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LINKING

LENDERS

AND

COMMUNITIES

SUMMER 2006

P U B L I S H E D Q UA RT E R LY
BY T H E C O M MU N I T Y

BRidges

A F FA I RS D E PA RTM E N T OF
T H E F E D E R A L R E S E RV E
B A N K O F S T. L O U I S

indeX

Gaining Access
to Capital:
A SpECIAL ISSUE

To T i m b u k 2
and Back

Where to Invest
Limited Resources

Spanning the Region

w w w. s t l o u i s f e d . or g

Businesses :
Setting an
E xa m p l e f o r
Nonprofits

Community Development Venture Capital
Producing Results for Entrepreneurs, Investors and Communities
By Amy Simpkins
Community Affairs Specialist
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

ccess to capital, particularly equity capital,
is a barrier faced by
many entrepreneurs looking
to start and expand businesses
in low-income and rural areas.
However, these are the very
areas where innovation and
business expansion may have a
significant impact on the health
and vitality of local economies.
Community development
venture capital (CDVC) is an
equity financing tool that benefits
both entrepreneurs and communities. (See related story on p.3.)
Sometimes called “double bottom
line” investing, CDVC funds
invest in businesses in low-income
areas, adding equity, entrepreneurial experience and ingenuity to underserved markets.

bottom line: creation of good,
entry-level employment and
the provision of equity capital
to businesses in underinvested
areas. This second bottom line
does not have to detract from
the first. Our funds seek out
businesses whose success and
rapid growth will satisfy both
bottom lines.

Growth of CDVC Industry:
Number of Funds Active or In Formation
80

Active

In Formation

58
54

50
45

38
34

10
6

0 1991

(or before)

1992

1993

1994

1995

18
12

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

40
34
28

2004

1. What do you mean by
double bottom line investing?
Most venture capital funds
have a single bottom line: financial returns to investors. CDVC
funds are serious about providing market financial returns to
investors, but they also focus
on a second, developmental

In the following interview,
Kerwin Tesdell, president of the
Community Development Venture Capital Alliance (CDVCA),
answers questions about the
CDVC industry and the power
such equity investment can have
on many local economies that need
social and financial returns.
30

2003

2. Why do you think venture
capital is an important part of
community development?
Community economic
development is fundamentally
about making things happen in
a business and in an economy
that would not otherwise happen. Venture capital financing
does that. When a smaller
business wants to develop a
new product line or finance a
new plant, it cannot do so prudently with debt alone; it needs
continued on Page 2

continued from Page 1

equity capital to expand. But
equity capital is in short supply
in most inner city and rural
areas of the nation. Traditional
venture capital is almost nonexistent, and low-wealth communities tend not to have the
wealthy family members and
angel capitalists who finance
most businesses.
A dedicated source of equity
capital can be a powerful force
for economic development
in a low-wealth area. Equity
capital can help leverage larger
amounts of more senior debt
financing. In addition, CDVC
funds become partners in the
businesses in which they invest,
sitting on their boards of directors, helping them with marketing plans, lining up customers,
attracting other financing,
and providing other assistance necessary to make sure
the businesses succeed. The
combination of equity capital
and intensive business building
is the most powerful model of
economic development I know.
3. Where do CDVC funds
typically operate? Are there
geographic areas of focus?
CDVC funds operate in
underinvested inner-city and
rural areas throughout the
United States. Some operate
in a single state or area, while
others work in broader,
multistate regions. In addition, CDVC funds are being
established in other parts of the
world, including eastern and
western Europe, Asia, Africa
and Latin America.

4. Is there a structure that is
common in CDVC funds?
The vast majority of CDVC
funds are established as forprofit LLCs or LPs with 10-year
lives and traditional venture
capital terms. These offer
investors familiar financial
terms. In addition, many
CDVC funds have affiliated
not-for-profit organizations that
enhance the social value of the

group of investors, accounting
for approximately 42 percent
of all CDVC investments, and
this percentage is increasing
over time. Other important
investors in CDVC funds
include nondepository financial
institutions, such as pension
funds and insurance companies; foundations; federal, state,
and local government; and
wealthy individuals.

Sources of Capital
for CDVC Funds

Corporation 2%
Federal Government 7%
State/Local Government 8%
Other 13%
Foundation 14%
Non-depository Financial 14%
Bank 42%

Banks often invest in community development venture capital (CDVC) funds as a
way to help meet their CRA investment test criteria. Additional information about
CRA-qualiﬁed investments may be found at www.frbsf.org/cdinvestments and at
www.fﬁec.gov/cra/default.htm.

fund’s investment activity by
providing extensive pre-investment and post-investment support to companies, mentoring
opportunities to entrepreneurs,
and workforce development
and wealth-building services to
employees. Some CDVC funds,
themselves, are organized as
not-for-profit organizations.
5. Who typically invests in
CDVC funds?
Banks are by far the largest

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6. What is the average return
on investment for CDVC
funds and how do you measure the double bottom line?
CDVC is a young industry. No funds structured as
limited partnerships or LLCs
with limited life spans have
wound up, so no definitive
statistics regarding financial
returns to LPs—comparable
to the NVCA Yearbook statistics—can currently be compiled
for this industry. However, to

