News & Stories

Supporting Local Businesses through Local Partnerships

9 Beans Row business owners, who have received small business support through our community partner, Venture North

Image description: 9 Beans Row business owners, who have received small business support through our community partner, Venture North. They are standing together outside on their farm surrounded by orange pumpkins and an outdoor wood covered deck/bar area.

As a Community Foundation, we exist to invest in the people and places of our region and steward community assets for lasting impact. We do this by promoting generous donor giving, funding pressing needs and promising opportunities through grants to area nonprofit organizations, awarding meaningful scholarships to local students, and engaging in collaborative leadership efforts all while building endowments that make a lasting impact for generations to come.

Over our 33-year history, we’ve grown to hold over $100 million in endowment assets. Our endowment financial and spending strategy allows for annual disbursements of almost $4 million annually in grant and scholarship awards. In addition to serving our communities through our grant support, we are determined to expand our capacity and have a positive impact serving all in our region.

Diving into Impact Investing

Impact investing, also known as program-related investing, is one avenue that expands our capacity. Impact investing involves deploying a portion of our assets locally to achieve both a social and financial return. This investment strategy allows us to expand our sources of community impact beyond grantmaking alone and provides an effective tool to support strengthening our local economy, helping the business and nonprofit community secure federal and state government financial support, and enhancing our ability to have community impact in the region.

Many consumers, business owners, and real estate developers with limited resources don’t have access to traditional lending vehicles that provide affordable rates, which is where impact investing through community development financial institutions (CDFIs) can step in to help fill the gap.

Investing with Local Partners

In August 2022, after a study by an internal ad-hoc committee and a recommendation from our Finance Committee, our Board of Directors approved a strategy designating $2 million from our endowment portfolio to be used for impact investing initiatives in Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, and Leelanau Counties that align with our own Northwest Michigan Community Development Coalition’s economic, societal, and environmental goals. We deployed these investments with our CDFI partners: IFF, Northern Initiatives, and Venture North.

These partners are non-governmental financial institutions that provide credit and financial services to underserved markets and populations. CDFIs often provide a project’s first capital, especially in a business’s start-up phase. These investments can leverage and generate positive community change, resulting in neighborhood-level growth and local impact.

Working Together to Support Our Region

Since 2022, we’ve invested $500,000 with Northern Initiatives, $500,000 with Venture North, and $1 million with IFF’s Michigan Affordable Housing Loan Fund, which provides much needed capital that aims to address our region’s housing crisis. When combined with assets from other partners, our investments have leveraged $5 million in support of local businesses and housing projects.

Together, these investments have provided loans to a variety of local businesses and organizations, including 9 Beans Row, AltaTerra Cartographic, Bos Wine, Function Rehabilitation, Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate, Homestretch Nonprofit Housing Corporation, Lake Ann Manufacturing, Michigan Farm Co-Op, NoBo Mrkt, Northland Precision, Rising Phoenix Business Services, TC Golf Carts, and TNT Lighting & Electric Services. With our CDFI partners, our funds can go further to support our region.

The impact investment strategy we’ve chosen is meant to help us make a positive impact on our local communities alongside our regular grantmaking. Our overall goal is to support the expansion of our region’s capacity in the areas of affordable housing and small business lending to meet our area’s food security, education, and early childhood support needs. Together with our CDFI partners, we aim to be good stewards for greater impact.

Writer: Paul Kester, Vice President of Finance & Administration