Social Impact Capital

Social entrepreneur and system builder.

[margaretgifford]

“It only takes one to break the chain. People hurt because they’ve been hurt,” says my daughter (explaining her digital art called "HEAL"). “But one person can break that chain through kindness and action.” Here are a few pictures from our food tour day in Columbia SC. With Rare Variety Vegan Cafe/Axiom Farms, Eze Farms, SC Food Policy Council, Greenville’s Feed & Seed, and members of the Columbia Mayor’s staff who are building community, jobs, health and hope through food. These leaders are breaking the chain.

#belovedcommunity #food #enterpreneur #martinlutherking #impactinvesting #watervineimpact

[margaretgifford]

Program Related Investment Benefits Philanthropic Investors and Entrepreneurs

Read my most recent article on local impact investing, with Stacey Faella of the Woodcock Foundation — in Locavesting. 

http://www.locavesting.com/featured/pris-an-underused-funding-tool-for-family-foundations-and-social-enterprises/

[margaretgifford]

If you found a company, protect your heart and your art! Be as careful selecting your board and choosing investors as you are in hiring your staff and delivering on your mission.  (Graffiti spotted in NYC) #protectyourheart

[margaretgifford]

Hawthorne Valley Farm Dinner - annual fundraiser (photo credit Margaret Gifford

[margaretgifford]

Non-Traditional Ways to Fund Your Food Business

Note: This blog post originally ran on the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association blog. Copyright 2015 Watervine Impact

Accessing capital can be a challenge for a food and agriculture business. The gap between investors and entrepreneurs is sometimes hard to bridge. Investors may lack understanding of farm and food business growth stages and try to apply financial models from other industries. On the other side of the equation, farmers and food entrepreneurs sometimes become “accidental entrepreneurs,” inheriting the family farm or following a passion for cheese making until one day a passion has grown into a business and it is time for expansion. Sometimes a catastrophe happens and a business needs cash fast in order to rebuild a flock, repair a barn or create infrastructure to handle recurring droughts or floods.

At the CFSA conference in November, I will host a workshop on how to find the right new funding option for your food or farm business. Traditional sources of agriculture funding include farm dinners, farm credit, or even your credit cards, all of which can be expensive and inflexible. Many of the new tools were developed in response to the need for better and more diversified sources of funding for local food enterprises.

The range of non-traditional possibilities can be overwhelming – from donation-based crowd funding to crowd-sourced loans like Kiva, low interest loans from Slow Money, program related investment from a foundation or even selling equity in your business to raise capital. Our conversation will help you understand the different options and begin to assess what is right for your needs. I hope you will come prepared to share your stories and knowledge. There are many ways to finance a food or farm enterprise and we can learn from our varied experiences. We will use a simple framework tool that maps your business need to the capital raise. As an added bonus, we’ll provide marketing and communications tips for you to take home on how to prepare for your capital raise.

To get started, you should think about the basics – your enterprise budget. (Yes, I know, technical assistance providers are constantly going on about those pesky enterprise budgets!) But no joke, they help. You can’t get to your destination if you don’t know where you are going and how much fuel you need to get there.

Investors will require you to demonstrate a clear understanding of your business goals, your cash flow to date and your projections for how you will use the capital and repay the loan or investment. Even if you are eligible for a grant, you will increase your likelihood of getting funded if you can demonstrate that you understand your business and have a plan for financial sustainability.

Once those basics are done, you are ready to begin to think about the specific options for raising capital. If you have ideas, questions or stories for me, please feel free to reach out and message me through LinkedIn. It’s going to be another great Carolina Farm Stewardship Association Sustainable Agriculture Conference and I look forward to meeting you in November.

[margaretgifford]

How to shop like a pro at the farmers market

Do you love to shop the local farmers market, but sometimes wonder if you are really getting the best out of your shopping experience? What do the pros, like chefs, prepared food makers or institutional buyers know that you don't?

Q: What are the ingredients that make up a farmers market?

A public space (rented or owned), vendors (farmers, artisan food makers, sometimes crafts), manager (usually paid for by the farmers market management), volunteers and community organizations and, most importantly, YOU!

Q: Who "owns" a farmers market?

