New Impact Offerings, Crowdfunding Is Democratizing Real Estate Investment, Next Impact Cherub Club Meeting, Pulling Water from Air, Live Pitches from SuperCrowd24 and Chapter 7: Investment Strategies
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Handprint Featured Among New Impact Offerings - April 15, 2024
Each week, Superpowers for Good shares a list of new impact-related offerings added to FINRA-Registered crowdfunding portals and by broker-dealers. We’ll share four separate lists:
Impact offerings as determined by KingsCrowd reviews.
Offerings with minority founders.
Deals with women founders.
Those with LGBTQ founders.
Bridging Gaps: How Crowdfunding Is Democratizing Real Estate Investment
AI Episode Summary
1. Devin Thorpe introduces Eve Picker, CEO and founder of Small Change, a crowdfunding portal for real estate projects with social impact.
2. Eve discusses recent expansion at Small Change, including the addition of five new partners from another real estate crowdfunding platform.
3. The short-term effect of this expansion is increased busyness and the need to align the new partners with Small Change's processes and compliance issues.
4. Long-term implications include the ability to handle more and larger listings and to take on a broader range of projects.
5. Small Change leverages Regulation Crowdfunding, which enables developers to raise capital from the public for projects with emphasis on democratizing investment.
6. The platform focuses on overlooked neighborhoods and developers, often unable to access capital through traditional means, by allowing them to raise money from people who care about their projects.
7. Small Change has a unique rubric to ensure that listed projects make some form of social impact, whether through the team, the neighborhood, the creation of public spaces, or environmental contributions.
8. Examples of diversity in projects include a developer helping his community buy neighborhood shopping centers and another who is purchasing and restoring great estates in the Berkshires.
9. Investing through Small Change offers possibilities of equity ownership or debt investment in real estate projects, but like any investment, it comes with inherent risks.
10. Devin and Eve discuss her determination and persistence, especially in the face of resistance, as her superpower that led to the creation of Small Change, aiming to disrupt the traditional system and to empower overlooked developers and communities.
See the Great Companies We're Considering at the Next Impact Cherub Club Meeting
As we gear up for the 1:00 PM Eastern, April 23, meeting of the Impact Cherub Club, we invite you to join us. The club is an informal gathering of friends who meet up to review impact investments everyone is eligible to make and virtually anyone can afford. We share responsibility for completing basic due diligence before making investments. No one is required to invest.
There are no dues or fees to participate, and I don’t touch the money. When members invest, they do so directly for their own accounts. We benefit from new members only by the fresh perspectives they bring and our growing social impact. Please join us!
Next Meeting—April 23, at 1:00 PM Eastern
At our next meeting on April 23, at 1:00 PM Eastern/10:00 AM Pacific, consistent with our plans for future sessions, the agenda will have three items:
Transforming Water Access: Pulling Water from Air
AI Episode Summary
1. Devin Thorpe introduces Cody Soodeen, CEO and co-founder of Kara Water, on the "Superpowers for Good" show for a discussion about the company's innovative technology that extracts water from the air.
2. Cody explains how Kara Water's technology works, even in desert climates, to create locally sourced drinking water, emphasizing the broad range of applications and the power of the technology.
3. A major differentiator for Kara Water is Cody's background in architecture, which brought a design-focused, consumer-oriented perspective compared to previous engineers who focused more on the technology aspect.
4. The social impact of Kara Water's technology includes raising awareness about microplastics found in traditional water sources, potentially leading to a transition toward responsible water-sourcing practices similar to the shift to electric vehicles.
5. Kara Water has a long-term vision to make its product more accessible to various communities, aiming to shift the industry from water transportation to decentralized, locally sourced water production.
6. The company ran a crowdfunding campaign on StartEngine to allow supporters and consumers to invest in the business and be part of the mission to make locally sourced drinking water globally accessible.
7. Cody shares his perspective on the consumer impact of their technology, such as reducing the need for bottled water, which would contribute to the environment by eliminating transportation and packaging waste.
