The Capital Innovation Lab promotes economic justice for all.
Our vision is a regenerative capital system where businesses have access to mission-aligned local capital, and citizen investors build wealth for themselves and for healthy, resilient, interconnected, local economies.
Our mission is to provide education and to develop tools and networks to increase access to local capital, and to create opportunities for citizen investors to direct investments into local organizations and businesses that align with their values.
The Challenge
FOR INVESTORS
Americans want to invest in the people and places they care about, yet significant barriers exist.
Roughly 90% of Americans do not meet the criteria of accredited investor, barring them from many local & impact investment opportunities.
Insufficient resources exist to help investors to find quality investment opportunities in their communities.
Aspiring citizen investors lack the financial know-how to evaluate deals on their own.
Wealth management advisors lack appropriate tools and training to guide clients who want to invest locally.
FOR MAIN STREET ENTREPRENEURS
Chronic underfunding and misaligned capital relationships contribute to Main Street business failure.
99% of small businesses in the U.S. are not a good fit for angel or venture capital, yet many pursue it as their “only option.”
Main Street women, BIPOC, and rural entrepreneurs have been historically marginalized by banks and other traditional lenders.
Many business owners remain misinformed about regulation crowdfunding and miss out on an important source of financial capital.
The Opportunity
FOR INVESTORS
Build wealth while cultivating healthy local economies.
We aim to . . .
Provide support and services to launch Community Investment Funds that include non-accredited investors.
Create and facilitate environments where entrepreneurs and investors can find and engage each other more effectively.
Provide due diligence services and education for fund managers and wealth management advisors to better support their clients with local impact investing.
FOR MAIN STREET ENTREPRENEURS
Build effective capital strategies and gain increased access to community capital.
We aim to . . .
Increase use of appropriate deal structures in a community capital context by providing research, resources, and outreach.
Improve alignment of capital relationships with historically marginalized entrepreneurs by increasing financial literacy and capital strategy development through educational platforms and programming.
Dramatically improve chances for success by providing resources and strategic consultancy to attract value-added investors that bring financial capital, networks, business development expertise, and validation.
Our Solutions
The Money Map
Capital Innovation Lab is leading the design and implementation of an open-access online capital formation tool, plus downloadable resources, for investors and entrepreneurs. The Money Map will identify, analyze, and recommend investment structures that more deeply align management teams and capital providers toward long-view strategies in support of social/environmental goals and outcomes.
Community Capital Consulting
Capital Innovation Lab is developing educational programs, resources, and consultancy for community leaders and grassroots organizers to augment the Community Investment Fund Toolkit we created for the National Coalition of Community Capital in 2021. Our role as CIF Catalyst will foster increased establishment of community-sourced, community-focused investment funds for local economic resiliency.
The Lab
Capital Innovation Lab fosters the broader development of capital innovation by offering a “virtual lab” for projects, research, and other exploratory efforts that align with our mission and vision. Students, grassroots organizers, investor groups, and aspiring capital innovators can access ressources, advice, consultancy, stipends, and fiscal sponsorship to support successful development of their endeavors.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
FUNDING
Donate to our efforts to create an educated and motivated community of local investors.
GET IN TOUCH
Please get in touch about anything we have said that sparks your interest, including projects new, current and completed. Reach out with any ideas, thoughts, comments, or just that feeling you get when you don’t know why you need to talk with that particular person or group, but that you just need to.