It depends. Sometimes the owners are farmers, sometimes a real estate association or a nonprofit, or the city. The ownership structure matters, because how the market is run will predict how happy the vendors are, as well as the quality and provenance of the food. Do your homework and find out who owns or manages your local market. At most markets you can go to the annual meeting. It’s very interesting and often fun to do so.

Q:  Are all the farms using organic growing methods?

Absolutely not. Every farmer's growing methods will differ. A reputable market will ensure that growers abide by the Department of Agriculture requirements in their state, but that doesn't mean all the vendors are organically or biodynamic certified. Don’t be fooled by “no spray” signs (there are a lot of ways to deliver herbicides and pesticides that aren't "sprayed"), but consider your tolerance for “sustainable" (an unregulated term). Ask the farmer directly. Sometimes farmers don't want to have to pay the extra fees related to organic certification, but their growing methods are in line with, or even stronger than USDA organic certification. The ideal is to visit the farm. Good growers take care of their soil and their plants look healthy. People can get very worried about growing methods. Growing practices do matter, particularly for the larger environmental health issues and pesticide loads in people.  But I always remember that every farm wants repeat customers, so they aren't going to deliberately put anything on or in their crops that will hurt their customers! Check out the Environmental Working Group's "Dirty Dozen" if you want to know more. Nonprofit groups, like Carolina Farm Stewardship Association in the Carolinas, hosts seasonal farm tours where you can go out and visit the farms without interrupting the farm work.

For more tips on buying, selling and setting up a farmers market at your school, visit:http://www.watervineimpact.com/blog

Have fun! 

© 2015 Watervine Impact LLC

[theskimm]

[margaretgifford]

I love this from post from theskimm:

We haven’t wanted to write this one.

But yesterday we were interviewed on NPR (!). When we checked the website, we saw this in the comments section from a Gordon:

“Wow. So, with a million plus in funding, they produce a *newsletter* that gives me headlines? One can only politely...

[margaretgifford]

PS41 Farmers Market movers n’ shakers...

[margaretgifford]

Farmers Market at School: Bring Small Bills & Bags

Recently, my daughter's public school in New York City launched a weekly after school farmers market for kids and parents. Many people in the "good food" world know how hard it can be to get a project like this going. This market was no exception. It resulted from years of hard work on the part of a couple of dedicated parents who worked with the school administration and the dining staff to get fresh healthy food integrated into the school and the curriculum. These visionary partners forged relationships with local chefs, such as Grammercy Tavern's Executive Chef Michael Anthony, to create  Cafe Days hosted by Wellness in the Schools. Cafe Days teach the children cooking skills, straight from the world's best chefs. The team also integrated healthier alternatives on the school menus. They formed a Wellness Committee so that other parents could help and they got recycling and composting at the school, too.  

But the dream of providing the kids with fresh local food at an after school farmers market always seemed too far away - until we heard about their dilemma and connected them to Greenmarket Co. My company, Watervine Impact, is dedicated to connecting food and agriculture enterprises with customers and other key resources to help them grow. Greenmarket Co. is the local food wholesale distribution service run by the city's farmers markets and managed by GrowNYC. Greenmarket Co. agreed to supply the school farmers market with farm fresh, local and often organic and sustainably grown fresh fruit, eggs and vegetables. The new school market will run one afternoon a week. The market was mobbed on its first day and sold out of apples, tomatoes and asparagus in less than a hour. Children sampled apples and peanut butter donated by a local peanut butter restaurant, Peanut Butter & Co.

Chances are, if you are reading Barnraiser, you probably know something about why fresh food is great for kids, but do you know why a market like this is great for farmers, too?

Greenmarket Co. sources from small and mid-scale farms in the northeast region — mostly from NY state, but also from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maine. Farms range from a 300 acre vegetable farm utilizing conventional growing practices, to a 200 year old fruit orchard utilizing integrated pest management (IPM), to small organic vegetable farms, organic grain and bean farms, egg producers and dairies. These are farmers who grow enormous amounts of food, but are often either too big for a farmers market (also known as "ag in the middle"), or too small to have enough to sell every week and are new or beginner farmers. When a school program buys regularly from these farms, it allows the farmers to have a stable and predictable market for their good food. It saves farmland, too.

