Press Releases
Media Contact: Caitlin McShane, Communications Director.
408-512-2211 or caitlin@opportunityfund.org
(San Francisco, CA / April 26, 2013) Opportunity Fund is pleased to announce it was awarded a new $30 million allocation under the U.S. Treasury Department's New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program. NMTC was created to increase economic opportunity in distressed areas of the nation. A total of $3.5 billion in NMTC allocations were awarded this week, to 85 organizations nationwide, through a highly competitive application process. The $30 million allocation means that Opportunity Fund will be able to raise $30 million from investors to fund new real estate projects that benefit to low-income communities, like health clinics, youth centers, and homeless shelters.
(Huntington Park, CA / April 11, 2013) Opportunity Fund – California’s largest nonprofit microlender to small businesses - is expanding its microlending to Greater Los Angeles. Home to more than 325,000 small businesses which employ nearly 2 million people, Los Angeles has more small businesses than any metropolitan region in the country. The nonprofit lender will offer loans from $2,500 to $100,000 to businesses in Southern California, including Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties from its branch office in Huntington Park. In the coming year, Opportunity Fund will lend $4 million to help more than 600 entrepreneurs in Los Angeles to grow their business, boost their income, and hire new employees. This is an ambitious plan for growth: In total, Opportunity Fund is poised to lend $12 million in 2013.
(San Francisco, CA / April 1, 2013) Opportunity Fund is proud to release a new report: U.S. Microfinance: Small Loans, Big Results. Conducted in collaboration with the Accion U.S. Network, the report analyzes results from the first-ever nationwide survey of microloan borrowers in America. The report measures outcomes from Opportunity Fund’s lending, and answers the fundamental question that drives our work: Do the loans we offer reduce poverty by helping the business owner to increase their own income and pay wages to their employees?
Opportunity Fund announces 2013 Start-Up Funding Challenge to Support Bay Area Start-Up Businesses
(San Francisco, CA / March 21, 2013) Today, Opportunity Fund announced their Start-Up Funding Challenge to help Bay Area businesses get off the ground. For a limited time, the organization is lending up to $500,000 to local start-up entrepreneurs, who are either launching their businesses or have less than a year of sales. At 7.5% interest and no loan fees, the challenge aims to offer financing that is hard to come by for most start-ups at an affordable rate.
Two new leaders join Opportunity Fund Board of Directors
(San Francisco, CA / March 14, 2013) Amy Gurley and Shelley Harrison have been elected to serve on Opportunity Fund’s Board of Directors. Gurley and Harrison share professional expertise in marketing, desire to help low-income Californians.
(San Francisco, CA / June 11, 2012) Opportunity Fund CEO Eric Weaver was invited by President Clinton to share his nonprofit’s success at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) America, a convening dedicated to helping America's economy and creating jobs. On Friday morning during the plenary session, Weaver announced his organization's success at helping small business.
(San Francisco, CA / October 25, 2011) California’s largest nonprofit microlender - Opportunity Fund - launches its “1,000 Jobs Challenge” today to encourage local residents to help the group create 1,000 jobs for Bay Area workers through its small businesses microloan program. “Opportunity Fund lends to entrepreneurs so they can grow and create jobs for themselves and their neighbors,” says Eric Weaver, founder and CEO. “This is why microlending in our own communities is such a powerful tool to stimulate job creation and economic activity.”
Microfinance USA Conference to Ignite Action for Consumer Protection and Increased Microfinance Services in the United States
(New York, NY / May 9, 2011) Despite an economy crippled by stubbornly high unemployment rates and an ongoing credit crunch, microlenders across the U.S. are creating bright spots of economic mobility and small business growth. At the 2011 Microfinance USA Conference (May 23rd and 24th), the nation’s top practitioners, investors, and researchers will convene to discuss the future of U.S. microfinance. There, they will be joined by international microlending organizations to announce a campaign for consumer protection standards.
New Loans To Help Bay Area Small Businesses ‘Go Green & Grow Greener’
(San Francisco, CA / January 28, 2011) Today, Opportunity Fund announced a new green loan – GreenforGreen - to help Bay Area small businesses become more environmentally friendly or expand their green business. JPMorgan Chase made a $3 million philanthropic investment in Opportunity Fund to help the organization launch these new greens in the Bay Area. Businesses will be able to borrow anywhere from $500- $100,000 at 8% interest.
$1 Million in New Small Business Loans to Help Bay Area Small Businesses Owners Keep Doors Open
(San Francisco, CA / January 13, 2011) Today, Opportunity Fund announced up to $1 million in financing to help with a pressing need many small business owners are facing: complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). While compliance with the ADA has always been a concern for small business owners, recent news reports in California have found that an increasing number of small businesses are being targeted with what could be characterized as “predatory lawsuits”. Some business owners – including the former owners of iCafe on Irving Street in the Sunset District of San Francisco –were forced to sell their business in the face of steep legal fees stemming from ADA-compliance-related lawsuits. At a press conference this morning, City of San Francisco Supervisor Carmen Chu remarked, “It’s difficult enough for small businesses to stay afloat during this time, and we want to ensure that businesses are equipped with information and other tools to minimize the impacts of potential lawsuits. At the same time, we understand the need for providing access to the disabled community.”
(San Francisco, CA / June 10, 2009) Opportunity Fund has been selected by Kiva, the online microfinancer, as one of two partners to bring Kiva’s innovative social lending to small business owners in the United States. Until now, Kiva.org has been a portal for person-to-person lending exclusively to the developing world; now, through the partnership with Opportunity Fund, individuals will be able to lend directly to small businesses in the Bay Area.