The Fund Helps Small, Sustainable Green Businesses Grow

In addition to conserving land for wildlife and recreation, we also support the responsible use of land and natural resources. How? We help small "green" businesses grow through our loan programs, like our Natural Capital Investment Fund (NCIF). NCIF helps small businesses that are committed to improving the environment.

Our Natural Capital Investment Fund is much more than just a lender. Funding from NCIF helps small green businesses build a foundation on which to grow.

We are able to provide critical financing to small companies—often family- or individually owned—that use natural resources sustainably. We recently helped Annie's Naturally Bakery, a family-owned business that is committed to using local high-quality and organic ingredients. Joe and Annie Ritota started Annie's in Sylva, North Carolina. With NCIF's financing, Annie's was able to open a second location in Asheville and give it a “green” makeover that includes solar thermal heating units and energy efficient ovens. Annie's plans to hire 10 full-time and 10 part-time workers in their new location, bringing the total number of staff to nearly 50. In addition to helping the local economy through job creation, Annie's expansion is good news for local farmers: Annie's participates in the North Carolina Organic Bread Flour Project, which helps farming communities struggling to maintain profitability.

NCIF is a critical lender to small green businesses, which may have difficulty qualifying for loans from traditional lenders because of their size. We help business owners like Susan Newman, founder of New Life Plastics Recycling in North Carolina. Susan founded New Life in 1998 as a recycling alternative for large industrial clients that would normally dump their plastic products in a landfill, an expensive and environmentally damaging practice. In 2009 New Life recycled 7 million pounds of material into products like DVD covers, drain pipes, and plastic boxes. When it was time to make necessary repairs and upgrades to its building, NCIF funding provided a financial boost that enabled the company to acquire additional financing from the Self-Help Credit Union. Together, the two loans allow New Life to repair its building and increase its working capital, allowing it to serve a growing number of customers.

Our conservation financing supports sustainable and responsible community development. NCIF financing is helping Green Opportunities—a nonprofit in Asheville, North Carolina that is "dedicated to improving lives, communities and the health of the planet through innovative green collar job training and placement programs." As a subcontractor to the Asheville Housing Authority, Green Opportunities wanted larger contracts, but was unable to finance the shift from small-scale residential jobs to large-scale, publicly funded commercial jobs without the aid of an NCIF loan. Green Opportunities used the funding from NCIF for equipment purchases and working capital so they could increase the number and size of their projects.

The growth of all of these businesses not only helps the environment but also creates healthy communities with strong economies.  We know that for conservation solutions to last, they need to make economic sense. With tools like NCIF, we're making sure "going green" is more than a trend of today, but a viable option for people and businesses in the future.