Non-Extractive Financing
DCWF provides micro and large loans to democratically owned businesses.
Interested in applying for a loan?
Please watch the webinar and read the information below.
Watch: Webinar on Financing with DCWF
Request an intake meeting here.
Our Priorities, Terms, and Values
Detroit Community Wealth Fund provides investment capital for worker-owned cooperatives, community-owned businesses, and traditional business owners looking to sell to their employees. We work to ensure we lend to businesses that align with our values. We prioritize working with businesses that:
Actively practice democratic decision-making, or have an intention to do so.
Have equitable ownership of members, with the intention to grow member-owners.
Include and center members of color, Black and Brown members, immigrants, and indigenous people, and/or focus on serving people of color.
Include women and gender non-conforming members and/or focus on serving women and gender non-conforming individuals.
Address community need or a specific community within Detroit.
Create jobs and ownership positions, and creates meaningful and living wage jobs for its members.
Have demonstrated financial viability and sustainability.
Our non-extractive Loan Terms
● No personal guarantees or credit checks necessary | We do not ask for member’s personal financial information, and we will never go after personal assets to secure a loan.
● Repayment as a percentage of monthly profits | Loan repayments are not a fixed monthly cost. Instead we agree upon a percentage of monthly profits, after workers have been paid. Our interest rate is not compounding, and you don’t have to begin repayment until you break even. It might take several months for the business to breakeven, and that is okay.
● Ongoing support from DCWF | DCWF is invested in the success of the business, we only succeed when the business does. We are partners in your success, and are here to support your business on an ongoing basis until the loan is completely repaid. Often times, businesses will continue to work with DCWF for further financing needs.
Our Shared Values
● Cooperative, democratic ownership within communities | Move resources to locally embedded, collective businesses for distributed economic benefit under community control, combating inequality
● Productive Sustainability | Investing in financially sound and sustainable businesses to protect worker-owner interests and the longevity of our fund, supporting ongoing community economic self-determination
● Maximizing community benefit | Build local wealth while investing in projects with social, economic and environmental benefit
● Radical inclusion | Lend to those who have been historically marginalized from capital and provide the TA to overcome the historic lack of access to resources that are prerequisites to successful enterprise
● Non-extraction | Repayment only comes from profits we helped create, never extracted from prior assets