Our Investments

This investment provides capital for affordable housing development loans in the Atlanta region, with a focus on supporting under-resourced developers. SCF’s loan supports ANDP’s bridge, predevelopment, and construction financing to local nonprofit and for-profit affordable housing developers.

This program targets growth businesses in Texas operated by women and minorities by utilizing flexible underwriting criteria and intensive technical assistance. SCF has targeted a portion of its funds to BCL’s “Tranche 1” businesses, which typically are newer enterprises. BCL is headquartered in Dallas with an office in Austin and serves all of Texas.

This private equity fund invests in growth-stage, privately held companies located in rural and other underserved sectors of the US, with a focus on the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. It is the first fund for Blue Highway Capital, a women-led partnership.

BCF provides working capital and flexible financing to help historically underserved small B2B firms participate in corporate and government contracting supply chains, alongside technical assistance, financial coaching, and back-office support.

This program increases Fahe’s affordable housing and community facility lending across Appalachia, a region with poverty rates double the national average and a loss of historic economic drivers such as mining. Success story: A Lifeline for Miners

SCF invested in FINCA shortly after the 2010 earthquake to provide loan capital for micro-businesses. Loans averaging $170 were issued to extremely poor women individually or as part of village banking groups. Success story: A Crafty Way to Rebuild

Borrowers receive starting loans of $1,500 with no collateral requirements, structured as a group loan with five other borrowers. SCF’s capital has funded hundreds of loans and, across the fund’s life, supported a large multiple of end-user lending. Success story: Herlinda’s Ice Cream Dream

SCF provided $66,000 in seed capital for a $100,000 prototype mortgage fund serving people earning 60%–80% of AMI, using a securitization structure so capital could be recycled in 30–90 days rather than over a 20- to 30-year mortgage.

Hamilton Hills is a two-phase, 88-unit LIHTC community. SCF invested in the second phase, providing site acquisition capital to Gorman & Company. SCF exited the project in June 2025 as it moved into construction.

Hope Credit Union is a low-income designated CDFI. About 75% of its branches are in high-poverty areas. SCF’s investment provided general support to grow loan programs benefitting low-income and underserved populations.

Lendistry is a fintech CDFI and a minority-led organization. SCF’s capital supported its return to direct small-business lending after a period of managing large third-party relief programs.

Capital for small-business recovery lending in communities designated as disaster areas, continuing SCF’s long partnership with LiftFund.

LiftUp provides micro- to small-business loans of up to $25,000 using LiftFund’s risk model so emerging businesses with less documentation can still qualify.

These funds assist with immediate business disaster response for up to three years after a FEMA designation in seven southern coastal states.

SCF was one of the first funders of LiftFund’s rapid-response disaster fund, adding $100,000 for no-interest, fast-deployment relief. Two years later the broader effort had delivered $7.2 million to 322 small business owners. Success story: Rising from the Floodwaters

MCNW used SCF’s flexible capital while adjusting loan products to better address the needs of the most underserved borrowers.

SCF’s funds were used in a construction loan to the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians that expanded a grocery and community services hub, created jobs, and cut a 60-mile round trip for everyday goods. Success story: Strengthen Native Communities

The Fifty-Five is a four-story mixed-use complex being developed by Gorman & Company. It incorporates 60 affordable apartments ranging from one to three bedrooms, all reserved for households earning between 30% and 80% of area median income, plus 7,500 square feet of ground-floor commercial space in East Point, Fulton County. SCF’s investment provided part of the project’s land loan to acquire the site.

In 2015, SCF loaned $200,000 to support LiftFund’s Promise Loan Program. This prototype micro-lending program incorporated a unique underwriting system designed to fund early-stage low-income business owners that LiftFund’s existing programs were not previously able to serve. After 3-4 years of testing and revising the program to overcome high losses, LiftFund tightened its underwriting criteria to reduce Promise Loan defaults. Consequently, SCF’s capital was not being adequately deployed to end-users due to the tightened lending standards and resulting lower deployments overall. SCF’s loan to LiftFund was subsequently modified in October 2017 to allow its funds to support the newer LiftUp loan program. LiftUp loans were developed to serve clientele similar to the Promise Loan program but by utilizing LiftFund’s standard underwriting parameters (these standards had been loosened on some important criteria based on learnings gained from the Promise Loan Program).