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provide a preliminary answer
to the question of financial
returns in the industry, CDVCA
assembled a model portfolio of
all exited investments from the
three oldest CDVC funds in the
nation. We looked at all exits
of investments made between
1972 and 1997. These include
24 full and partial exits and
seven complete write-offs. This
model portfolio yielded a 15.5
percent annual internal rate
of return, weighted by dollars
invested, including write-offs.
Because the three funds studied
were all perpetual life funds,
and two of the three were notfor-profits, we would expect
that returns for the newer
for-profit funds with pressure
to exit within a limited period
of time will produce higher
financial returns.
CDVCA and the CDVC industry have made great strides in
the development of methods to
measure social impact. In 2005,
CDVCA released its Measuring Impacts Toolkit, which is a
sophisticated methodology and
survey instrument for measuring the social returns of CDVC
investments. Among other
things, the toolkit measures job
creation, job quality and availability of jobs to low-income
people. It also looks at such
factors as where investments
are located, dollars leveraged
and tax dollars produced. For
example, administration of this
methodology shows that the
average increase in employment
in CDVC-financed companies is
89 percent, with a 124 percent
continued on Page 4

To Timbuk2 and Back: Money Flows Both Ways
When Pacific Community Ventures
(PCV) first came to know Timbuk2,
it was a small firm specializing in
the niche market of bicycle messenger bags. But the fund managers
at PCV saw something special in
this small company and decided to
invest in the business, its leadership
and the employees.
What PCV saw was an investment
opportunity poised for both financial
and social returns. Timbuk2 had a
thriving, high-margin e-commerce
business, strong brand equity
and scalable production capacity.
Timbuk2’s location in San Francisco’s
Mission District, a low- to moderateincome area, also appealed to PCV.
The company employed 40 low- to
moderate-income workers in its
urban manufacturing facility, and 100
percent of its employees received
health insurance, job training and
strong wages.
Four years ago, PCV made its initial investment in the company. PCV
is a 501(c)3 organization managing
two profit-making investment funds
with $20 million under management.
PCV targets areas that have traditionally not received venture capital,
investing in and developing selected
businesses that provide substantial
economic benefits to low-income
communities. These benefits are
measured in terms of the number of
jobs with good wages, comprehensive benefits and marketable skills
that portfolio companies are able to
provide to low-income individuals.
With PCV’s investment and
hands-on technical assistance,
Timbuk2 reorganized its operations
and management, expanded its

product offerings distribution, and
achieved profitability. In the process,
the company’s annual revenue more
than tripled. The company now has
distributors in Canada, Japan and
Europe and its product line includes
computer carrying cases and other
urban-lifestyle bags and accessories,
in addition to its well-known custom
messenger bags offered on its “Build
Your Own Bag” web site.
Through this infusion of capital
and resources, the company was
positioned for significant expansion
that not only made a solid return for
investors, but created a considerable benefit to employees and the
low-income community where the
business is located.
Initial investors saw a return of
nearly four-and-a-half times their
original investment in just three years.
PCV’s exit through the sale of the company to a private-equity investor group
will provide the financial resources
and strategic marketing expertise to
fuel the next growth phase.
This exit does not mean the company will be leaving the community so
many of its employees call home. In
an era of outsourcing, the company
is committed to maintaining its
manufacturing presence in the Mission District. This dedication to the
local economy means stabilization of
jobs in an area with traditionally low
employment rates and low wages.
The sale of the company is
not only good for investors, but
employees as well. The transaction
triggered a significant cash bonus
to Timbuk2’s nonmanagement
employees, who all participate in the
company’s Employee Wealth Sharing

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Program. The company program was
established by the CEO and PCV as
a part of their double bottom line
investment strategy. Through this,
lower-income workers share significantly in the financial value they
helped create.
As a reward for their hard work
and dedication, the wealth creation
program distributed more than
$1 million to 40 employees in a
one-time bonus. The cash payout
to each employee was based on a
formula accounting for tenure, grade
level, annual salary and performance
and was as much as twice employee’s
annual pay.
More than half the employees
receiving the payout work in factory
and warehouse positions and reside
in low- to moderate-income communities targeted by PCV. In addition,
PCV conducted on-site financial
management workshops for employees receiving cash payouts to help
them understand options for investing and saving the money through
programs such as the company’s

401(k) retirement fund, 529 education savings accounts and other
personal investment tools.
PCV’s cofounder and president,
Penelope Douglas, sees the sale of
Timbuk2 as a success in the community development venture capital
field. Not only have considerable
financial returns to investors been
realized, but in providing equity
capital to businesses in underinvested markets, significant returns
have been made to the community
through the creation and stabilization
of good jobs, wealth-building opportunities and entrepreneurial capacity.
“Investment funds are judged
on the quality of their investments
and the ability to secure financially
successful exits,” Douglas says. “This
double bottom line success will have
important implications for the credibility of the community development
investment movement as a whole.
This is proof the model works.”
—By Amy Simpkins

TimBuk2 employees receive a replica of a check for $1 million, the amount of a
cash bonus they divided when the company was sold. The payout was a result of the
company’s Employee Wealth Sharing Program. (Photo courtesy of Sing Tao Daily.)