8. Cody recounts his background as an architect and his inspiration from nature, specifically the Namibian beetle that harvests water from the air, which led to the founding of Kara Water and the development of its technology.
9. Discussing his "superpower," Cody cites his unwavering commitment to his goals and ambitions, which kept him focused on Kara Water's mission despite challenges and moments of doubt.
10. Cody highlights the importance of remembering the company's mission and purpose, which should drive profit, encouraging to focus on making a difference rather than solely financial returns, and the significance of celebrating small wins along the journey.
Chapter 7: Investment Strategies
This is it! You’ve eaten your spinach. You’ve learned about the different types of investments you’ll see when investing in impact crowdfunding campaigns. You’re ready to get strategic!
There are three different investment strategies I’d like you to evaluate for your circumstances and preferences. Here they are:
Yield Strategy
Venture Capital Strategy
Hybrid Strategy
Remember, I don’t think one of these is better than another universally. I do believe that one may be better than another for you, but only you can figure that out. In this book, I’ll equip you to choose a strategy with the help of advisors.
The first thing to learn is how to find a company you could consider funding. There are nearly 100 funding portals and broker-dealers offering securities, so it sounds daunting.
Don’t choose a single portal for your impact crowdfunding investments. You’ll miss too many opportunities on other sites.
You can start searching for investment opportunities you’ll like by using this link: http://screen.impactcherub.com to find companies currently raising that have been identified as having a social impact. Using the KingsCrowd database, you can adjust the search criteria to find just what you’re after.
What you’re after will be influenced by your strategy, so let’s get started.
Watch the Live Pitches from SuperCrowd24 Here!
April 17, 2:00 PM
April 18, 5:00 PM
Grateful for the super people at SuperCrowd24
This post was originally posted at Crowdfunding Ecosystem
On behalf of the Crowdfunding Professional Association (CfPA), I would like to express gratitude to Devin Thorpe and Chandan Saha for providing CfPA with the opportunity to co-host SuperCrowd24 and for giving the CfPA board and members the opportunity to share their perspectives and expertise and to connect with a community of attendees from all over the world. The event was highly engaging and informative (-- and provided a welcome diversion following the end of this year’s tax season).
The agenda was packed, the speakers were amazing, and the topics were relevant across a wide range of themes. Personally, I was pleased to hear numerous discussions about the possible integration of regulated investment crowdfunding into the full capital stack of various businesses -- from small enterprises seeking SBA loans to major corporations managing complex divestitures – as it points to a future where crowdfunding and community-ownership could be an important pro-social substitute for other forms of financing, such as private equity.
Upcoming SuperCrowd Event Calendar
If a location is not noted, the events below are virtual.
Impact Cherub Club Meeting hosted by The Super Crowd, Inc., a public benefit corporation, on April 23, 2024, at 1:00 PM Eastern. Each month, the Club meets to review new offerings for investment consideration and to conduct due diligence on previously screened deals. Everyone is welcome to join these free events.
SuperCrowdChicago, June 12, 2024. This in-person event at Columbia College Chicago features some of Chicago’s prominent citizens and community leaders, along with crowdfunding experts. Use the discount code “SuperCrowd” to save 30 percent!
SuperCrowdHour, April 24, 2024, at 1:00 Eastern. We’ll talk with Chip Hauss and other peacebuilders about the role of investment crowdfunding in community building.
Recently, we created an AI GPT to help you learn more about The Super Crowd, Inc., a public benefit corporation, and our upcoming events. Click here to try it.
SuperCrowd Community Event Calendar
Investment Crowdfunding Demystified, Crowdfund Better, April 23 at 2:00 PM ET
Move Your Money Month, April 2024, American Independent Business Alliance
Crowdfunding Professional Association Webinar, May 8, 2:00 PM ET
The Reg A & Crowdfunding Conference, June 20, Westchester Country Club (Save 20% with the code Super20)
Crowdfunding Professional Association, Summit in DC, October 22-23
If you would like to submit an event for us to share with the 4,000+ members of the SuperCrowd, click here.
