The Next 25 Social Enterprise Stars: Education & the Arts
As part of our campaign to add 25 social enterprise stars to our loan portfolio over the next year, we’re looking for new borrowers in all three of our focus areas: Food & Agriculture, Education & the Arts, and Ecological Stewardship. These are broad categories, but because it’s not always obvious whether an enterprise is a fit for us we’ll delve into what we look for in each area over the next three months. Up this month: Education & the Arts.
We support many different types of enterprises under this umbrella, including:
- Waldorf and charter schools that promote holistic education (such as Pine Forest School)
- Arts organizations (mostly those that support artists, 18th Street Arts Center)
- Enterprises providing teacher training or student enrichment (such as Playworks)
- Workforce development enterprises (DC Central Kitchen is an excellent example)
- Spiritual centers (such as California Institute of Integral Studies)
- Enterprises that support developmentally disabled people
One of our current borrowers provides a great example in the last category: Camphill Communities California (CCC), a Santa Cruz supportive life-sharing community where volunteer caregivers and individuals with developmental disabilities live and work in a cooperative and rewarding environment. CCC offers everyone the opportunity to learn, grow, and live up to their highest aspirations. CCC is a model and inspiration for how to address the needs of the whole person: body, soul, and spirit. RSF has provided CCC with mortgage and construction loans to expand and improve their facilities.
If you know any enterprises in any of our focus areas that could expand their impact with greater access to capital, send them to Wanted: Social Enterprise Stars. General criteria for borrowers includes:
- Incorporated in the US or Canada
- Funding needs ranging from $200,000 to $5 million
- Enterprise is profitable, or can demonstrate a clear path to profitability in 12 months
- Annual revenue of $1 million or greater
Please pass it on to your network! The more #SocentStars posts there are on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, the more social enterprises we can reach and assist. Many thanks to all those who’ve been tweeting and posting so far.
Here are a few post ideas:
Are you an arts or edu enterprise looking for #funding? @RSFSocFinance has loans for #socents: bit.ly/1tH0ytE #SocentStars
Does your #socent need capital to grow? @RSFSocFinance provides loans up to $5M: bit.ly/1tH0ytE #SocentStars
@RSFSocFinance is #funding the next 25 #SocentStars. See if you qualify: bit.ly/1tH0ytE #socent
