Non Profits Fill Small Biz Micro Lending Niche
March 5, 2013
By Bob Coleman
Editor, Coleman Report
This is an uplifting story about a number of economic development companies meeting the need for Main Street micro loans.
The article profiles New York Business Development Corp, New Mexico Community Development Loan Fund, Albuquerque’s The Loan Fund and Florida’s Pasco Economic Development Council.
Writes Mildred Culp, “Albuquerque’s The Loan Fund has lent $49 million since founding in 1989 to help pull people out of poverty. It averages loans of $50,000 – from $2,000 to $750,000 – to businesses and non-profits. Ninety-eight percent of borrowers have repaid.
“One man uses his garage to make $200 pine boxes for burying the indigent. A former inmate needed money for liability insurance, first- and last-month’s rent for his 400-sq. ft. barber shop and working capital. His loan helped tie him to the community, not head back to prison.”