This market teaches the children about business enterprise - both because they are running this market themselves and because they see farmers providing products for resale and they learn about the supply chain. The children learn about good health and good taste, too, because fresh food tastes better. Families can trace their food supply straight from the farm to the schoolyard.

And that's a delicious new after school snack that is likely to give the tired old ice cream truck at the edge of the playground a run for its money.

[margaretgifford]

Changing the way we eat?

I attended TEDx Manhattan this weekend. The tagline was "Changing the way we eat." The purpose of TEDx talks is to hear "ideas worth spreading." 

While I heard some amazing speakers and the event was beautifully produced by the talented Diane Hatz, the event left me feeling that the food movement has reached the borders of its known territory. If the movement truIy wants to change the way people eat, we're going to need to hear from some new voices so that we are moving from “Changing the way we eat” to “EVERYBODY EATS!”

What is TED?

TED was originally created by graphic designer and architect Richard Saul Wurman in the1980's to bring Technology, Entertainment and Design together in one hyper-creative mashup. Hosted in Monterey, TED created a human mixology of interesting people, from mathematicians to inventors and and designers. I lived nearby and heard from people who paid the $2000 ticket price (or sponsored their way in) that the events were mind-changing and worth the price of entrance. TED seemed like a welcome respite from the dog and pony shows of the high technology marketing world.

TEDx is TED for the masses. TEDx talks can be hosted anywhere, as long as you obey some basic guidelines. I participated in TEDx Franklin St "Beloved Community: a free event a few years ago in Chapel Hill, NC hosted by the author Allegra Jordan.

I was interested to attend TEDx Manhattan "Changing the way we eat" to see what my new city thinks about food. TEDx Manhattan was beautiful, well-orchestrated and the speakers were entertaining and moving. But will it change the way we eat? Probably not. Was the mixology right? Not quite. Like the food movement today, it reflected the same voices saying pretty much the same things in the same way, and that's a missed opportunity.

When it comes to food, the points of view that seem to matter are the middle and upper economic classes. Where is everybody else? Henry Hargreaves (one of the visual artists presenting); DJ Cavem; Stephen Ritz of Green Bronx Machine; Marcel VanOoyen and the farmers from Greenmarkets discussing “Wholesale with a heart” were a good start, but I want more!! I want to know the "everybody eats" - the normal people's stories - the immigrant, the grandmothers, the people who have not managed to parlay their passion into a job at the White House or a best selling book or film. Those are the people in the food movement who are most interesting and inspiring and whose stories I want to hear. How do they eat every day? Where do they buy their food? What can the "food movement" do for them? Not what does the food movement want to do to them. This isn't to take anything away from the beauty and passion of the individuals who were on stage. They deserved to be there, but it's time for new stories from new walks of life.

So... I listened, I was moved, but mostly I walked away thinking: something needs to change.

I’m hungry for new stories, like this one "Mole and a movie: Vida Propia" from filmmaker and journalist Victoria Bouloubasis about Nora Mendez' life as a cook at a Durham, NC Mexican restaurant. Everyday food heroes are who we need to hear from now, told in their own voices, with the themes that matter to THEM, not what we think is meaningful from their story. If we really want to push the food movement beyond its current boundaries and make good food a daily reality for everybody everywhere, then these are the people we need to hear from now.

TEDx Manhattan showcased many, many excellent and important insights during the day. If you want to get inspired, watch Stephen Ritz of Green Bronx Machine talk about the kids’ work in the Bronx or listen to Dr. Robert Graham talk about hospital food and bringing a garden to Lenox Hill Hospital, or for some groove, watch DJ Cavem rap about O.G. (Organic Gardening). Or cry when you hear Joel Berg talk about hunger in New York City.

The food movement needs a new narrative. The first wave of narrators took us to this point, but they can't take us over the finish line. Because when 3 farms a week are failing while 1 in 5 children go hungry, it's time to find some new stories and change the way EVERYBODY EATS.

[margaretgifford]

A food sisterhood in North Carolina: Farmer Foodshare, chefs and farmers

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/28/dining/a-food-sisterhood-flourishes-in-north-carolina.html

By Kim Severson, New York Times

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Back in the 1970s, when Nathalie Dupree and Shirley Corriher were cooking together in Atlanta, they wanted to avoid the kind of relationship in which competition slides into rancor.