SCF’s $27,000 loan supported low-income business owners in San Antonio, Texas, allowing LiftFund to increase its lending capacity in a well-established market region with unmet loan capital needs. SCF selected LiftFund (previously Accion Texas, Inc.) given it status as a U.S. small business microloan industry leader. Our capital was targeted to grow LiftFund’s lending within its historic and to expand to new geographic markets, as well as to continue serving low-income, minority, and underserved populations. LiftFund’s borrowers are typically low-income small-business owners, of which over 80% were minorities and 35% were women (at the time of investment). Success story: A Lifeline for Miners

SCF’s $44,000 loan increased small-business loans to low-income owners in New Orleans, Shreveport, and Alexandria, Louisiana. These were new expansion regions for LiftFund where there existed unmet lending needs. SCF selected LiftFund (previously Accion Texas, Inc.) given its status as a U.S. small business microloan industry leader. Our capital was targeted to grow LiftFund’s lending within its historic and to expand to new geographic markets, as well as to continue serving low-income, minority, and underserved populations. LiftFund’s borrowers are typically low-income small-business owners, of which over 80% were minorities and 35% were women (at the time of investment).

SCF provided Northern Initiatives (NI), a CDFI, with a loan to support its new Regional Revolving Loan Fund program (RRLF) in Michigan. The RRLF lends to low-to-moderate income small-business owners in upstate rural Michigan. Funds from this investment are coupled with approximately $4.25 million in Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG) funds from 12 rural Michigan counties. CDBG is a federal government sponsored program designed to provide low-to-moderate income people and businesses with funds to support various economic and community development activities. The pairing of SCF funds with CDBG funds provides NI with greater flexibility to deploy loans. SCF’s funds are able to be used for loan activities that are needed by the borrowers to achieve success but excluded by CDBG loan parameters. NI’s overall investment portfolio consists of 40% women-owned businesses, 60% microloans, and 20% start-up businesses.

This capital supports NI’s small business lending activities targeting “diverse” populations—women, minorities, and veterans—within NI’s more recent service expansion areas within lower Michigan’s rural and minor urban areas. The loans funded will be capped at $60,000 in order to target to serve small and emerging businesses—a sector that has been largely underserved, and even more so as it relates to women and minorities. As part of its efforts to increase its lending to more diverse populations, NI will incorporate flexible underwriting criteria, heightened outreach efforts (including opening new offices), develop language and culturally appropriate materials. NI also anticipates that it will need to provide these new entrepreneurs with higher levels of training and business technical assistance services in order for them to achieve stability, growth and success.

SCF’s investment in this US-based capital-raising arm of Oikocredit International provided general funding for Oikocredit International to grow its development financing and technical assistance to its 800+ partner organizations—microfinance institutions, fair trade co-ops, renewable energy initiatives and social enterprises—in over 60+ developing countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Runway Project Oakland is part of a national initiative solving the “Friends & Family” seed funding gap for African American entrepreneurs. This program strives to fix the broken infrastructure surrounding African American entrepreneurs. It provides early-stage funding using a flexible underwriting process and holistic high-touch business support. Loans are low-interest and capped at $20,000. Runway Project builds and leverages a connected ecosystem of funders and business service providers as a wealth-building strategy for the entrepreneur. Core partners in the Oakland-based prototype program include: Self Help Federal Credit Union, Impact Hub Oakland, Uptima and other entrepreneur bootcamps. Between the launch of the program in October 2017 and December 31, 2019, twenty one loans had been made to African American entrepreneurs and additional capital is also being raised to continue to grow this investment fund. Success story: Soaring with Runway Project

SCF made an initial $250,000 Certificate of Deposit investment into the Self Help Federal Credit Union (SHFCU) general loan fund.The loans include auto, unsecured, and mortgage loans as well as affordable consumer loans like Dreamer, Citizenship and Just Right loans. Traditionally, loans from SHFCU have been distributed to 86% low-income borrowers, 93% to people of color, 33% to women; 63% of all loans have been made into distressed areas. The geographic scope of SHFCU’s lending has greatly expanded and loans are now being deployed within California, Illinois and Florida. As a CDFI, SHFCU has positioned itself as a national leader in providing financial services to low-income and underserved populations.