NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, November 25, 2013

What better way to strengthen communities, while empowering regular people to support nearby small businesses, than by helping individuals fund local entrepreneurs?

This movement—coined locavesting by author Amy Cortese in a recent book–is at the core of a Seattle-based social enterprise by the name ofCommunity Sourced Capital (CSC); it has a crowdfunding platform through which people make loans to local enterprises, thereby forging stronger ties between community residents and businesses.

“This is about more than a loan. It’s also a catalyst for community engagement,” says co-founder and president Casey Dilloway. “We’ve tried to create something people can get engaged with very quickly, while providing money to businesses within their community.”