GreenYour.com

Hoping for high returns, venture capitalists look for ways to pump their capital into start-up companies or projects with potential. Perhaps you like risk and want to do something good for the earth, but you're not yet a multi-millionaire with the financial resources necessary to start your own venture capital firm. Opportunities to invest in smaller, green projects do exist, so read on to find out how.

How to invest in green start-ups

Green start-up investment opportunities come in many shapes and sizes. For the everyday investor, these types of investments are often classed as community development investments. For a succinct overview of the various options, check out this table of products. Here are a few of the main types:

1. Check out community development loan funds: These funds pool investors’ resources to provide affordable financing for new green projects (often nonprofits, both domestic and international). Co-op America’s National Green Pages lists organizations offering these types of loans. Do a search for popular green terms (environment, green, etc.) to find ones that suit your eco-friendly goals.
2. Invest in a community venture fund: Like funds provided by wealthy individual venture capitalists, these funds make loans available to small businesses, but they use a pool of money from many investors. Here’s Co-op America’s listings for these loans too. For more information, you may also want to refer to the Community Development Venture Capital Alliance website.
3. Microenterprise loans: By providing funds to individual entrepreneurs at home or abroad, you’ll be helping green-visionaries get their projects off the ground. Delve deeper with the Microfinance Gateway.

Find it! Start-up investment opportunities

Venture into some high-risk investment opportunities to give entrepreneurs with big eco-dreams a chance to make the world a little greener.

Before you buy

These investments generally offer lower returns than other investments, and usually require a commitment of one to five years. They may or may not be insured, so be sure to weigh the social returns with these risks before getting into community investing.

Becoming a green community investor helps you go green because…

• You’ll be fueling development of projects and companies that work to preserve the planet while making a buck and providing green jobs.

Like other conventional investment vehicles, community start-up projects offer financial returns along with other social benefits.[1] By providing financial assistance to underserved communities, these investments can stimulate grassroots development that strengthens communities and supports earth-friendly business growth.[2] Community investments have grown from $4 billion in 1995 to $19.6 billion in 2005[3] making them a significant source of revenue for new green projects around the world.

External links

• Ceres Works to network investors with environmental organizations and public interest groups to cooperatively work on environmental challenges.
• Co-op America’s Community Investing information They’re a nonprofit member organization working to use economic power (consumer, investor, business, marketplace) to stimulate a just and sustainable world.
• Investing With Your Values A book that covers most investment options and how to get into the money-making game without compromising your values.
• New Resource Bank Get a small business loan or fund your new green building project with financing from this eco-friendly banking firm (San Francisco only).
• Social Funds.com Publishes an investment directory (including venture capital options), news, daily market trends, and investment research, and gives performance information for 75 socially responsible mutual funds.
• Social Investment Forum Encourages responsible investing by evaluating various mutual funds against a variety of indices.