Achieving Community Impact with a Sustainable, Scalable National Model

Our historical structure of regulated fundraising creates barriers for small organizations. The norm is that small organizations, which are common in low-income communities and communities of color, lack equitable access to financing. The result is that the communities are mired in self-perpetuating cycles of poverty and neglect. Mission-oriented, place-based initiatives have tried admirably to overcome this, but struggle to raise significant capital at low costs to make a sustained, long-term difference. We will discuss an innovative solution, based on a federal EPA program, that leverages a national debt platform to raise local funds at scale.