Capital Good Fund Loans for Community Capital Success
Andy Posner founded Capital Good Fund in February of 2009 while getting his Master of Arts in environmental studies at Brown University, where he was studying financing mechanisms for clean energy. After reading Banker to the Poor by Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the “Father of Microfinance” and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, he quickly realized that equitable financial services could unlock the potential of the poor just as they could do the same for clean energy technologies. At the same time, as the financial crisis of 2008 began to unravel the economy and devastate low-income communities, Posner decided to take action. He created Capital Good Fund with an eye toward using financial services to tackle endemic poverty, first in Rhode Island, and then nationwide. The Community Development Financial Institution offers small loans and other equitable financial services.
Posner is a firm adherent of Yunus’ dream to put poverty into museums or, as Posner likes to put it, to put poverty out of business. His work has been featured in Providence Business News, the Providence Journal, the Providence Phoenix, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s quarterly publication, the Rhode Island Small Business Journal, and CNN. He is also proud to be treasurer of the national board of directors of the Credit Builders Alliance, an organization of which Capital Good Fund is a member, as well as a member of the board of the Community Reinvestment Fund, one of the largest nonprofit lenders in America.
Here are some highlights from the LIFT Economy interview with Posner:
- The philosophical backdrop to his approach to “putting poverty out of business.”
- An overview of the predatory “poverty industry” and how Capital Good Fund is taking on the consumer lending piece of it.
- Some stories of impact created by Capital Good Fund.
- A breakdown of the unique structuring and relationship with subsidiary nonprofit enterprise Social Capital Fund that helps to insulate and protect financials and access more capital.
LIFT Economy is an impact consulting firm with a mission is to create, model, and share a locally self-reliant economy that works for the benefit of all life.
B the Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.
Putting the Poverty Industry out of Business Through Equitable Financing was originally published in B The Change on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
