Accelfoods
205 East 42nd Street New York, NY 10017
WE INVEST IN DISRUPTIVE FOOD AND BEVERAGE COMPANIES, PROVIDING OUR PORTFOLIO WITH INDUSTRY ACCESS, EXPERTISE, AND INFRASTRUCTURE TO PROPEL INNOVATION AND FUEL GROWTH.
WE BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN THE INNOVATIVE THINKING AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP OF EMERGING STARTUPS AND THE GENUINE RESOURCES NEEDED TO SCALE THESE PRODUCTS TO HIGHEST LEVELS OF GROWTH.
VIEW FOUNDERS DISCUSSING ACCELFOODS AND FOOD VENTURE CAPITAL WITH 33 VOICES AT https://youtu.be/OQ_UIUOMg0w
AGAPE Fund
1105 E. Front St. Traverse City, MI 49686 | 231-946-6278
AGAPE Financial is a faith-based, non-profit organization that provides short-term micro-loans to those persons at or near the poverty level for the purposes of allowing clients to continue employment, improve an employment situation or begin new employment.
Agape works to provide low-income people with the tools to help themselves climb out of poverty through financial education, mentoring, and micro-loan resources.
The AGAPE Financial of Northwest Michigan Board of Directors is composed of people who are, or have been, living in poverty and people who understand poverty issues. This unique structure empowers the Board to lead by assuming responsibility for guiding the organization and providing peer-to-peer relationships.
As Local As Possible/Common Sense Capital LLC
148 E Front Street Traverse City, MI 49684
We are an informal group of Northern Michigan citizens seeking to have more local impact and connectedness with our money. We gather once a month for a potluck and to meet local entrepreneurs and learn about / support their projects. During our meetings, we also share ideas for how we might keep more of our money locally and invested for triple-bottom-line returns (financial, social, and environmental).
Our meetings are open to any individual. We request that you RSVP so that we can assure sufficient meeting space. We are looking for presenters for our meetings – if you are interested, please download a printable application to present.
Community Development Financial Institutions Loan Fund
U.S. Department of Treasury 1801 L Street, NW; 6th Floor Washington, DC 20036 | (202) 653-0300
The CDFI Program offers both Financial Assistance and Technical Assistance awards to CDFIs. These competitive awards support and enhance the ability of these organizations to meet the needs of the communities they serve.
Financial Assistance awards are made in the form of loans, grants, equity investments, deposits, and credit union shares, which CDFIs are required to match dollar-for-dollar with non-federal funds. This requirement enables CDFIs to multiply the impact of federal investment to meet the demand for affordable financial products in economically distressed communities.
Technical Assistance grants are offered to CDFIs and Certifiable CDFIs to build their organizational capacity.
Both Financial and Technical Assistance awards empower CDFIs to grow, achieve organizational sustainability, and contribute to the revitalization of the communities they serve.
Healthy Food Financing Initiative – Financial Assistance awards are also offered for CDFIs that are interested in expanding their healthy food financing activities.
Information on Michigan awards can be found here: www.cdfifund.gov/awards/state-awards/Pages/state-result.aspx?state=MI&Name=Michigan
Credibles
11 3 S. Cedar Michigan 49684
Growing food takes time. Growing a restaurant, coffee shop, or grocery store takes money, often long before the customers pay you for the delicious products.
Why not encourage your customers to pay you in advance? Make it interesting for them, and you can enjoy:
Working Capital to fund your operations and growth. With Credibles, you don’t pay your customers back in cash, but with your products.
Prepaying customers tend to purchase more often and increase your sales!
Food Hatch
3845 Beck Blvd., Suite 804 Naples, FL 34114
Entrepreneurs apply to Food Hatch because they understand that in order to succeed in any area related to the food business you need more than just capital. Besides providing funding to grow your business, Food Hatch provides portfolio companies the extra ‘value add’ within the food business that will offer your company access to invaluable expertise from executives who have years of broad experience within the food industry.
Food Hatch is actively looking to invest in exciting promising seed and early stage food related companies. So, whether you are a company that is creating the next great food product or you are company that has just developed the next great food app; we invite you to apply for funding.
Food Hatch has locations in Naples, FL and New York City. However we are not limited to these geographic areas and encourage companies from around the world to contact us and apply.
Foodie Crowd Funding
Auburn, CA
Foodie Crowd Funding is more than just a funding site. The FCF team knows the food biz, and they realize the key ingredient is capital support funding. Foodie Crowd Funding makes seeking growth capital easy and fun for the funders. It also provides a great tool to connect with the community that is enthusiastic about the love of food.
FoodieCrowdFunding provides an on-line community atmosphere that promotes and encourages the most unique and creative entrepreneurs within the food community. We focus exclusively on bringing together foodie supporters with foodie entrepreneurs with the same passion and enjoyment of food. This is our complete focus.
