This Week in ESG and Impact Investing

With the attention placed on financing small (especially Black) businesses during the current crisis, and with the problems identified in government-run business financing programs like the PPP, (see * below) we are presenting updated information on crowdfunding. We draw on what we have learned since we issued, in 2012, our book on the subject. (This was, as far as we know, the first one published.) Crowdfunding works by allowing an entrepreneur with an idea for a company or product to post the details of the idea or product on a web site such as Kickstarter or Indiegogo. The crowdfunding provisions of the JOBS Act allow start-up and other companies to sell up to $1 million in equity, or ownership shares, in their business. Our company has been facilitating this type of business financing since July 1998, and. most recently, in June of 2020 . We still believe this is a viable option for minority firms, as we stated in 2012. How to be successful at crowdfunding Crowdfunding

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An estimated  $7 billion in corporate  pledges have been made to facilitate efforts that support racial justice, and help activities  that seek immediate solutions  to the crisis affecting Black people. We are very familiar with these types of promises, having launched the first website focusing on financial support for minority communities in 1995 and a new website to monitor such corporate pledges. Yet it appears that only $188 million of that $7 billion is money someone can reasonably expect to get their hands on. Further, in certain sections of the Black community, there is concern about the effectiveness of the traditional organizations identified as recipients of the pledges. And there appears to be less  concern with newer, trending  organizations. Our recent survey of  customers banking at black-owned banks  suggests most consumers who do not use Black banks are concerned about their financial stability, and have not been able to leverage financial resources from th