn’t have the best credit or knowledge to manage her finances, she did not pursue a child care license and was limited to caring for four children. Marcisa started feeling “stuck as a glorified babysitter.” She joined a Wonderschool program, where her coach, Darcy, told providers to treat their “babysitting” as a real business. After graduating, Darcy called Marcisa about CARE. By now, Marcisa had the confidence to go after something bigger—a child care license. Citing CARE Nevada partners Wonderschool, Las Vegas Urban League, and Access Community Capital, Marcisa shares, “The support was unmatched.” Moving into the CARE property in March 2024, Marcisa has created a “Zen den,” a lending library for parents opposite the child care area that acts as a buffer zone for parents picking up children to destress from their work day. Marcisa believes in energy transfer and caring for not just the child, but the whole family unit. “It’s about caring for their mind and body,” says Marcisa. “The children learn to eat mindfully, and then go home to tell their parents they don’t want burgers and fries.” “I love being a holistic child care provider.” #impactinvesting #socialpurposerealestate #socialimpact #childcarerealestate #realestateinvestmenttrust #REIT