Sales & Marketing Alignment: How to Synergize for Success
Microlending, crowfunding, & alternative financial tools giovannitti
1. Microlending, Crowdfunding, & Alternative
Financial Tools for Underserved Entrepreneurs
and Communities
Jen Giovannitti
Regional Community Development Manager
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond
https://www.richmondfed.org/community_development
June 4, 2014
2. The views expressed in this presentation do not necessarily
reflect the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond or
the Federal Reserve System.
DISCLAIMER
3. 3
West Virginia Loan Fund Collaborative
Peer group of
CDFIs and
alternative
lenders
THE WV LOAN FUND COLLABORATIVE GROUP
First Microloan of West Virginia
Kanawha Institute for Social Action and
Research (KISRA)
Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Council
(MOVRC)
Natural Capital Investment Fund (NCIF)
New River Gorge Development Authority
(NRGDA)
Washington County Council on Economic
Development
Woodlands Community Lenders
WV Center for Rural Health
Wyoming County Economic Development
Authority (WCEDA)
4. 4
Serving Underserved Areas:
WV Alternative Lenders
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
Randolph
Hardy
Kanawha
GreenbrierFayette
Grant
Preston
Raleigh
Pocahontas
Boone
Clay
Nicholas
Wayne
Roane
Logan
Pendleton
Mingo
Lewis
Braxton
Webster
Ritchie
Mason
Wood
Tucker
Monroe
Lincoln
Hampshire
Mercer
Wirt
Jackson
Tyler
McDowell
Wetzel
Wyoming
Gilmer
Harrison
Upshur
Marion
Putnam
Mineral
Cabell
Barbour
Summers
Marshall
Berkeley
Calhoun
Monongalia
Doddridge
Morgan
Taylor
Ohio
Jefferson
Pleasants
Brooke
Hancock
The Center for Rural
Health Development, Inc.
Wyoming County
Loan Fund
New River Gorge
Regional Development
Authority
Woodlands Community Lenders
Poverty Rate by County (2012)
25.1% - 36%
20.1% - 25%
18.1% - 20%
16% - 18%
10.8% - 15.9%
L Lending Organizations
Washington County
Council on
Economic Development
Natural Capital
Investment Fund
Mid Ohio Valley
Regional Council
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates
Kanawha Institute For
Social Research &
Action, Inc.
WV 18%
U.S. 15.9%
5. 5
Goals of the Collaborative
1. Understand the lending landscape
2. Map data
3. Develop opportunities for peer-to-peer learning
7. 7
What Have We Learned
• Money is not the biggest challenge
• Referral Networks are Crucial
• Educating Bankers on How to Partner is
Important
• The Future Looks Bright for Community
Lenders
8. 8
Next Steps
2012 2014
• Updating mapping
• Looking to include 2
additional funds
• Bringing additional
content learning to the
group
• Writing an issue for one
of the Bank’s
publications on the topic
• Learning the
Landscape
• First mapping
• Charting the issues
As Sandy mentioned, we have been convening a peer group of CDFIs and alternative lenders (community loan funds) over the past 3 years to develop data around their lending patterns. I’m going to take a moment to share more of the details around this project because it illustrates some useful information about micro lending.
The WV Loan Fund Collaborative is a multi-year pilot project that the Federal Reserve Bank initiated with two local partners – WV HUB and Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation. The project entailed convening WV loan funds to discuss their lending activity, operational challenges, key partners, and such things as their aspirations for future growth and development.
This map shows both the 2012 poverty rates in WV and the HQ locations of the loan funds that have been participating in the collaborative.
We really set out on a learning mission with this pilot project. The idea was to better understand who is lending where, how long they had been in operation, if they were planning to expand, etc. WV is a small state but as you could see on the previous slide there is a lot of opportunity to direct lending into poor and underserved rural areas.
As the group continued to meet, it became clear that developing some combined activity mapping would be a way to inform the group of how their lending looked at a state level. This entailed using point in time data (ie. open loans on their books at a point in time). The mapping was not expected to be totally accurate but rather a starting point to see generally how the loans were spread out across the state.
The other key goal was professional relationship building and peer-sharing. This is something that the Federal Reserve Bank has found to be an useful and practical outcome of hosting forums where people can engage in deep discussions around issues. In this case, the discussions around lending obstacles, fundraising, building referral networks and many other loan fund issues, lend to closer professional relationships among the loan fund managers.
The maps offered a new way to look at the alternative lending landscape and visually see patterns. For example, based on the 2012 maps, the most popular lending amounts were in the range of $2,500 - $15,000 and $15,000-$50,000. These loan amounts are in the small loan and microloan range. Likewise, the maps showed that there were small business loans in all reaches of the state, which was a surprisingly expansive coverage of loans despite West Virginia’s challenging topography and very low population density in regions. Within the loan activity maps, two strong areas for small business loans emerged visually, which were around the City of Beckley and the Mid-Ohio River Valley. This patterns was discussed by the WVLFC as an offshoot of the combined Developing this unique set of mapping for the alternative lenders in West Virginia was instrumental in discussing the complexities of alternative lending and moving into a more detailed discussion of capacity issues.