Project Equity and Mission Driven Finance announced on Labor Day the launch of the Employee Ownership Catalyst Fund, an evergreen debt fund that will offer flexible financing to businesses preparing for—or executing—an employee ownership transition. The fund targets businesses across the U.S. with 25 to 100-plus employees, particularly those employing frontline, low-wage workers and workers of color.
inclusive economy
Opinion: Here’s how we can help middle-income families in San Diego buy homes
How can investors and local business and nonprofit leaders address housing — and in particular attainable homeownership — through public-private partnerships? Our Chief Investment Officer Louie Nguyen looks at various approaches.
WEPOWER launches $1.5 million fund to invest in Black and Latinx entrepreneurs in North St. Louis
Mission Driven Finance is a founding partner of Elevate/Elevar Capital and will continue to support with fund administration.
Apis & Heritage Capital Partners Announces Initial Close of $30 Million to Turn Businesses with Workforces of Color into Employee-Owned Firms
Mission Driven Finance is delighted to support our client-partners at Apis & Heritage on their first fund to build wealth for workers of color through employee ownership.
Why we updated our logo
Reaching a five-year milestone was not only an accomplishment we can be proud of, but also a good time to evaluate how we present ourselves to the world. We wanted to refresh the colors of our logo to better reflect our bold and optimistic approach to finance.
Local impact investment firm Mission Driven Finance marks 5th anniversary with $11 million milestone
Marking two major milestones, we are celebrating our fifth anniversary this month as well as having disbursed $11 million in assets to the small businesses and nonprofits dedicated to social change in the region.
Living Cities announces capital investment in Mission Driven Finance to increase access to growth capital and support for social impact small businesses and nonprofits
Living Cities’ Blended Catalyst Fund (BCF) announces a $2 million commitment to Advance, a regional, inclusive place-based fund managed by impact investment firm Mission Driven Finance.
How Lauren Grattan thinks about risk
Shoutout Socal recently checked in with our Co-founder and Chief Community Officer Lauren Grattan in its local stories series and asked her how she thinks about risk.
Community Finance Fellowship showcase
Hear directly from the 2020 cohort fellows— Andrew Moncada, Essence Rodriguez, Louise Jordan, Crystal Sevilla, and Benson Ochira—about their career goals and their experiences thus far changing the face and flow of finance.
Our commitments to being anti-racist
As a financial services firm, we must address long-held racist beliefs in the world of finance and commit to doing better. Here’s how we are working on it.
I am a White man. I must do more to fight systemic racism.
The best anti-racism advice I’ve gotten so far is from my teammate Louise Jordan: Whatever we do, we have to stop recreating the same narrative. Unfortunately, many of the actions we White people take end up reinforcing existing power dynamics and telling the same, false story—that Black people and people of color have inherent risk and problems and that White people must “save” them from themselves.
WES Mariam Assefa Fund Spotlights Mission Driven Finance
WES Mariam Assefa Fund, one of the visionary supporters of the Community Finance Fellowship, spotlights Mission Driven Finance.
Insights From Innovators—interview with Cutting Edge Capital
Cutting Edge Capital spoke with Mission Driven Finance Co-founders Lauren Grattan and David Lynn to talk about our mission, and how our community-first perspective guides us to find investment opportunities.
SPECTRUM reflections on expanding the impact economy
Mission Driven Finance Co-founder Lauren Grattan reflects on building an inclusive, expansive economy after attending SOCAP’s SPECTRUM conference.
How to align with Islamic financing principles to create economic opportunity
Mission Driven Finance provides culturally sensitive bridge financing to Somali Family Service of San Diego in accordance with Islamic financing principles.
What’s happening with Opportunity Zones?
An interesting piece of legislation included in 2017's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is the Opportunity Zones program. We've been digging in with colleagues across the country on how this can drive investment into neighborhoods that need it. So what's the scoop? The...