A private placement is a fundraising strategy that is exempt from the full securities registration process and therefore much simpler and cheaper to do within the law.  The basic rule of private placements is that you may not solicit investment from the general public – you can only solicit people you already know.  Generally, you [...]

Excerpted from a memo authored by Kathleen Kenney, U.C. Davis School of Law third year student and Sustainable Economies Law Center summer intern
Under the intrastate exemption (Section 3(a)(11) of the Securities Act of 1933), an issuer is exempt from the federal securities registration requirements.  To be eligible for the exemption, all investors must reside in [...]

Equal Exchange is a worker-owned cooperative business based in Massachusetts that has created an amazing model for fulfilling its mission while simultaneously making money for its investors.
Equal Exchange purchases coffee and cacao from farmer cooperatives throughout the world and processes it into products that it sells to retailers.  All products meet rigorous standards for fairness [...]

For those of you in need of financing, Investors’ Circle is now accepting applications for their Spring venture fair in April 2010.  From all the applicants they will select around 20 companies to present to their members at the fair.  And even if you are not selected your information will be available to their members, [...]

When I first heard about 40billion.com I was surprised.  It claimed to provide a platform for entrepreneurs to solicit investment in their businesses.  How could a small business use a web site to solicit investments without first registering the offering with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission and all 50 state securities regulators?  40billion.com’s strategy [...]

The Small Business Investment Incentive Act of 1980 requires the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to host an annual forum that focuses on the capital formation concerns of small business.  Called the “SEC Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation,” this gathering has assembled every year since 1982.  The purpose of the forum is to [...]

Michael Shuman, author of Small-Mart Revolution, makes the following proposals in a recent article in Community Development Investment Review, a publication of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco:

One easy reform would be for the SEC to exempt from its usual expensive disclosure requirements any low-risk public ownership of locally owned microbusinesses. By low-risk, I [...]

For A Green America’s web site contains the complete text of proposed legislation that would allow the raising of “funds from the general public for a local investment pool (hereinafter “Community Fund”) . . . to invest in, and support local green businesses . . . through an unrestricted local public offering, without having to [...]

Awaken Café, the much-loved downtown Oakland coffee shop, sold Café Creator cards.  Oakland residents, excited to support the opening of a socially responsible, locally owned café in their community, purchased cards that entitled them to products from the café valued at more than the purchase price of the card.  For example, a $1,000 card would [...]

On October 29, the House passed H.R. 3854 which would

specifically allow cooperatives to receive Small Business Administration loans
raise caps on SBA loans
create the Small Business Early Stage Investment (SBESI) program, which would provide matching grant funding for venture capital investments in early-stage small businesses in targeted industries including agricultural technology, energy technology, environmental technology, life [...]