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continued from Page 2

increase in low-income employment and a 37 percent increase
in middle- and higher-income
employment.
7. Can you briefly describe
any industry trends in CDVC?
Average fund size and investment size are increasing. CDVC
funds are becoming more
sophisticated, with more staff
members having traditional
venture capital experience. At
least seven fund management
groups in the industry have
successfully formed second and
third funds, indicating investor
acceptance of the model. There
is increasing co-investment,
both within the CDVC industry and between the CDVC
industry and traditional venture
capital funds. While dollars
from investors who are primarily socially motivated continue
to increase in absolute terms,
in percentage terms, marketrate investors such as banks,
pension funds and insurance
companies now dominate the
industry. While in certain
respects the CDVC industry is
moving toward traditional venture capital in form, our data
indicate that it is not losing its
social impact.
8. What are the major challenges you see in making
successful CDVC investments
in the current market?
Quality deal flow is key
to successful venture-capital
investing of any type, and this
is particularly true of CDVC
investing. CDVC funds are

expanding their geographic
scopes and using increasingly
sophisticated methods of dealflow generation to meet this
challenge. Management teams
in portfolio companies are often
less fully developed and experienced, requiring substantial
entrepreneurial and managerial assistance from fund staffs.
Exits present a challenge for the
smaller companies and markets
where initial public offerings
are less common, and investment bankers are not roaming
the streets looking for acquisition targets. These factors
make the job of the community
development venture capitalist
even more challenging than that
of the traditional venture capitalist. At the same time, CDVC
funds tend to be smaller than
traditional funds because of the
limited availability of double
bottom line investment capital,
yielding smaller management
fees to pay staffs. The industry
needs more $100 million funds
with the scale to fully fund the
operation of a developmental
venture capital fund.
9. If an organization is
interested in forming a CDVC
fund, what are the first steps
you would recommend? What
resources or tools could you
recommend?
Think carefully about the
goals of such an effort, the
resources available and the
market to be served. Learn
from those who have gone
before you. A first stop is
CDVCA’s web site, www.cdvca.
org. Fund profiles and links to

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the web sites of leading CDVC
funds provide a good introduction to the industry and contacts with leaders in the field.
Twice a year, CDVCA offers an
introductory training session
designed for new entrants to
the field, and our annual conference offers broad exposure to
the industry. Finally, for more
in-depth assistance, CDVCA
offers consulting services to
help organizing groups perform
market studies, design funds,
write business plans and offering documents, apply for government funding, and identify
management teams.
About CDVCA
CDVCA is a network for
the growing CDVC industry.
CDVCA supports and promotes
the CDVC industry through
advocacy, investment, research,
consulting, and communications.
CDVCA promotes using
venture capital to create jobs,
entrepreneurial capacity and
wealth among low-income
people and the economies of
distressed communities.
CDVCA represents more than
100 member organizations from
across the country.

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Main Street
Arkansas Cities
Gain Jobs in 2005
The numbers for 2005 are in
and the 17 Main Street Arkansas cities saw a net gain of 222
jobs for the year. The source
of the jobs is 39 new businesses and 34 expansion and
relocations into downtowns.
Investment in 91 façade renovations, building rehabilitations
and new construction projects
totaled $3.6 million. Another
$1.1 million was generated for
public improvement projects.
Main Street Arkansas is
a program of the Arkansas
Department of Arkansas Heritage. The agency’s programs are
featured in the Little Rock Area
Resource Guide for Small Business
and include the Conservation
Easement Program, Historic
Preservation Restoration Grant,
Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Program, and the Model
Business Grant.
For more information on
the programs, contact the
Arkansas Department of Arkansas Heritage at (501) 324-9880
or visit
www.arkansaspreservation.com.
For a copy of the Little Rock
Area Resource Guide for Small
Business, contact Julie Kerr at
(501) 324-8296 or via e-mail at
julie.a.kerr@stls.frb.org.

Market Value Analysis

Understanding Where and How to Invest Limited Resources
in distressed markets, public
subsidy should be used to build
off local nodes of strength, such
as significant transportation
hubs, parks or other environmental amenities and large
institutions such as hospitals,
universities or other institutions
with a long-term local commitment; and (4) decisions about
places must be made based
on facts.
There are two steps to the
MVA process. The first is a
citywide cluster analysis; the
second is a targeted project
analysis.