Funding Resources for Food Related Businesses
Michigan
This directory provides an overview of various financing sources available to food-related businesses in Michigan and across the United States. The guide contains nearly 60 resources including crowdfunding platforms, start-up accelerator funds, state and federal programs, and other miscellaneous funding opportunities.
Grain Train Food & Farm Micro-Loan
220 Mitchell St. Petoskey, MI 49770 | 231-622-5252
We are proud to partner with Crosshatch, formerly known as ISLAND, to support the local food and farm economy by providing micro-loans for farmers and food entrepreneurs.
This is a pilot program that aims to enhance an existing local food or farming venture or to help start a new one within the counties of Antrim, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Emmet and Otesgo. The ideal candidate will propose an idea that would boost a farm or food business and elevate the region’s local food system. Applicants using sustainable practices are strongly encouraged, but proposals are not limited to particular practices or scale.
Uses for loan may include: essential tools for the farm or food business, materials, land, livestock or infrastructure essential to the operation, certification, marketing and distribution, professional development, value-added product production, processing, packaging, marketing for farm products
Loan details: $500-$10,000, repayment over 18 months, 0% interest rate, no application fee. Applications announced in January, deadline is February, funds available in March.
Greenstone Farm Credit Services
3491 Hartman Rd Traverse City, MI 49635 | 231-946-5710
GreenStone Farm Credit Services is Michigan and northeast Wisconsin’s largest agricultural lender and the country’s seventh largest association in the Farm Credit System. A member-owned cooperative, GreenStone owns and manages over $8 billion in assets and serves 24,000 members with 36 branch locations in Michigan and northeast Wisconsin.
GreenStone provides financial services to the agricultural industry – including short, intermediate and long-term loans, equipment and building leases, life insurance, crop insurance, accounting and tax services. GreenStone also specializes in residential and country home loans, and provides lending products for the purchase, improvement, construction or refinance of residences along with financing future home sites and recreational land.
GT Regional Land Conservancy Farmability Program
3860 N. Long Lake Rd #D Traverse City, MI 49684 | 231-929-7911
For nearly 25 years, the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy has protected and cared for the region’s natural, scenic, farm and forest lands. We have protected over 39,000 acres of land and more than 121 miles of shoreline along the region’s exceptional rivers, lakes and streams.
Fully accredited by the Land Trust Association, the Conservancy is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization with our own by-laws, policies, board, budget and staff. Our service area includes Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska and Manistee Counties.
We focus our land conservation efforts to permanently protect crucial wildlife habitat and corridors; critical watersheds, which protect the water quality of our region; unique high-quality farm lands; valuable forestland; and ecologically significant dunes along Lake Michigan’s beautiful and endangered shore.
Hoophouses for Health
c/o Michigan Farmers Market Association 480 Wilson Rd. Rm 172 E. Lansing, MI 48824 | (517) 432-3381
Hoophouses for Health is a collaboration between the Michigan Farmers Market Association (MIFMA), the Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems (MSU CRFS) and the Michigan State University Department of Horticulture. Funding for Hoophouses for Health is provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Hoophouses for Health is a program designed to increase access to Good Food for vulnerable families while at the same time expanding the Good Food infrastructure and season extension capacity of Michigan farmers. Families get access to fresh, healthy, Michigan foods, and farmers get a new hoophouse through a zero-interest, five year “loan” that they pay back in produce instead of cash.
Kiva
875 Howard Street, Suite 340 San Francisco, CA 94103 | (828) 479-5482
Kiva is an international nonprofit, founded in 2005 and based in San Francisco, with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. We celebrate and support people looking to create a better future for themselves, their families and their communities.
By lending as little as $25 on Kiva, anyone can help a borrower start or grow a business, go to school, access clean energy or realize their potential. For some, it’s a matter of survival, for others it’s the fuel for a life-long ambition.
100% of every dollar you lend on Kiva goes to funding loans.
Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development
PO Box 30017 Lansing, MI 48909 | 517-284-5735
Michigan Good Food Fund
205 E Washington St, Ste B Ann Arbor, MI 48104 | (734) 213-3999 x212
Michigan Good Food Fund is a new $30 million public-private loan and grant fund created to finance healthy food production, distribution, processing, and retail projects that benefit underserved communities across Michigan.
It provides flexible, patient capital and grants to good food enterprises often overlooked by traditional banks. Lending is bolstered by business assistance to help entrepreneurs grow their ventures and prepare for financing.
The Michigan Good Food Fund is working to advance the following goals:
-Increase access to healthy food as a means to improve the health of all Michigan residents.
-Drive economic development and job creation to grow Michigan’s economy.
