In early 2021, Starbucks announced its commitment to invest $100 million through the new Starbucks Community Resilience Fund. The fund focuses on advancing racial equity and environmental resilience by supporting small business growth and community development projects in neighborhoods with historically limited access to capital.
As an impact investment firm dedicated to mobilizing capital into community, we were thrilled to see Starbucks’ leadership in this priority.
We know from research that Black-owned businesses don’t have the same access to capital as other businesses. And we know that “meeting the growth and operating capital needs of established BIPOC businesses is also key to closing the racial wealth gap.”
A commitment to support more equitable and resilient communities is incredibly powerful. But in addition to that financial power, Starbucks is helping to change the narrative about who and what gets investment support.
For all those reasons, Mission Driven Finance is honored to be working with our friends at Next Street, a New York-based small business consulting firm and fellow Certified B Corporation, to support Starbucks in activating its Community Resilience Fund.
“As a globally recognized brand, Starbucks can make an enormous impact with the Community Resilience Fund and inspire others to join them in reevaluating risk and opportunity,” says Lauren Grattan, chief community officer at Mission Driven Finance. “We’re honored to be a thinking-and-doing partner for Starbucks as they test what could go right when we invest in overlooked communities.”
Mission Driven Finance and Next Street helped to operationalize Starbucks’ plans and underwrite investments into Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and other impact-focused financial institutions to advance racial equity and environmental resilience. In addition to underwriting these lenders for their ability to support Starbucks Community Resilience Fund goals, Mission Driven Finance and Next Street will also assist with portfolio management and impact measurement for the fund.
“Having worked with Starbucks on another project, I knew that Mission Driven Finance was the right partner to bring on for the Starbucks Community Resilience Fund,” says Stephen Nunes, a partner at Next Street. “Their commitment to flow capital to small businesses in underinvested communities and their financial know-how are important assets on underwriting investments to CDFIs.”
Investments from the Starbucks Community Resilience Fund will initially focus on 12 U.S. metropolitan areas and surrounding regions: Atlanta, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, and Washington D.C.
In January 2022, Starbucks selected the first seven CDFIs to receive funding as part of the fund. With this first round, Starbucks is investing $21 million in these organizations to support equity and economic growth in the communities they serve.
- ACE | Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs, Inc. (Atlanta, GA)
- Accion Opportunity Fund (National)
- Black Business Investment Fund (BBIF) (Miami, FL)
- IFF (Detroit, MI)
- Pacific Community Ventures (PCV) (Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Area, CA)
- PeopleFund (Houston, TX)
- TruFund (Atlanta, GA; Houston, TX; New Orleans, LA; New York, NY)
By investing in CDFIs in key metro areas, the Starbucks Community Resilience Fund is flowing capital to community-based lenders that are well-positioned to support small business growth in their communities.