By Ira Goldstein, Director,
Policy and Information Services,
and C. Sean Closkey,
Executive Vice President,
The Reinvestment Fund

uilding 100 affordable
homes in the middle of
an area of distress and
disinvestment may help only
the 100 families who receive
the homes. But those same
100, built in another location
and bundled with other related
activities, may help not only
those 100 households, but the
hundreds of residents around
them. The Market Value
Analysis (MVA) is an effective
instrument to help create that
kind of impact. The MVA identifies where and how to invest
limited resources that can transform urban real estate markets
into revitalized neighborhoods.
Pioneered by The Reinvestment Fund (TRF), a financier
of neighborhood and economic
revitalization projects, the MVA
was first applied to Philadelphia’s Neighborhood Transformation Initiative. An MVA has
since been created for Camden,
N.J.; Baltimore; and other cities
in the mid-Atlantic region.
The MVA creates an innovative data-driven framework
for restoring market viability
and wealth in distressed urban
real estate markets. It helps
governments, private investors

The Reinvestment Fund’s Market Value Analysis for Camden, N.J., recommended three
investment target areas abutting stronger markets (yellow and orange).

and philanthropies target and
prioritize actions that leverage
investment and revitalize
neighborhoods.
TRF’s approach to urban
analysis and investment rests
on four assumptions: (1)

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public subsidy is scarce and it
alone cannot create a market
where there is none; (2) public
subsidy must leverage or clear
the path for private investment,
depending upon market circumstances; (3) when working

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Citywide Cluster Analysis
The cluster analysis is a statistical procedure that identifies
groupings of areas with similar
market characteristics (typically
using Census block groups),
but at the same time highlights
differences across these groupings. After analysis and physical inspection of the areas, the
result is displayed on a citywide
map and illustrates market
areas, which are more analytically refined than traditional
neighborhood boundaries. TRF
staff spends considerable time
in the field with local market
experts to ensure that what data
sets describe about a place
comports with what a knowledgeable observer would see.
In Baltimore, for example, staff
continued on Page 6

Typical data items used in the Market
Value Analysis include:
• residential sale prices
• housing tenure
• presence/extent of subsidized housing
• age of housing
• housing vacancy/abandonment
• demolition
• presence of residential properties with building code violations
• mixture of commercial and residential uses
• credit scores/mortgage foreclosures/ratio of prime to
subprime mortgage loans originated

The micro-level data collected and
used in the targeted project analysis
step includes:
• MVA cluster analysis (and all of its components)
• publicly owned properties by address
• area incomes by block groups
• building permit and amount by property address
• social and physical features
• crime data by property address
• age, race, ethnicity and education by block group
• public school performance and catchments
• aerial photography
• housing square footage by property address
• zoning and land use
• building conditions and vacancy by property address

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from TRF and the Baltimore
City Department of Planning
traveled throughout the city
with drafts of the MVA map
verifying the accuracy by which
it characterized local markets.
The MVA is instructive not only
because it describes the aspects
of a place, but also because it
emphasizes forces upon a market
and the likely direction of change.
The MVA uses data sets
that are publicly available and
known to be reliable. In addition, although not part of the
MVA itself, we collect information about the physical and
social features of the neighborhood and its residents, which is
useful for project planning.
By identifying the market
conditions of an area and adjacent areas, municipalities can
better prescribe interventions
and incentives that influence
the amount and type of investment needed for revitalization. In short, the MVA allows
municipalities, philanthropies
and private investors to leverage investments and rebuild
neighborhoods.
Assuming municipal government has a role in every market
in its jurisdiction, the MVA is
not only used to define its role
and target and prioritize investments, but is also used to allocate resources among individual
areas. The Table offers an
example of governmental roles
across a range of market types.
The initial applications of the
MVA were at a large scale (i.e.
census tracts and block groups)
and were designed to analyze

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cities and local submarkets.
The analysis has since been
refined to help target municipal
and foundation resources. As
our experience with the MVA
evolved, we used it to answer
the question: “What should we
do with this specific property or
set of properties?”
Targeted Project Analysis
The targeted project analysis,
the second step in the MVA
process, answers questions related
to specific property investment
and uses. This is done by
collecting and analyzing more
micro-level data specific to
individual properties within a
block group and is accomplished
with local community-based
organizations. By simultaneously
analyzing how a place relates
to the larger market, the MVA
identifies the best investment and
property uses in specific locations.
With the micro-level information and analysis complete, the
MVA uses traditional planning
principles to understand the
potential for development and
explores the question: What
opportunities are there to reorient the growth pattern to move
in a direction that connects the
local space to the larger market?
As such, the MVA process will
often call for an investment
sequence that:
• physically opens up a market to nearby strength
• supports investment along
critical thoroughfares, but
does not extend past major
physical barriers (i.e.,
significant intersections,
highways)

Dates to Remember

Table

For information on both events, visit www.stlouisfed.org/community.

Market Type

Government Investment Strategy

Strong and growing

Serve as a market promoter and facilitate
healthy functioning of the private market.

Stable, but
low growth

Rapidly respond to signs of physical or
economic deterioration; introduce preservation programs. In cities that experience
broad price appreciation, affordable housing
preservation is important.

weak and declining

Neighborhood
Characteristics Matter

When Businesses
Look for a Location

Identify ways to invest in strongest areas of a
distressed market.

July 19, 2006 • 11:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.

Create conditions for private investment by
demolishing failing structures and assembling
larger tracts of developable land.

