ShadeFund: A New Way To Seed Green Businesses

Here's an update from The Conservation Fund on their excellent Shade Fund program...

You’ve heard about microlenders helping move people from poverty to greater economic self-sufficiency in the developing world. At The Conservation Fund, we’re putting a similar strategy to work here at home with a special twist. Our new ShadeFund program provides small loans to green entrepreneurs who use natural resources responsibly. Our goal? Spur a greener economy by supporting sustainable farms, forestry and forest products, eco-tourism and small-scale renewable energy production and, by doing so, sustain working natural lands and the people who depend upon them.

We’re off to a strong start, thanks to a keystone investment by Mercedes-Benz USA—which has committed to invest in 10-12 green entrepreneurs over the next two years—and a lead grant from the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities. Read about two businesses—a furniture maker that salvages downed trees and a glorious lavender farm—that just received our first ShadeFund loans.