Community Investment Fund Handbook & Toolkit
Community Investment Funds (CIFs) are locally managed investment funds with three essential characteristics: capital is sourced from people in the community (ideally from retail/non-accredited investors); capital is invested into local people, projects, and businesses; and capital is deployed by individuals in the community. A successful community investment fund benefits investors and the community, through a positive rate of return and an influx of non-extractive capital to local businesses and development projects (such as renewable energy infrastructure, affordable housing, or community spaces). CIFs make local investing easier for retail investors looking to put their money somewhere where they will earn a monetary return and experience the positive social benefits of having a well-resourced local economy, without having to do due diligence on individual businesses and projects. It allows the aggregation of that work and oversight by investment professionals, making community investing accessible.
The Handbook
Our CIF Handbook illustrates a wide range of approaches you might apply to build your own CIF. It is not a call to action, but a manual for those who have already been called. In it, we:
- explore short profiles of 10 funds that showcase the wide range of models and experiments underway
- describe the basic steps a community needs to take to develop a CIF
- provide a comprehensive legal primer on the types of community investment funds currently possible
- Point readers to a list of books, articles, organizations, law firms, and others that can assist you in your effort to launch a CIF
The Toolkit
Our CIF Toolkit is a collection of resources to help you develop your own community investment fund. It includes explainer videos and downloadable worksheets to get you started, including a Team Builder Matrix, Investment Thesis Worksheet, Fund Calculator, Operating Structure Checklist, and Financial Modeling Guidelines. The Toolkit acts as a complement to “Chapter 2: Steps to Create a Community Investment Fund” of the Handbook.
These resources illustrate the belief that inspiration should fuel the launch of community capital funds, but perspiration will be needed to keep them running. At the same time, we know that the field will not scale if we are sweating alone. Thus, as a community of practice, we endeavor to share our learnings so that all of us can spend less time building models and more time building community. To join a listserv of CIF practitioners, fill out this form.