Hilton St. Louis Frontenac, 1335 S. Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis, Mo.

Identify people-based investment strategies
that support the residents of distressed
places not yet ripe for housing investment.

• prioritizes investments (first
in a stronger market, then
moving to weaker areas)
The Wachovia Regional
Foundation in Philadelphia
is one of many partners and
clients TRF works with on the
MVA process. TRF assists the
foundation with evaluating
grant applications and providing comments on proposals. TRF also provides direct
assistance to its planning and
development grantees. Not
only does TRF help them build
capacity by gathering information about their communities,
it also helps embed local plans
into the larger market. In the
future, baseline information
provided by the MVA and the
organization’s own data gathering exercise will afford grantees

and the foundation an opportunity to measure the broad-based
impacts of the investment.
About TRF
TRF identifies the point of
impact where capital can deliver
its greatest financial and social
return. TRF’s investments in
homes, schools and businesses
help reclaim and transform
neighborhoods, driving economic growth and improving
lives throughout the mid-Atlantic region. Since its inception in
1985, TRF has made $500 million in community investments.
Its policy and research products help sharpen investment
strategies for TRF, as well as
other public and private investors. For more information,
visit www.trfund.com.

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In almost every city, there are neighborhoods that grow—attracting
businesses and jobs—and those that do not. What attracts employers to
one community and not another? Fed economist Chris Wheeler studied
15,000 neighborhoods across 361 metropolitan areas to find out. He
will present the results of his research during this luncheon meeting.

Oct. 24, 2006 • 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark, One South Broadway, St. Louis, Mo.
The number of Americans filing for bankruptcy has risen dramatically in the past 25 years. The most common cause is an unexpected
shock to their incomes, such as job loss, medical bills or divorce.
Thomas A. Garrett, research officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of
St. Louis, will present his study on the role other factors—such as
availability of credit and bankruptcy laws—play in making Americans
even more susceptible to bankruptcy.
The study includes filing statistics in counties in the Federal Reserve’s
Eighth District.

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the Region

Spanning
CDVC Funds Available
in Bank’s Eighth District
Several community development venture capital funds
offer investment opportunities
in states served by the Federal
Reserve’s Eighth District. The
following is a sample of some
of those funds. Please contact
each fund directly for more
information.
Adena Ventures
Adena Ventures is a venture
capital firm serving high-growth
businesses in traditionally underinvested rural areas. Its goal is
to demonstrate that attractive
investment opportunities exist
in “unlikely places.” Adena
Ventures is the nation’s first
New Market Venture Capital
Company designated by the U.S.
Small Business Administration.
Adena’s mission is to support
sustainable economic growth
while generating market-rate
returns for investors. By
working with private sector
firms and universities, Adena
has provided an equivalent of
more than $3 million worth of
operational assistance to nearly
60 companies. These services
include business planning,
executive recruitment and
financial modeling.
Geographic focus: Kentucky,
Ohio, West Virginia and
Maryland.
Industry focus: A wide range
of industries, from video game

development to health
care services to
higher education;
portfolio includes a
combination of true technology
companies and tech-enabled
service companies.
Fund size: Overall has raised
more than $34 million
Investment size: $500,000 to
$2.5 million.
Contact: Lyn Gellermann
(740) 597-1470
www.adenaventures.com
Advantage Capital Partners
Advantage Capital Partners
provides capital and valueadded services to emerging
and rapidly developing companies and entrepreneurs. Advantage invests in small companies
and other ventures in lowincome communities under
the Treasury Department’s New
Market Tax Credit (NMTC)
program. BizCapital, Advantage Capital’s wholly owned
nondepository financial institution licensed by the federal
government to make SBA and
USDA loans, administers the
NMTC small business finance
fund. The goals of the fund
are job creation and community development.
Advantage Capital Partners
seeks to develop businesses
and create a venture capital
infrastructure in traditionally

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The region served by the Federal Reserve Bank of

St. Louis encompasses all of Arkansas and parts of Illinois,
Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee.

underserved areas. Advantage
operates with a dual bottom
line of measuring success: economic development goals and
profitability of the investments.
In addition, Advantage offers its
portfolio companies business
development assistance, active
guidance and mentoring.
Geographic focus: Variety of
places but most active in Missouri, Louisiana, Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, New York,
Texas, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C. Typically focuses on
markets that are underserved
by other private equity funds.
Industry focus: Communication, information technology,
life science and energy sectors.
Invests in companies at all
stages except seed financing.
Fund size: Overall has raised
more than $700 million
Investment size: $1million
to $10 million. Also provides
straight debt investments to
small and medium-sized businesses that may not be suitable for typical private-equity
investments, ranging from
$100,000 to several million
dollars. These are made possible through BizCapital.
Contact: Carter Dunkin
(314) 725-0800
www.advantagecap.com

