The Conservation Fund has been working with communities, government and business partners to save millions of acres of land and water across the United States. In the nearly 30 years of their existence, they’ve protected 7 million acres of land and water in all 50 states.
In 2001 they founded the Natural Capital Investment fund to provide flexible financing, including debt and equity, to small and emerging natural resource-based businesses in rural, economically distressed communities in West Virginia; North Carolina; the Appalachian regions of Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio; and south Georgia.
ShadeFund is the web-based microlending arm of NCIF that targets and supports forestry-related businesses and small-scale agricultural producers. ShadeFund lends up to $50,000 in NCIF’s geography and leverages capital support from other lenders in select geographies nationwide.
To engage and support both partners and businesses, ShadeFund uses social marketing and a highly interactive website. Over 30 Field Partners with forestry, agricultural, biomass, community development and green business expertise help market ShadeFund, and both our Field Partners and borrowers receive internet and social marketing exposure via the ShadeFund website.
If you want to know why ShadeFund matters, please visit their site.
The Village Market 
Leave a comment