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Community Sourced Capital
helping you fund the world you want to live in.
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FUND: Delicatus
Delicatus is making some serious equipment upgrades to their Pioneer Square deli. You can be part of their community finance effort.
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BLOG: Serious about local finance
93% of the dollars for our campaign with Willapa Hills Cheese are sourced from within 100 miles of the farm.
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BLOG: Our small business marketing strategy
When an invitation comes to meet a new client, we take it, and we invest in building true friendships governed by reciprocity, respect and collaboration.
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ABOUT: The CSC team
Get to know a little more about us
Sustainable finance for your community
For local business
CSC creates a new kind of capital for your business. Leverage your network to raise funds from your community and strengthen relationships with your customers.
Learn more
For local lenders
From local spending to local finance, you know how important it is to keep money where you live. With CSC, you have a new way to support the businesses you love.
Learn more
Campaigns// the first businesses using Community Sourced Capital
Adrift Hotel
Adrift Hotel on Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula is raising funds to add solar hot water and rain water catchment systems and lower their environmental impact. You can buy Squares and support a sustainable hotel company.
$2,650 of $25,000 raised
20 Squareholders and counting
23 days to go
Delicatus
Delicatus in Seattle’s Pioneer Square is raising funds to make some serious upgrades to their refrigeration and “beverage” equipment. You can be a part of funding this project for Delicatus by buying a Square.
$1,600 of $15,000 raised
16 Squareholders and counting
23 days to go
Eleven Winery
Eleven Winery on Bainbridge Island raised funds to automate their bottling process and bring more delicious wine to the world. Over 150 people were part of funding this project for Eleven.
$21,900 of $20,000 raised
163 Squareholders made this happen
Harmon Brewing Co. and the Hub
Harmon Brewery and the Hub restaurant is expanding to a new location at the Tacoma Narrows Airport near Gig Harbor. Nearly 200 people helped fund this CSC loan to build and outfit the new restaurant.
$21,650 of $20,000 raised
196 Squareholders made this happen
Willapa Hills Cheese
Willapa Hills Cheese is growing! They used CSC’s “progressive goals” to fund $15,000 of additional cheese-making equipment.
$15,050 of $14,100 raised
77 Squareholders made this happen
A&R Solar
A&R Solar expanded their office to accommodate the growing demand for renewable energy. 175+ people took part in financing the new headquarters!
$24,800 of $20,000 raised
183 Squareholders made this happen
Starvation Alley Farms
Starvation Alley Farms is the first cranberry farm in Washington State to pursue organic certification. The Oakes family worked with Community Sourced Capital to raise $12,000 for a berry juicer to enhance their product line.
$12,000 of $12,000 raised
112 Squareholders made this happen
Playback Sports
Playback Sports sells gently used sporting goods in Tacoma, Washington. Owner Karlan Jessen worked with Community Sourced Capital to raise $3,000 for the new Tacoma Skyline Sock.
$3,000 of $3,000 raised
31 Squareholders made this happen
Borrow// how your business can use community sourced capital
CSC provides a simple way for community members to lend money to the local businesses where they find the most value.
Our unique take on crowdfunding aggregates many small loans and turns them into one big loan for a business.
We call those small loans Squares and the lenders Squareholders.
HOW IT WORKS
Businesses can borrow up to $50,000. A Square costs a member of your community $50 and represents money they are willing to share with you in the form of a zero-interest loan. Community members can buy up to five Squares each for your campaign.
Over time, you repay the value of the Squares based on a percentage of your revenue. After repayment, Squareholders can withdraw funds or get a Square in another project.
WHAT WE DO
We qualify businesses with at least one year of revenue in the books (we can’t work with start-ups yet) by looking at profit and loss statements and annual tax returns. In short, we ensure that a CSC loan is right for your business and your community.
Our platform aggregates Squareholder payments and manages quarterly payments from businesses back to Squareholders. We also provide a marketing tool for communicating with your Squareholders.
WHAT’S COOL
Loan payments are set as a percent of gross revenues or a specific revenue stream. During the payback, Squareholders have an incentive to help businesses grow because Square repayments come faster if revenues are higher.
This mutually beneficial relationship creates stronger ties between businesses and the growing population of community investors. CSC enables people to see the impact their money has on the local economy.