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Lewis & Clark
Private Equities Fund
Lewis and Clark, Private
Equities (LCPE) is a Participating Securities Small Business
Investment Company (SBIC)
as designated by the U.S. Small
Business Administration. LCPE
is managed by InvestAmerica
Investment Advisors, a venture
capital management company
with offices in Cedar Rapids,
Iowa; Kansas City, Mo.; Fargo,
N.D.; St. Paul, Minn.; and Portland, Ore.
As an SBIC, the LCPE Fund
targets small towns and rural
areas for investment. InvestAmerica specializes in bringing
in co-investors with the goal
of raising outside capital and
experienced investors in these
underserved areas. InvestAmerica also offers technical assistance, management experience
and mentoring to its portfolio
companies.
Geographic focus: Nationwide,
with an emphasis on small cities and rural areas
Industry focus: Variety of
industries that include smaller
businesses, many with annual
sales of less than $10 million.
Fund size: $32 to $36 million
Investment size: $1 million to
$3.5 million

Contact: David Schroder
(319) 363-8249; www.invest
americaventuregroup.com
Meritus Ventures
Kentucky Highlands Investment
Corp. of London, Ky., and Technology 2020 of Oak Ridge, Tenn.,
established Meritus Ventures,
LP, as a rural Business Investment Corporation as approved
by the Department of Agriculture. Meritus focuses on
investment in expansion-stage
companies in rural areas in the
Appalachian region.
Meritus Ventures is a private,
for-profit, venture capital fund
that makes equity investments
in private companies in underinvested rural areas. The fund’s
mission is to generate marketrate returns for its investors while
promoting sustainable business
growth throughout its target
region. The fund managers also
offer operational assistance,
active board participation and
mentoring to Meritus’ portfolio
companies.
Geographic focus: Appalachian
regions of Ohio, West Virginia,
Virginia, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Georgia, Alabama,
Mississippi, and the entire states
of Kentucky and Tennessee.
Industry focus: Broad industry
focus that includes manufacturing, technology and software.
Fund size: $30 million
Investment size: $250,000 to

$2,000,000 in each portfolio
company; generally invests in
two or more rounds based on
the accomplishment of milestones by the portfolio company.
Contact: Ray Moncrief
Kentucky Highlands Investment Corp., (606) 864-5175
www.khic.org
Southern Appalachian Fund
Southern Appalachian Fund
(SAF) is a venture capital fund
that provides equity capital
and operational assistance to
qualifying businesses. Established
by a joint effort between Technology 2020 and Kentucky
Highlands Investment Corp., SAF
is one of six New Markets Venture
Capital (NMVC) companies in
the United States. The NMVC
program is a developmental
venture capital program of the U.S.
Small Business Administration
that promotes economic development and the creation of wealth
and job opportunities in lowincome geographic areas.
SAF’s mission is to generate
market-rate returns for its investors
while promoting shared and
sustainable economic development
throughout its target region. In
addition to equity investments,
SAF can provide operational
assistance to its actual and potential
portfolio companies at no cost.
Geographic focus: Kentucky,
Tennessee and the Appalachian
counties of Georgia, Alabama
and Mississippi

the

internet

Industry focus: Early- and
expansion-stage companies
across a wide variety of industries.
Fund size: $12.5 million
Investment size: $200,000 to
$600,000 and will generally
hold that investment for four to
seven years.
Contact: Ray Moncrief,
Kentucky Highlands Investment Corp., (606) 864-5175
www.southappfund.com
Equity Fund Seeks Investors
in Southern Illinois Businesses
Small businesses in Southern Illinois have not had many
opportunities to get funding
through venture capital or angel
investors; but, now, Southern
Illinois University Carbondale
is working to change that. The
university’s Office of Economic
and Regional Development has
created Shawnee Ventures, LLC,
an equity fund that is expected
to increase deal flow to highgrowth, scalable businesses in
the region.
The fund has set a goal of raising
$5 million through institutional
and private investment by
selling memberships. To date,
it has obtained $250,000
through private investors,
including Illinois Ventures for
Community Action, and is
negotiating with the Illinois
Department of Community and
Economic Opportunity for an
additional $250,000 investment.

9
#

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John Farrell, chief executive
officer of Illinois Ventures for
Community Action, is the fund
manager.
Shawnee Ventures offers a
“double-bottom line” approach
that provides investors with
market returns and the opportunity to help promote economic
growth in Southern Illinois. The
fund is similar to others that
have financial institution investors and may allow bankers to
reap an additional benefit—CRA
credit. For more information,
visit www.shawneeventures.com.
Low-Income Housing
in Kentucky Gets Boost
The Kentucky Affordable
Housing Trust Fund has a new
source of revenue since the
approval of a new law, effective
July 12. The law establishes an
annual, estimated $4.4 million or
more in dedicated public revenue
for the housing fund. The money
will come from a $6 increase in
the fees counties charge to record
various documents, including
deeds and mortgages.
The final version of the state
budget also specified that the
Kentucky Housing Corporation will continue to contribute
$500,000 to the fund annually.
The Affordable Housing
Trust Fund provides housing for
very low-income Kentuckians.
For information, visit
www.kentuckyhousing.org.

