Opportunity Fund
| Company type | Non-profit |
|---|---|
| Industry | Finance |
| Headquarters | San Jose, CA , United States |
Area served | 14 US states |
| Website | www |
Opportunity Fund is a US-based nonprofit organization that provides financing to underserved small-business owners.[1]
History
[edit]About 90 percent of the Opportunity Fund's clients are racial and ethnic minorities, nearly 70 percent are low-income, and about a third are female.[2] The organization receives funding from big foundations, banks, donors and government grants,[1] including Bank of America; Goldman Sachs; JP Morgan Chase Foundation;[3] Knight Foundation; Calvert Foundation;[4] philanthropist Mark Leslie, the founding chairman and CEO of Veritas Software;[5] and entrepreneur and investor, Bud Colligan.[6][7][8]
The organization ranks among the largest and fastest growing nonprofit lending organizations for small businesses in the United States.[9] In fiscal year 2017, the organization gave more than $92.5M in loans to more than 2,900 small businesses.[10][9]
Marketplace lending company Lending Club works with Opportunity Fund to make loans to small businesses that otherwise would have had their applications rejected. The two organizations aim to provide $10 million in loans to small businesses in underserved areas of 13 states, helping an estimated 400 businesses create more than 1,000 jobs.[4] Former President Bill Clinton announced the partnership at a Clinton Global Initiative America meeting in Denver.[4][11][12]
Since 2012, Opportunity Fund has earned Charity Navigator's highest rating of four stars every year as published by the charity evaluator.[13]
Advocacy
[edit]Opportunity Fund was founded in 1994 by Eric Weaver in response to the challenges faced by businesses owned by women or minorities, or those who want small dollar loans that are not profitable enough for banks to provide.[14] The emergence of predatory lending practices among some of the non-bank lenders that stepped in to fill the vacuum in the small business lending market after the recession of 2008, led Opportunity Fund to also take on a greater advocacy role for the rights of small business borrowers.[15]
In 2015, Opportunity Fund was part of a coalition of nonprofit and industry leaders that joined to launch a "Small Business Borrowers Bill of Rights" that outlined key rights all borrowers should have.[15] In 2018, the organization worked to develop and pass a bipartisan bill, California Senate Bill 1235, which created consumer-style disclosure standards for small business lenders.[2][10]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Eric Weaver, Visionary of Year nominee, funds businesses in need". 13 January 2017.
- ^ a b "Nonprofit prides itself on lending to LGBT business owners". 27 June 2016.
- ^ Simon, Ruth (27 November 2015). "Big Banks Cut Back on Loans to Small Business". Wall Street Journal.
- ^ a b c About us opportunityfundloan.org
- ^ "Pizarro: Peninsula couple honored for philanthropy". The Mercury News. 2015-11-20. Retrieved 2018-10-24.
- ^ "Central Coast region entrepreneurs targeted for microloans". Santa Cruz Sentinel. 2013-06-11. Retrieved 2018-10-24.
- ^ "Opportunity Fund Targets Minority Businesses, Loans More Than $60 Million in 2016". 5 December 2016.
- ^ "Nonprofit Will Fund Loans Otherwise Rejected by Lending Club". 10 June 2015.
- ^ a b Why we need small business borroweraspen.us Archived 2016-04-29 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Opportunity Fund the Nation's Leading Nonprofit Small Business lender launches discount loan campaign for women small business ownersopportunityfundloan.org Archived 2018-11-20 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "California Gov. Brown should sign new bill to protect small businesses". 25 September 2018.
- ^ "Google.org Impact Challenge Bay Area 2014". Retrieved 2022-05-01.
- ^ "Charity Navigator - Rating for Opportunity Fund Community Development".
- ^ "'Fintech' Loans: A Sometimes Costly Lifeline for Small Business".
- ^ a b "Lenders Voluntarily Create a Bill of Rights to Protect Small Businesses from Lending Abuses". Forbes.