Invest
The Community Friends Social Investment Fund will be available in Fall 2008. At that time we will have an offering memorandum describing the investment fund in greater detail.
Through our economic development programs, Community Friends is committed to helping people work toward a more positive future through social enterprise. We believe that financial self-sufficiency is the key to making this change possible. Our fund provides access to capital for social micro-entrepreneurs. Through micro-enterprise, we are using micro-venture capital to create micro-entrepreneurs. The Fund is a catalyst for local village economics by keeping local money and employment circulating in the village community, rather than leaving the community for purchases of goods and services in larger towns. In this way, we stimulate an economic multiplier effect within the village, thereby lessening economic disparities and helping to relieve poverty.
Our version of microfinance is based on micro-equity. In this way women can participate in our program without any risk and with greater chances for success with their enterprise since we do not charge interest or impose a maturity date.
As investors the fund acts like a social venture capitalist, investing in micro-enterprises that generate cash flow and profits to help relieve poverty. The business case for investing in microfinance is not about philanthropy. It is about investing in people to create profitable income-earning opportunities that teach individuals to believe in their own abilities and become economically empowered and self sufficient; potentially changing the quality of life for multiple generations.