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Thank you to everyone who helped us reach our $25,000 fundraising goal on Barnraiser.com!! Making that goal led to a matching $25,000 from The Minneapolis Foundation's Anonymous Grants fund! We are so grateful, and so excited to get the micro-loan program rolling! |
Thank you to all of our donors!
Keith Adams, Dallas Ailes, Joseph Alton, Audrey Alwell, Anne Alwell, Jean Andreasen, Joseph Antkowiak, Tracy Austin, Claire Baglien, Devon and Ross Ballinger, Karen Ballinger, Rachel Barnett, Heather Beach, Judy Beckman, Jeanette Beger, Prescott Bergh, Lynne Bishop, Suzanne Blue, Grant and Julie Boelter, Starr Brainard, Hannah Breckbill, Molly Broder, Mary Broeker, Grace Brogan, Karen Brown, Paul Burtness, Dayna Burtness Nguyen, Molly Butala, Elena Byrne, Andrea Calvert Franko, Constance Carlson, Carla Carlson, Jill Caruso, Ellen Chelmis, Jessica Coburn, Ann Cofell, Elaine Cole, Clay Crates, Beth Croteau-Kallestad, Claire Dahlman Geistfeld, Tracy Davis Heisler, Cindy Dean, Brooke Dierkhising, Faith Dohmen, Catherine Downey, Kyle Dukart, Rachel Dunn, Beverly Durgan, Kristin Eggen, Lisa Emkovik, Glenda Evans, David Evert, Kristi Fernholz, Trenne Fields, Jerry Ford, Carrie Frank, Audrey Fuller, Sara George, Barb Gerdes, Kali Goblirsch, Gorilly Goods, Nichole and Eli Goodwell, Denis Gordon, Julie Grossman, Paul Gunther, Kylene Guse, Cynthia Haasken, Karl Hakanson, Mike Hazard, James Henson, Molly Herrmann, Tim HerzogAmanda Heyman, Lin Hilgendorf, Michelle Hill, Doug Hiza, Lisa Hughes, Lucia Hunt, Janice Huss, Andy Hutter, Ruhel Islam, Frank Jackman, Jan Joannides, Olive Joannides, Thomas John, Marilyn Johnson, Nicholas Jordan, Jo Anne Judge-Dietz, Ann Kirby McGill, Brenda Kistler, Tami Kitchen, Brooke Knisley, Tracy Kochendorfer, Susan Kolling, Erin Krebs, Ron Kroese, Tara Kumar, Donna Lager, Melissa Langer, BL Langton, Charlie Lazor, Jeanette Leete, Sara Leigh, Jennifer Leopold, Diane Lewis, Lisa Lindbeg, Lydia Lucas, Leslie MacKenzie, Shannon Maroney, Margaret Marshall, Joe Marty, Marie Marvin, Rachel Matney, Mary Mccallum, Vince McCoy, Joy McKay, Douglas McPeek, Erin Meier, Deborah Mertens, Karla Meyer, Louis Mielke, David Miller, Hannah Miller, Maggie Mountain, Jean Mueller, Helene Murray, Steve Nagel, Ashley Neff, Beth Nelson, Diana Nguyen, Allison Nicole, Patsy Noble, Megan O'Hara, Jane Olive, Brett Olson, Teresa Opheim, Jina Penn-Tracy, Tim Penny, Thom Petersen, Brenda Latvala Pfahnl, Emily Pieper, Paulette Pixley, Laura Qualey, Kelsi Rahm, Cassie Rauk, Lindsay Rebhan, Kathy Rehfeldt, Emily Richey, Julie Ristau, Niel Ritchie, Chris Patton, Mary Rogers, Kallie Rollenhagen, Ellen Rubenstein Chelmis, Wendy Ruyle, Gretchen Sabel, Katrina, Samra, Erik Sannrud, Jennifer Sawyer, Jean Sazevich, Connie Schad, Laurie Schneider, Greg Schweser, Chaz Self, Michael Sersch, John Shonyo, Kathleen Sikora, Al Singer, Jon Slock, Mary Smalls, Phillip Smith, Maurice Smith, Jen Snow, Meg Steuer, Susan Stokes, Bill Swanson, Pam Thorsen, Tiffany Tripp, Okey Ukaga, Cameron Van, Berkum, Carol Walker, Jason Walker, David Washburn, Susan Waughtal, Marcie Weinandt, Sue Wiegrefe, Rhys Williams, Meg Wittenmyer, Sarah Wolbert, Ann Wolf, Shelly Woods
Creating New Opportunities
In the short-term, this fund will help 8 to 10 farms grow, and when these fund recipients repay their loans, that money will then go back into the loan fund and be available for other farmers. This way the money will continue to circulate in the community providing enduring support for small-scale sustainable farmers!
At this time, we will focus on farms that are located in the 20-county service area of Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF). SMIF has decades of experience with providing loans to small businesses and generously agreed to contribute to and manage this pilot fund for free. Many farms in this region not only supply food to their local communities, but also to the Twin Cities and other metropolitan areas in Wisconsin, Iowa, and even Illinois. And with success in this initiative, we hope to expand this initiative to other regions of the state!
Who is Slow Money MN?
While a number of organizations and individuals have been involved in getting us this far – a core group began this leg of the work: Renewing the Countryside, the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, the Sustainable Farming Association, Shared Capital Cooperative, Feast Local Food Network, Regeneration Partnership. But we continue to add additional partners like Mill City Farmers’ Market, Impact Hub MSP, the Food Building, and Birchwood Cafe.
At the heart of Slow Money Minnesota is YOU.
YOU/ME/US! Changing our Food System
While we all love the idea of small and mid-sized farms growing great food for our tables, the reality is that small-scale farming is hard work and it is challenging to make a decent living. On top of that, small-scale farmers are the folks that have the hardest time securing bank financing because they often lack collateral, are too small, or are trying something new (and thus are too risky for traditional lenders.)
A handful of programs do provide small loans and grants to these type of farmers, and this program will complement those funds, and allow us to implement a scalable program that engages both eaters and growers in building a regional food system.
