Community Loan Fund


Building community requires resources. Those resources can sometimes be people, giving of their time, energy, motivation and management. Sometimes the resources needed are concretely financial. There are several sources of loan funds for FEC communities. For any loan, the Applicant will be expected to supply the following information:

--Purpose for which the money will be used.

--Term of the loan and proposed method of repayment (one lump sum at the end, blended monthly payments of principal and interest, etc.).

--Proposed interest rate.

--Explanation of how you will generate the cash flow to repay the loan.

--What secures the loan in the event that payments are not made when promised? Depending on the answer here, you may be required to have individual guarantors provide back-up security for the loan.

 

1. FEDERATION REVOLVING LOAN FUND

The Federation has established a revolving loan fund for business initiatives and capital acquisitions of affiliated Federation communities. A community must be either a full member (preferably) or an officially recognized group-in-dialog with the Federation to be eligible to receive a loan from this fund.

This fund is specially earmarked to assist communities who have limited access to conventional loan money. While the FEC wants every loan to be repaid on time and in full, financial security is a secondary concern to developing Federation-style communities. Thus, we are willing to accept greater risk in offering this form of support than one might expect at a bank.

The fund manager is the Secretary, ([email protected]), who will process loan applications and send action recommendations to the delegates, who will make the final decision on the application.

In general, loans will have a term of five years or less, and our preference is that repayment be in the form of equal monthly or quarterly payments which a blend of interest and principal. Under this arrangement, the loan will have been fully repaid by the end of the term. It will always be permissible to repay the loan early, at no penalty. Before receiving any money, the applying community will be expected to sign a promissory note that clearly spells out all terms.

 


Applicants will be expected to answer the following questions when asking for a loan:

-- how much do you want?

-- what will the money be used for?

-- what other debt do you have, and what is the community's net equity?

-- where do you expect the money for repayment to come from, and what alternatives do you have if this does not work out as expected? In the worst case, what backs up the loan?

-- what is an acceptable interest rate for the money you are requesting?

Please direct any questions or applications to:  [email protected]

 


2. PEACH

PEACH is a mutual aid health care fund created by and for Federation communities. FEC member communities are automatically eligible to join the program; other income-sharing communities may participate by invitation.

Since start up in 1986, the fund has grown to approximately $500,000 in net assets. At any given time, about half of these funds are loaned out to support the development of intentional communities--mainly loans for businesses, capital improvements, or buying property. While preferential consideration is given to loan requests from FEC communities, PEACH makes loans throughout the communities movement and invites requests for any community-related activity. Acceptability, terms, and size of the loan are negotiated on a case-by-case basis.

 

Inquiries about loans or program operations should be directed to the PEACH administrator.



3. FELLOWSHIP FOR INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY LOAN FUND

Capitalized at about $40,000, this money is basically earmarked for community businesses. Secondary consideration will be given to non-community organizations with movement connections. Because of the fund's limited capital, we can only make small loans for land acquisition. We have several times made small loans to provide initial credibility for groups starting to assemble a larger loan package.

Federation communities will be given equal preference as other communities. Maximum loan size is $5000.

Inquiries and applications should be directed to:

FIC Loan Fund
c/o Harvey Baker
518 Penny Ln
Waynesboro TN 38485
931-722-9201
[email protected]