Financing

Financing a small business can be challenging; and, even more so for fair trade business where the model is less well known. According to the Fair Trade Resource Network, fair trade businesses could begin with as little as $20,000 – 40,000 in start-up capital from loans, family, friends, or government programs; others recommend starting with as much as $100,000. If your business begins as a non-profit, grant funding from foundations or other sources is also available.

Fair Trade Specific

• EcoLogic / Root Capital Financing - A nonprofit offering affordable financial services to community-based businesses operating in environmentally sensitive areas of Latin America, Africa, and South Asia.
• North Country Cooperative Development Fund - A member-run cooperative that uses a pool of money invested by the cooperative community and its supporters to catalyze the development and growth of cooperative enterprises in all sectors.
• OikoCredit - Oikocredit offers loans, credit lines, equity investments and guarantees to fair trade organizations.
• Shared Interest Bank - A cooperative lending society that aims to reduce poverty by providing fair and just financial services to fair trade organizations, primarily members of the International Fair Trade Association.

Government

• Small Business Association Loan Guarantor - Working capital loans, made by commercial lenders, and backed by a guarantee from the SBA
• OPIC Small Business Financing - Medium- to long-term funding through direct loans and loan guaranties to eligible investment projects in developing countries and emerging markets.
• Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Programs - A database of Federal programs available to private for-profit and nonprofit organizations and institutions, specialized groups, and individuals
• State-based Business Development Agencies – Information on small business grants from the development agencies of US states
• Minority Business Development Agency Resource Locator - An Internet-based tool that allows MBEs to search for business resources.
• UN Development Program Growing Sustainable Business Program - In advancement of the Millennium Development Goals, GSB seeks to facilitate business-led enterprise solutions to poverty in 16 countries.

 Private Sector and NGO

• ACCION USA - Loans to small enterprises, particularly those working in Latin America
•  Investors’ Circle - A community of investors who seek to be a force for positive social change by supporting entrepreneurial companies.
• Skoll Foundation - The Foundation advances systemic change to benefit communities around the world by investing in entrepreneurs whose approaches to social problems better the lives and circumstances of underserved or disadvantaged individuals.
• Social Enterprise Donor Database - The Social Enterprise Alliance, in partnership with The Enterprise Foundation, created a database of funders of social enterprise.
• Circle Lending Small Business Fundraiser Guide - The Small Business Fundraiser Guide offers ways to prepare a loan request from friends, relatives, business associates, and others.

For your Producers

Sometimes, helping your producers secure funding can contribute to the overall operation and raise funds for which North American based businesses do not quality.

• Foundation for International Community Assistance International - FINCA provides financial services to the world's lowest-income entrepreneurs so they can create jobs, build assets and improve their standard of living.
• International Finance Corporation – Only available to those in a developing country that is a member of IFC

Resources for Non-Profits

• Foundation Center - Information on foundations and other grant-making agencies that primarily support primarily 501(c) 3 organizations
• GFW’s Women’s Fundraising Handbook - Ideas about finding and securing funds from the Global Fund for Women 
• Non-Profit Finance Fund – NFF helps nonprofits strengthen their financial health and improve their capacity to serve their communities, offering capital, operational, and programmatic support.

Note: FTF is not responsible for any content available on third-party sites, nor do the views expressed on these or other sites necessarily represent the views of the Fair Trade Federation.