Washington Hmong Farmers Cooperative, Snohomish, Washington
In 2023 we have already closed 21 loans totaling $7.9 million to co-ops across the country. Here are recent loans:
Pilsen Housing Co-op (PIHCO)
Chicago, Illinois
In late 2022, Shared Capital provided a loan for $850,000 to the Pilsen Housing Cooperative, also known as PIHCO, which is a majority Latinx-owned, limited equity housing cooperative in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago. The historically Latinx community has faced rapid gentrification and PIHCO was formed by local residents to preserve affordability. In February of 2020, Shared Capital made a small $85,000 loan to the start-up group to support financing for the acquisition and rehab of their first property. In November 2022, Shared Capital provided a $850,000 to support the acquisition and rehab of a second property by the co-op.
Washington Hmong Farmers Cooperative
Snohomish, Washington
In February 2023, Shared Capital made a $150,000 loan to the Washington Hmong Farmers Cooperative, a collective of fourteen Hmong vegetable and flower growers who have been selling their products at Pike Place Market and the region’s farmers markets since 1982. The co-op was created to increase access to new markets and buyers. The group received grants from the USDA and the Washington state department of agriculture to purchase a delivery truck, coolers, dryers and other equipment that will be shared among the cooperative members. The loan was needed to finance the purchases in order to receive reimbursement from the government grants.
Additional recent loans:
Maximum Fun
Los Angeles, California
$1,500,000 (together with another loan fund) to the employees to purchase the business from the selling owner and working capital. An Accelerate Employee Ownership deal with Project Equity
House of Wands
Richmond, Virginia
$10,000 to a worker co-op tattoo shop start-up creating a safer space for BIPOC and LGBTQIA2s++ artists
Chicago Market – A Community Co-op
Chicago, Illinois
$800,000 bridge loan to a start-up food co-op in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago
Rock Ridge Community Cooperative
Dodgeville, Wisconsin
$175,000 to a housing cooperative formed in 1980 to refinance their current mortgage and capital improvements to the farmhouse, their most recently purchased dwelling
Five Point Holistic Health
Chicago, Illinois
$100,000 to the worker owned community clinic for their new location
We are thrilled that we have raised over $3.6 million from more than 75 investors Notes and Preferred Shares through our national Regulation A Direct Public Offering (DPO) that launched in late 2021. The DPO allows us to raise investments from both nonaccredited and accredited investors in 46 states, and by making it available on the online portal, SVXus.org, we can offer the ease of online investing and accept investments starting at $500 and up.
Even while we celebrate this accomplishment, we are setting an ambitious new goal to raise an additional $3 million this Fall. We are seeing record demand for capital from cooperative expansions, conversions, and start-ups. Shared Capital issued over $7.25 million in financing to cooperative projects in 2022, making it the strongest year in its 45-year history. This year, Shared Capital has already exceeded last year’s levels and we have many more projects seeking financing.
We hope you will join more than 200 individuals, cooperatives, foundations, and other impact investors who have already invested. If you are interested in helping build a new economy, now is the time!
USDA Deputy Secretary Dr. Jewel H. Bronaugh (middle) standing with Dañia Davy and Cornelius Blanding of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund at the announcement of the program.
On July 19, 2023, Shared Capital closed on a $5 MM loan from the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) to be one of three CDFI intermediary lenders for the USDA Heirs’ Property Relending Program (HPRP). Shared Capital is working in partnership with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives to provide loans and technical assistance to support Black farmer and landowners in the South to resolve title and ownership issues to their land and prevent further Black land loss. Heirs’ property is family land that has been passed down to descendants without a will or deed to prove ownership. Press release from the USDA here.
Shared Capital Staff, Esther West, Receives Cooperative Education and Training Award
Dr. Jessican Gordon Nembhard (left) gives Esther West (right) ACE’s Inaugural Jessica Gordon Nembhard Award
Esther West, Shared Capital staff member and author of Latinx Co-op Power in the U.S., was awarded the Jessica Gordon Nembhard Cooperative Education and Training Award, by the Association of Cooperative Educators, an international association representing educators in Canada, the US and Puerto Rico. The award recognizes Esther’s lifelong work to advance the cooperative model and work for climate justice and racial justice. The award was presented at the 2023 ACE Institute in San Juan, Puerto Rico by award namesake — and West’s mentor — Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard.
2022 Impact At-A-Glance
In 2022, Shared Capital Cooperative Accomplishments included:
Made $7.4 million in loans and equity investments to 24 co-ops
Grew fund to over $23 million in assets
84% of loans went to co-ops of BIPOC, low-income, women and LGBTQ communities
31% of financing to Black Indigenous and People of Color majority-owned co-ops
Financed five business conversions to worker cooperatives
Had another clean, unqualified audit
Gave back $17,402.00 to member-borrowers as a rebate on interest paid through the 2022 member patronage refund