By promoting:
-Equity: Ensure equitable access to food, jobs, ownership, and flexible investment capital.
-Environmental Stewardship: Encourage sustainable environmental practices.
-Local Sourcing: Increase the sourcing and supply of locally grown and regionally produced foods.
Michigan Women’s Foundation
Microloan Fund 535 Cascade West Parkway, SE Grand Rapids, MI 49546 | 616-765-4230
Our mission is to eliminate barriers to economic and social equality for Michigan women and girls. It is often difficult for newly formed but promising businesses to obtain financing; the Michigan Women’s MicroLoan Fund is designed to meet that need.
The Michigan Women’s Microloan Fund is a financing program available to women entrepreneurs and small business owners. Microloans range from $2,500 to $50,000 and may be used for any of the following:
Purchase of inventory
Working capital
Start-up costs
Purchase of equipment or leasehold improvement directly related to the growth of the business
Loan subordination
Business acquisition (with expectation of 50% financing by applicant)
Contract financing
Applicants are required to complete the application form, demographics information, personal financial statements, a business plan with projections, and other supporting documents. You will be required to pay an application fee of $75.
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition
110 Maryland Ave NE, Suite 209 Washington, DC 20002 | 202-547-5754
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) is an alliance of grassroots organizations that advocates for federal policy reform to advance the sustainability of agriculture, food systems, natural resources, and rural communities.
NSAC’s vision of agriculture is one where a safe, nutritious, ample, and affordable food supply is produced by a legion of family farmers who make a decent living pursuing their trade, while protecting the environment, and contributing to the strength and stability of their communities.
NSAC member groups advance common positions to support small and mid-size family farms, protect natural resources, promote healthy rural communities, and ensure access to healthy, nutritious foods by everyone.
Northern Initiatives
1313 Boyne Ave. P.O. Box 8 Boyne City, MI 49712 | 231-582-6482
Our Mission Statement:
“The Northern Lakes Economic Alliance is a non-profit economic development partnership providing resources to create and retain quality jobs in Antrim, Charlevoix, Cheboygan and Emmet Counties.”
The Northern Lakes Economic Alliance is a public/private non-profit organization serving Antrim, Charlevoix, Cheboygan and Emmet Counties in Michigan. Established in 1984, the NLEA mission is to serve as a resource to local communities and businesses to retain and create jobs.
Northern Michigan Community Action Council/I.D.A. Accounts
3963 Three Mile Road Traverse City, MI | 231-947-3780
The Michigan Saves Individual Development Account (IDA) Program is a matched savings program for people who want to build financial assets. We will work with the customer to provide the extra dollars and tools to help build bright future. Every $1 you save (up to $1000) will be matched with $2 or $3 toward one of these eligible uses:
First-time Homebuyer down payment assistance
Tuition for college or vocational training
Small business start-up or expansion
To be eligible for the Program, you must:
Agree to save $20 per month from your earned income
Agree to complete Financial Capability workshops and asset specific training
Agree to meet other IDA Program requirements as described by NMCAA’s IDA Counselor
Show proof of your earned income that meets the income eligibility guidelines (i.e., a family of 4 can have an annual household income of up to $48,600)
For more information on the IDA Program, call (231) 947-3780. To fill out a potential IDA application, click here for Fillable IDA Application. Once the potential application is filled out completely, it can be delivered, mailed, faxed, or saved as a .pdf and emailed to [email protected].
Revalue
215 W Michigan Ave Ypsilanti, Michigan 48197 | (888) 642-2728
Revalue is a B Corp Certified© registered investment advisory firm that serves values-driven investors, including those who would like to invest for local impact. We serve both high net worth and middle class investors in and around Michigan, with a strong presence in Washtenaw County. Our mission is to transform the finance system into one that is focused on accessible abundance.
Our clients are interested in debt or equity offerings from companies with operating history (no startups at this time) that are hiring locally, redeveloping or strengthening local infrastructure and systems, and those who are giving attention to a triple bottom line (people, place, and profits).
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NCRS)
1501 Cass Street Traverse City, MI 48684
The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is the primary federal agency that works with private landowners to help them conserve, maintain and improve their natural resources. The Agency emphasizes voluntary, science-based conservation; technical assistance; partnerships; incentive-based programs; and cooperative problem solving at the community level.
Utopia Foundation
111 Cass St. Traverse City, MI 49684 | 231-929-4500
We provide opportunities for people to express their good intentions in local and international communities. We invest in Champions that have the desire to create or are part of resilient projects that create sustainable improvements in the livelihoods of those in need.
Venture North
202 East Grandview Pkwy Traverse City, MI 49684 | 231-995-7110
Venture North provides business funding in the 10-county region. We can also help companies connect with other available local and state resources, and partner with other financial institutions on business start-ups, expansions and related growth projects.