Financial and Business Resources
For Food Producers and Food Related Businesses
WHAT KIND OF CAPITAL ARE YOU SEEKING—Primarily two types of Capital with some Crowdfunding twists.
FROM WHOM WILL YOU SEEK THE CAPITAL---Very important that those who are providing you capital are aligned with your mission and business
DEBT FINANCING SOURCES
- Friends and Family
- Debt based Crowdfunding--KivaZip- kivazip.org First time farmers up to $10,000 at 0% interest and up to 36 months to repay
- Colorado Investment Groups following Slow Money Principles
- Whole Foods Local Producer Loan Program – WholeFoodsMarket.com
- Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs)—usually non-profit financial institutions that have a community development mission
- Small Business Administration (SBA)-guarantees loans made by other lending institutions
- Colorado Lending Source-a non-profit lender partnering with SBA, the USDA and also offers Colorado Main Street Loans in the $5,000 to $50,000 range.
CROWDFUNDING
- Donations (Cause Based) Crowdfunding—usually for 501(c)(3) non-profits. Donations are charitable gifts and tax deductible
- Rewards Based Crowdfunding—various levels of rewards based on pledge amounts
- Equity or Investor Crowdfunding—potential to raise capital from both accredited and non-accredited investors. Can be debt paying back with interest or revenue sharing or equity or convertible debt into equity.
EQUITY
- Friends and Family
- Angel Investors
- Venture Capitalist
- Private Placement Exemptions-allows you to sell securities (which is Corporate stock, LLC interests, Partnership interests, debt and any financial scenario in which you are promising some financial return to the investor) without registering with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). You are prohibited from general advertising and solicitation
RESOURCES FOR CAPITAL AND CONSULTING
Colorado Small Business Development Center ColoradoSBDC.org provides counseling services
Colorado Microfinance Alliance ColoradoMicrofinance.org ---will provide you with a list of the microfinance lending institutions in Colorado
SmallBizLending SmallBizLending.org provides list of lenders in Colorado as well as counseling services
USDA- Farm Service Agency (FSA)
Rocky Mountain Farmers Union-cooperatives and capital
City and County Governments
Slow Money Groups SlowMoney.org
- Debt Financing----Loans, you borrow money and promise to repay the money over time with interest
- Equity Financing----You receive money from an investor and give up part of the ownership in your business
FROM WHOM WILL YOU SEEK THE CAPITAL---Very important that those who are providing you capital are aligned with your mission and business
DEBT FINANCING SOURCES
- Friends and Family
- Debt based Crowdfunding--KivaZip- kivazip.org First time farmers up to $10,000 at 0% interest and up to 36 months to repay
- Colorado Investment Groups following Slow Money Principles
- Denver - Local Matters Investments, LLC LocalMattersInvestments.com (you are already on this site)
- Boulder - Colorado Food Investments, LLC ColoradoFoodInvestments.com
- Fort Collins - Living Soil Investments, LLC LivingSoilInvestments.wordpress.com
- Aspen - 2Forks Club SlowMoney.org/2forks-club
- Whole Foods Local Producer Loan Program – WholeFoodsMarket.com
- Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs)—usually non-profit financial institutions that have a community development mission
- Colorado Enterprise Fund
- Community Enterprise Development Services
- Rocky Mountain Micro Finance Center
- Accion
- Small Business Administration (SBA)-guarantees loans made by other lending institutions
- Colorado Lending Source-a non-profit lender partnering with SBA, the USDA and also offers Colorado Main Street Loans in the $5,000 to $50,000 range.
CROWDFUNDING
- Donations (Cause Based) Crowdfunding—usually for 501(c)(3) non-profits. Donations are charitable gifts and tax deductible
- Rewards Based Crowdfunding—various levels of rewards based on pledge amounts
- Kickstarter
- Barnraiser-- Mission is to put $1 Billion Dollars into hands of food innovators as they reshape a healthy food world
- Equity or Investor Crowdfunding—potential to raise capital from both accredited and non-accredited investors. Can be debt paying back with interest or revenue sharing or equity or convertible debt into equity.
- JOBS Act (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) passed in April 2012 created the Equity/Investor Crowdfunding-Rules and Regulations were recently promulgated
- Colorado Crowdfunding Act-passed April 2015 allows non-accredited investors to invest in privately held companies
EQUITY
- Friends and Family
- Angel Investors
- Venture Capitalist
- Private Placement Exemptions-allows you to sell securities (which is Corporate stock, LLC interests, Partnership interests, debt and any financial scenario in which you are promising some financial return to the investor) without registering with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). You are prohibited from general advertising and solicitation
RESOURCES FOR CAPITAL AND CONSULTING
Colorado Small Business Development Center ColoradoSBDC.org provides counseling services
Colorado Microfinance Alliance ColoradoMicrofinance.org ---will provide you with a list of the microfinance lending institutions in Colorado
SmallBizLending SmallBizLending.org provides list of lenders in Colorado as well as counseling services
USDA- Farm Service Agency (FSA)
Rocky Mountain Farmers Union-cooperatives and capital
City and County Governments
Slow Money Groups SlowMoney.org