SOUND INTERESTING? LET’S TALK.
About us// the community behind the business
Why we started CSC
We’re financing the future of local economies by designing and deploying community-supported funding mechanisms for sustainable small businesses. Wow, that’s a mouthful.
Here’s the deal. Finance. It’s a big deal. In fact, we think it’s the biggest “deal” for creating a more sustainable economy.
That’s why we’re here. We’re creating financial systems that are good for businesses and their communities, and we’re making it possible for every citizen to participate in the process. And we aren’t asking anyone to make a donation to anything. Here’s the video version of our philosophy.
Where we’re taking it
We’re starting in the greater Seattle area because that’s where most of us live. Plus, it’s a cool town with lots of small businesses and sustainable finance folk.
Would you like to know more?
Team CSC
Casey Dilloway // President and director, CSC Seattle
I want to connect people and their money with our future. We can create a more sustainable world by putting our money in the right systems.
Rachel Maxwell // CEO and Director, CSC Seattle
I’m all about giving back to communities. We need to move capital in the direction of things we value. CSC helps everyone create real value with their money.
Brent Cochran // Director, CSC Roanoke
I create space for people to connect and community to exist. Finance is the best mechanism for creating and sustaining healthy vibrant communities.
Meryl McDonald // Director, CSC Denver
Finance is a huge leverage point to create sustainable change. With CSC, people can invest in each other to create beautiful, beautiful local economies.
Alex Mondau // VP, Business Development
Local economies are built around people. I'm here to bring the personal relationships back to small business finance.
Tyler Bench // Marketing Intern
I believe in the power of positive human connection, and I work hard to bring good people together. CSC creates a powerful network of community relationships through sustainable finance.
Our network of partners
Blog// updates from the sustainable finance frontier
CSC poetry moment #01
And yet to serve the earth,
not knowing what I serve,
gives a wideness and a delight to the air,
and my days do not wholly pass.
–Wendell Berry
Your small business marketing strategy is staring you in the face
Community Sourced Capital is a small, hard-working operation, just like the businesses we work with each day. As head of Business Development, a question I’m particularly sensitive to is “How is your sales pipeline?” or “What is your marketing strategy?”
Sacred Economics – Part two
Attending the Integrated Capital day at the BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies) conference last week left me awestruck and inspired by the people working on transforming our economy from one based on Ego – “What’s in it for me?” – to one based on Ecosystem – “What’s in [...]
Activating Local Capital with DabbleLab
Join Community Sourced Capital for an introduction to the world of Community Finance and what money means to you. The session involves an overview of the current crowdfunding landscape, a discussion of the meaning of sustainable finance and insights into the growing movement of businesses accepting capital from non-traditional sources. [...]
Serious about local finance
We’re serious about this local finance thing. Americans love buying domestic products, they love spending money at local businesses, and it’s practically in our DNA to cheer on ambitious entrepreneurs chasing the American Dream. We started Community Sourced Capital to chase an American Dream of our own,
Supply Chain Love
What happens when you can’t get your favorite ingredient for your (locally!) famous food? Do business owners give up and not cook? Do they find another not quite as good but it’ll do ingredient? Or do they do something about it?!
Sacred Economics – Part One
I’m reading Charles Eisenstein’s book, Sacred Economics. I’m including his great video on this post, which presents his ideas. In his book, Eisenstein suggests that we humans are born with deep gratitude because life itself is a gift. He has a point, and I’d like to try applying it to [...]
Our first dive into Socially Responsible Investing
And when we say “our first dive”, we really mean “our first dive with you,” because we haven’t yet spoken about the role socially responsible investing plays in sustainable finance.
Breaking the binary paradigm
Our team has been learning from mentor and friend Carol Sanford over the past six months. If there’s one thing we can count on, it’s that she’ll say something to flip our world upside down, and then follow it up with concepts, nuanced language and intention that reveals the full [...]
CSC on the radio
Rachel and Casey had the super cool opportunity to chat with Diane Horn from Seattle radio station KEXP on the “Mind Over Matters” segment. In the 30 minute interview, we discuss community finance and how our little company is trying to make a dent in the financial system.
Contact// join our growing community
Our mailing address: |
Community Sourced Capital 220 Second Avenue South, Unit 34 Seattle, WA 98104 |