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Equity Trust Fund- Information for Borrower Applicants If change is to come, then, it will have to come from the outside. It will have to come from the margins. - Wendell Berry Before starting the Equity Trust Fund, founder Chuck Matthei spent years seeding and cultivating a number of experimental loan funds that could provide financing for community development projects. He took the lead in bringing together an assortment of these loan funds to form a national association, now the Opportunity Finance Network, which has gone on to build and support a strong set of well-capitalized community development financial institutions. In 1991, wanting to create a loan fund that would return to the roots of this innovation, Chuck decided to create the Equity Trust Fund. Rather than establishing another fund that would finance typical community development, Chuck wished to create a loan fund that would support the work of grassroots groups trying out new ideas and pioneering creative models. Chuck wanted to help nourish new possibilities-particularly new possibilities relating to the control, use and stewardship of property. But where do you find the people and projects that can open up these new possibilities? They are certainly not to be found within the status quo. They are to be found, as Wendell Berry says, on the margins. The Equity Trust Fund has succeeded in finding and supporting many such people and projects-from Maine to California, from Georgia to the Mexican border. Since 1991, Equity Trust has helped hundreds of groups to protect small farms, create affordable housing, secure low-income access to quality food, obtain critical financing, and reinvest capital responsibly. Here's How It Works The Equity Trust Fund receives loans and gifts from socially and environmentally concerned investors. These investments are used as a revolving loan fund to make loans across the United States and in Central America. There are at present 47 investors who together have a total of $748,910 loaned into the fund. In addition, over 40% of the Equity Trust Fund is equity-capital that permanently belongs to the Fund. We currently have $775,389 loaned out of the Fund to 21 different Borrowers. These loans to our borrowers range in size from $6,000 to $150,000. The Equity Trust Fund makes low-interest loans to projects promoting access to land, food, and housing, and protecting the affordability of these critical resources. We choose to make our loans to the kinds of grassroots groups that are often seen by conventional lenders as too small, too unconventional, and too inexperienced to succeed. Yet the track record of the Equity Trust Fund shows that most of them do succeed. We give priority to projects fostering sustainable land use, benefiting low-income people, and involving alternative models of land tenure-models that creatively and equitably balance public and private interests. We are interested in projects that help communities gain ownership interests in the food, land, and housing they use. For examples of other loans we've made, please review these descriptions of Projects Recently Funded by the Equity Trust Fund. If you are interested in applying for a loan from the Equity Trust Fund: Please review our Loan Application Procedures to learn about the application process. You can also print off a Loan Application. Please feel free to call our office if you have questions or would like to know more about Equity Trust Fund loans. Our staff really enjoys sharing the work of the Equity Trust Fund, and will be happy to help you. In addition to financing, Equity Trust offers technical assistance. We provide technical assistance to community loan funds, community land trusts, CSA farms, and other community-based groups working to develop sustainable, equitable, local systems relating to housing, food, economic development, and the environment. Equity Trust particularly seeks to assist relatively small and/or new organizations that are taking innovative community-based approaches to problems involving the ownership of land and capital and that do not have access to appropriate technical assistance from other sources. For more information, please review our Technical Assistance Policy. Our Work Is Grounded In Our Values We believe that poverty is not simply a lack of income but, more fundamentally, the result of market forces and patterns of absentee ownership that drain assets and earnings out of low-income communities. In fact, although we are often unaware of it, low-income communities generate significant earnings, and are rich in ideas, practical skills, and other non-monetary resources. Gaining community ownership over resources that are vital to the people who live there (like land, food, and housing) is critical to breaking the cycle of poverty. While absentee ownership drains assets and earnings out of an area, community ownership retains those assets and earnings. When a community's human resources and capital can be retained, built upon, and recycled locally, suddenly the strength of the community's capacity becomes clear, and sustainable change becomes possible. |
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| Equity
Trust, Inc. is a tax-exempt nonprofit organization qualified under IRS Section
501c3. Equity Trust,
Inc. also provides technical assistance and training, conducts a variety
of educational programs, and consults on related issues of institutional
and public policy. The Fund is governed by the corporation's board
of directors, an administrative committee,
and advisors. Together, they bring many years of experience in community
development and conventional finance, related legal and professional skills,
and the knowledge of grassroots practitioners. [Return to top] |
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