Innovative Lending
Welcome to social impact lending through iCause Global Foundation! We’re excited to introduce our lending program and walk through a few simple steps in determining your eligibility.
Donation-based lending process:
Our unique model includes soliciting donations from charitable donors who like your social impact enterprise / mission. We can’t control when or at what level donors will want to fund your enterprise, but we will work diligently to help you get the funding you need to succeed with your mission.
It’s also important you understand that this is a BUSINESS LOAN with simple, affordable terms (0% interest in most cases) designed to give social impact enterprises like yours access to needed capital. It is expected that you will have a plan in place to enable repayment at agreed reasonable terms.
- Must be a for-profit social impact enterprise or social impact entrepreneur for lending purposes. See here for an explanation/definition of a social impact enterprise. We are primarily seeking to fund enterprises that follow the ‘Transformative Products or Services’ model.
- Alternatively, we can lend to a nonprofit, but funds must be for an established Program / Mission-Related Investment (PRI or MRI) within the nonprofit.
- Must have a clear, compelling mission that will inspire philanthropic donations/investment.
- Must clearly align with at least one (1) of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, as explained here.
- Must not be in a country under current United States sanctions, as explained here.
- Must have a capable management team with relevant expertise.
- Preference for entrepreneurs that have already raised funds through friends and family and can show traction as a result.
- Must have a scalable business model.
- Preference for entrepreneurs with ‘Proof of Concept’ revenue or significant pilot advancements.
- Typical valuation at first funding below $5 million USD.
- Typically seeking first-round of funding between $500,000 and $5,000,000 USD.
- Preference for a plausible exit strategy within 5-8 years.
- Must be prepared to receive a loan (simple and affordable) and repay under agreed upon terms.
- Must successfully complete iCGF funding application and approval/vetting process as detailed further below.
If you meet the lending criteria above and deem it’s a good fit for your lending needs, your next step will be to REGISTER with iCause Global Foundation. We will ask for high-level information including a summary of your products / services, company stage, why donors should invest, as well as the social, economic, and environmental impacts you can make with funding. It should take about 15 minutes to complete and your information will be kept confidential within the iCGF team and board of directors.
We hold firmly that in everything we do, we ensure that we are ‘doing good’ by those we work with and by the people, animals and planet we wish to better.
Register your Enterprise here
If your enterprise appears to be a good fit for iCause lending, we will send an iCGF Request for Information / Application where you will be asked to share the following:
- Your investment pitch deck, if available, which will include the following. If you do not have a pitch deck, you will need to address each topic as best as possible.
- Your elevator pitch – who you are, what you do, for whom and at what price
- The problem you are solving
- Your unique solution – product or service
- Total addressable market
- Target clients and business model
- Go-to-market strategy
- The competitive landscape and your competitive advantage
- Your management team
- Financial summary, last year’s P&L and a 3-year projection
- History of funding to date
- Specific use of funds and milestones you expect to achieve
- Estimated pre-money valuation and capital you are seeking (optional)
- Any business or marketing plans that help us understand your enterprise and mission
- Links to Articles of Incorporation and/or any relevant corporate documents
- Management team information for background checks
- Your logo and two images to use on iCGF website, if approved
- Any additional information that you think would help compel donors to fund your important work
Once submitted, we will be in contact with you during the review and vetting process, and may have additional questions to help us reach an agreement to lend. You are always encouraged to stay in close communication with us during the process in case any of the information you’ve submitted changed.
On behalf of the directors and the whole team at iCause Global Foundation, we’re excited about helping you impact the world in your own unique way!
For help with this process, email us here.