Nonprofits Look to Business for Funding Model

ow organizations come
up with the money to
pay for development
projects has been on a path of
change for some time, and the
pace is accelerating.
There is a long history of
grant funds from government
and philanthropic organizations
to pay for projects. In fact,
charitable giving was the first
source of funds for community
development.
However, stakeholders have
learned that a principal ingredient for community development—in addition to social,
moral and economic motivation—is an adequate, sustainable supply of financial capital.
So, many community development corporations (CDCs) are
adopting models more typically
used by for-profit businesses.
Terms such as revenue, growth,
sustainability, equity investors,
self-sufficiency, earned income,
and access to capital are becoming commonplace.
Although this approach may
be new for many community
development organizations, it’s
a tradition for other nonprofits. Some have been selling
products and services for years
as a way to generate their
own source of funding. For
example, the Girl Scouts annual
cookie drive generates enough
revenue for Girl Scout Councils
across the nation to continue
offering programs, training and
special events for thousands of

Franklin School Apartments were developed by River City Housing in Louisville with the
help of tax credits and the Commonwealth Bank & Trust Co.

young girls and adults. Likewise, the revenue that Goodwill
Industries of America makes
from selling donated items in its
stores sustains programs, such
as job training and counseling,
for people with disabilities and
other disadvantages. More than
half its revenue comes from
retail sales.
A nationwide collaborative
of 84 regional organizations,
the Housing Partnership Network (HPN), creates efficiencies, increases product, and
enhances the performance and
social impact of nonprofit community developers. The partnership is based on a European
model of co-ops and mutual
organizations. HPN enterprises
include:
• Housing Partnership
Insurance Co.—a $10

LINKING

LENDERS

million captive insurance
company owned by 18 of
the regional nonprofits.
The premium savings is
about 15 percent, so each
of the 18 participants has
more money to spend on
programs.
• Housing Partner Securities
—a $100 million 501(c)3
bond conduit with Freddie
Mac that delivers a more
efficient source of capital
for the housing producers.
• A new mortgage services
company that will do $18
million in loans to 200 new
home owners in 2006.
A future HPN enterprise
is a community development
financial institution (CDFI)
investment bank that will be
a liquidity outlet for largescale CDFIs.

AND

COMMUNITIES

“Why do we care? HPN saves
us money; HPN increases our
competitiveness; HPN solves
problems too big for a single
member,” says Nancy Andrews,
president and CEO of the
Low Income Investment Fund
and an HPN board member.
Together, the member organizations have produced or financed
600,000 housing units.
Several local CDCs—United
Housing and Cooper Young
Development Corporation in
Memphis, for example—are
building and selling market-rate
houses as a secondary activity
for the sole purpose of creating
a revenue stream to fund their
primary mission: affordable
housing. These market-rate
houses are sold to buyers who
are not income-restricted since
the CDCs are using sources of
funds that do not dictate price
or income qualifications.
Habitat for Humanity’s
ReStore operations provide
another example. Located
in many cities—including
St. Louis, Louisville, Little Rock
and Memphis—these retail
operations sell donated new
or gently used tools, furniture,
building supplies and other
items for the home. Sales
revenue helps Habitat continue
building affordable homes.
According to Diane Kirkpatrick, executive director of Habitat for Humanity in Louisville,
ReStore produces communitywide benefits in addition to

creating revenue for Habitat.
Materials are donated instead
of being sent to landfills, donors
receive a tax deduction for the
fair-market value of the donated
items, jobs are created for
community residents, and
items are sold at a deeply
discounted price.
As demonstrated by HPN,
building collaborations and
coordination is critical. This is
also true at the local level, and
using tax credits is one way to
engage the private, for-profit
market in affordable housing development. River City
Housing in Louisville, Ky., did
this when it acquired and sold
historic tax credits and lowincome housing tax credits to
convert an abandoned school
into 12 affordable rental units
for the elderly. Commonwealth Bank & Trust Co. was
the investor. The project cost
$1.8 million, with more than
$1.2 million financed through
a combination of historic and
low-income housing tax credits.
All these organizations
have discovered models that
provide them access to capital.
Whether selling products or tax
credits, the revenue generated
is helping CDCs reach scale and
sustainability.
(Information for this article was
compiled by Federal Reserve Bank
of St. Louis community affairs
staff members Matthew Ashby,
Lisa Locke and Glenda Wilson.)

Calendar
16-19

July
31-Aug. 4
Community Development Institute—
Conway, Ark.
Sponsor: University of Central Arkansas
(501) 450-5372
www.uca.edu/aoep/cdi

August
8
Entrepreneurship Workshop—Memphis
Sponsor: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
www.stlouisfed.org/community

9
Improving Access to Community
Development Capital Series: Emerging
Neighborhood Markets—St. Louis
Sponsor: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
www.stlouisfed.org/community

10
Youth Entrepreneurship Showcase
Teacher Training—Little Rock, Ark.
Sponsors: Arkansas Council on Economic
Education, Arkansas Capital Corp.
(501) 374-9247

14-18
NeighborWorks Training Institute—
Washington, D.C.
Sponsor: NeighborWorks
www.nw.org/network/home.asp

Hats Off to Economic Development—San
Antonio, Texas
Sponsor: National Rural Economic
Developers Association
www.nreda.org. (Click on “Events”.)