So the two women, who went on to build national reputations, developed the pork chop theory. The idea is that one pork chop in a pan cooks up dry. But two produce enough fat to feed each other, and the results are much better.

The pork chop theory is as good an explanation as any for what’s happening in North Carolina, where women dominate the best professional kitchens.

The North Carolina food sisterhood stretches out beyond restaurants, too, into pig farming, flour milling and pickling. Women run the state’s pre-eminent pasture-raised meat and organic produce distribution businesses and preside over its farmers’ markets. They influence food policy and lead the state’s academic food studies. And each fall, the state hosts the nation’s only retreat for women in the meat business.

“Really, the women own every single link in the food chain in North Carolina,” said Margaret Gifford, a brand consultant in New York City who spent 16 years in the state and started Farmer Foodshare, which connects North Carolina farmers with dozens of hunger relief agencies.

To be sure, women are still only nibbling around the edges of North Carolina’s big agricultural engines, like the $2.5 billion hog industry. And the most recent United States census figures show that women run just over 12 percent of the state’s 50,218 farms, a little less than the national average.

But in the state’s local-food movement and top-flight restaurants, women are represented in outsize proportions.

[nybg]

Sometimes I look at the decades-old trees in the Garden and wonder what stories they would tell if they could. Mei Linn Chan takes this sort of sentiment literally with her gorgeous Leaf Type. With leaves like this, branches would become words and sentences and would give voice to the trees. I love how she highlights the symmetry and asymmetry of her diverse choice of leaves by keeping only their veins to support her letters and numbers. And there are so many different shades of green! —HG

[margaretgifford]

Picking Projects for the Win

Here's how I've been picking projects lately. 

1. Is this project core to what I do?

I build businesses, funds and market opportunities that matter. (That doesn't mean they have to be social impact businesses, but having an eye to making the world better, smarter or more connected helps.)

2. What will be made different, or better, if I do this?

I tend to throw myself deeply into whatever I do. With a little luck and the help of many good friends, we are usually able to make something interesting happen - if the project has heart. 

Learning how to reprogram a food system in North Carolina by founding Farmer Foodshare  landed in this arena.

So does working with MEMO to focus an interesting idea, and then raise money and support.  MEMO is an observatory being created by sculptors and scientists on the Jurassic coast of England. It is dedicated to monitoring the speed of extinction and collaborating with the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation to try to mitigate mass species loss.

Life's short. Have fun. Do good. Make money. Remember what matters. 

[margaretgifford]

#WTC stairways. Eerily quiet. 

[margaretgifford]

Here's a way to Solve Malnutrition, Eat Well & Keep Farmers Farming!

Want to keep farmers on the land AND solve hunger? Here's the "source code" for the creation of Farmer Foodshare - an open source method for connecting people who grow food with people and agencies that need fresh, healthy food. The idea is also all about keeping farmers on the land and opening up new markets for family scale farms.

Hunger IS a solvable problem. Good food for all can and should be supported. (Besides, it tastes GREAT.) Farmer Foodshare's models can be done in any community with farmers, people who are willing to coordinate the effort and people who need to eat and are willing to get engaged too! 

Check out the model on Opensource.com and start sharing! 

(URL: http://opensource.com/life/14/4/farmer-foodshare)

Photo below is of a fruit delivery from Cane Creek Farm in Efland, NC to the children's hunger relief program at C.O.R.A. summer meals distribution center in Siler City NC. The melons were purchased from the farmer at a discount that the farmer agreed to by Farmer Foodshare's POP Market.

[urbangardennyc]

Urban Garden Center Reopens Following East Harlem Explosion

Urban Garden Center is back in business after a nearby gas explosion left the store heavily damaged. The East Harlem garden center is located directly across the street from where the March 12 blas…

Thank you for sharing our story.

[margaretgifford]

So happy that spring is here. Spring means I can work outside, and eavesdrop with abandon while working at the park or at my favorite espresso dealer. 

Today I overheard two gamers discussing gun design in great detail. One showed the other one a schematic of a tank. I glanced over and saw they had attendee badges for the Games for Change conference being held in conjunction with Tribeca Film Festival.

What an interesting combination - gamers and filmmakers working together to take on the world's biggest challenges. Stay tuned.