Slow Money Fuels Local Food Economy

Slow Money Fuels Local Food Economy Abundance Foundation seeks investors, projects By Michelle Ferrier It seems to make social sense. Invest your money in local food-related businesses and help grow the local economy. That’s the idea behind slow money. Slow money, a spinoff of the slow food movement, asks residents of a community to commit to investing 1% of their assets in local food systems...within a decade. The concept is based on the book Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money by Woody Tasch, and its focus on “restorative economies” – those that are place and people focused. The Abundance Foundation, based in Chatham County, North Carolina is taking on that challenge and putting their resources and dollars toward supporting locally based food projects. So far, they’ve funded local baker Lynette Driver so she could purchase industrial-sized mixer and bowls. They’ve contributed to the expansion of a sit-down space in a former take-out restaurant called Angelina’s Kitchen. And they’re hosting an introductory meeting about slow money in Pittsboro today (Monday, July 12) to attract new projects and investors interested in the slow money concept. Tami Schwerin, executive director of The Abundance Foundation says their mission is focused on local food and the local economy. “We put dollars into local food projects, funding things that are in our community. We’re not venture capitalists. We’re looking at growing things in the community that wouldn’t get funded by a bank,” Tami said. Tami says that she’s been pleasantly surprised by the investors willing to put their money into building the social capital of a community. The project works like this: • Criteria is that it is local food-related. The project will increase the local food in our community…like a restaurant or a farm. • Loans are a three-year term. • Minimum loan amounts might be about $2,000. $6,000 has been the most that has been given to date, but $6,000 isn’t the limit. • Borrowing rate of 3%. Lender receives 2 percent return; 1 percent goes into the pot. • Monthly or annual payment structure. “We’re still working on the structure,” Tami says. • Geographic footprint where they’re lending: Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Triangle area. “We’re totally interested in Triad,” Tami says. The 1% return to the project helps to seed other enterprises. “We want to grow a little bit of money that we can lend out,” says Tami. Right now, the slow food project is also looking for investors. “We’re asking for pledges of $500 or more,” Tami says. “We also want to be totally transparent so that if someone is late on a payment, the investment community knows.” The whole idea of slow money is predicated on the relationship to a community, a geographic tie between invested funds and those who receive the investments. “You want the lender and the borrower to have a relationship,” says Tami, “We want them to be in the same community as the borrowers. “We’re building our local foodshed, modeling renewable energy and inspiring community."