7
Community Development Roundtable—
Pine Bluff, Ark.
Sponsor: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
(501) 324-8296

internet

Affordable Housing Bus Tour & Forum—
Memphis
Sponsor: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
www.stlouisfed.org/community

25-27
Governor’s Conference on Economic
Development—St. Louis
Sponsor: Missouri Department of
Economic Development
www.ded.mo.gov

25-29
Community Development Training
Conference—Little Rock, Ark.
Sponsor: Arkansas Coalition of
Housing and Neighborhood Growth for
Empowerment (ACHANGE)
www.makingachange.us/

Bridges is a publication of the Community Affairs department of the Federal
Reserve Bank of St. Louis. It is intended
to inform bankers, community development organizations, representatives of
state and local government agencies and
others in the Eighth District about current issues and initiatives in community
and economic development. The Eighth
District includes the state of Arkansas
and parts of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky,
Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee.
Glenda Wilson
Community Affairs Officer, Assistant
Vice President and Managing Editor
(314) 444-8317
Linda Fischer
Editor
(314) 444-8979
Community Affairs staff
St. Louis:

Matthew Ashby
(314) 444-8891
Jean Morisseau-Kuni
(314) 444-8646
Eileen Wolfington
(314) 444-8308

Memphis:

Ellen Eubank
(901) 579-2421
Dena Owens
(901) 579-4103

28-29
Governor’s Conference On Housing—
Springfield, Mo.
Sponsor: Missouri Housing Development
Commission
www.mhdc.com

6-8

the

October

September

Grassroots and Groundwork: What
Communities Are Doing to Get Out and
Stay Out of Poverty—St. Paul, Minn.
Sponsor: Northwest Area Foundation
www.grassrootsandgroundwork.nwaf.org

Bridges

Improving Access to Community
Development Capital Series: Exploring
Social Return on Investment—St. Louis
Sponsor: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
www.stlouisfed.org/community

24
The Rise of Personal Bankruptcy—St. Louis
Sponsor: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
www.stlouisfed.org/community

Little Rock: Lyn Haralson
(501) 324-8240
Amy Simpkins
(501) 324-8268
Louisville:

Lisa Locke
(502) 568-9292
Faith Weekly
(502) 568-9216

The views expressed in Bridges are not
necessarily those of the Federal Reserve
Bank of St. Louis or the Federal Reserve
System. Material herein may be reprinted
or abstracted as long as Bridges is credited.
Please provide the editor with a copy of
any reprinted articles.
If you have an interesting community
development program or idea for an
article, we would like to hear from you.
Please contact the editor.
Free subscriptions and additional copies
are available by calling (314) 444-8761 or
by e-mail to communityaffairs@stls.frb.org.

w w w . stlouis f ed . org

Resources
Tennessee One-Stop Business
Resource—Business startups in
Tennessee can use this online tool
to file applications with the state
and to obtain various permits,
licenses and a state tax identification number. Go to the state’s web
site at www.tennessee.gov.
National Association of Seed and
Venture Funds—The web site for
this organization provides a wealth
of information on state programs
related to venture capital. Visitors
to the site will find a 2006 Report
on State Capital Programs, a State
Venture Capital Program Directory
(by subscription), Highlights of

Have you

the 2006 State Capital Programs
Survey Results, the 2006 State-byState Dollar Commitment to Venture
Capital Programs, and a survey
form for the organization’s Survey
of State Venture Capital Programs.
The web address is www.nasvf.
org/web/nasvfinf.nsf/pages/
svcp.html.
Microenterprise FIELD Guides—
This series of publications identifies
ways donors can support the
domestic microenterprise industry. The series begins with three
guides—Fulfilling the Microenterprise Promise: Background for
Funders; Microenterprise: Making

a Difference; and Moving Forward:
Industry Challenges, Funder Opportunities. The guides are produced
by Fund for Innovation, Effectiveness, Learning and Dissemination
(FIELD). Visit http://fieldus.org/
publications/index.html.
Entrepreneurship in Missouri—
Information on Missouri’s entrepreneurs is available at http://oseda.
missouri.edu/meric/. The Missouri
Office of Social and Economic Data
Analysis, in collaboration with the
Missouri Economic Research and
Information Center, compiled data by
regions and various characteristics.

Heard
Grants Available Through USDA
Nonprofit organizations, colleges
and universities have until Sept. 15,
2006, to apply for $4.5 million in
grants from the Rural Business-Cooperative Service of the Department
of Agriculture. Grantees will receive
awards of up to $225,000 each.
The grants must be used to
establish rural centers for cooperative
development that will create new cooperatives and improve the operations of
existing cooperatives. The centers will
conduct research and provide training,
loans, grants and technical assistance
to cooperatives.
For more information, visit
www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs or call
(202) 720-4323 and press option 1.

Full text of Bridges (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis) : Bridges, Summer 2006

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