There has been no shortage of articles about new year’s resolutions. I’d be reluctant to join the chorus if this one didn’t have the potential to yield so much good for so little effort.

Many people recommend focusing your 2023 goals on a single objective. If you’re struggling to find one, look no further! This one is easy.

If you are taking a portfolio approach to your self-improvement this year, here’s an idea that will be easy to add into the mix as it will take less time and money than most.

For 2023, set a goal to make an impact investment via crowdfunding.

 
 
 
To be clear, I’m not talking about donating to charity or helping someone in need on GoFundMe. Those are good and noble things to do, but I’m talking about something similarly easy but fundamentally different.

The biggest difference is that you could get your money back—with interest!

Mindset

The biggest challenge to making your first investment is your mindset. For about 90 years following the Great Depressio...more

Remember the “starter home?” It was a bungalow. Or a cottage? No, a rambler! I’m writing wistfully in the past tense because the starter home has largely disappeared.

This at a time when experts widely agree we need at least 6 million new homes to house all Americans? Yep. Because many cities and boroughs have made building small homes all but impossible.

The hardest project of my life was a 235 SQF “tiny home” on a 1500 SQF lot in Pittsburgh’s Garfield neighborhood.

I was attempting to build a single-family, detached home in a neighborhood with existing amenities and infrastructure. But the zoning codes as written originally left me with only 50 SQF to build on. 50!

I had to fight the zoning board and building inspector. I had to crowdfund the project (on www.SmallChange.co of course) because I couldn’t get a bank loan since there were no comps. It was as if the city had intentionally designed the codes to make the unit economics of building a starter completely unaffordable.

Communit...more

If we hope to build a thriving economy that supports a diversity of business models and entrepreneurs, we should work to expand inclusive non-VC business funding models .... cont'd 

https://www.entrepreneur.com/leadership/venture-capital-funding-no-longer-provides-a-just-and/438356 

WEconomy is a social, financial movement powered by a revolutionary set of tools that help establish thriving regional economies, available to all residents, fueled by their own local currency.

In addition to Crowdfunding, the WEconomy sets the stage for residents of communities in crisis to enjoy purpose, resilience and prosperity again...all without the need to get in line at a bank or hope for benevolent investors.

Join me on Friday for my closing address and learn what we've been cooking.

At 3PM ET / noon PT tomorrow, I'll be presenting a session at SuperCrowd22 on "Doing Good and Doing Well - How to pick impact investment opportunities".

I'll be sharing my own 5-step process for investing in exciting and impactful companies online. We'll also be reviewing some key stats about the online impact investing startup ecosystem in 2022 (which has already raised $78.2 million from nearly 50,000 individuals). 

This is easily the most impressive collection of impact investing and online startup investing experts and professionals all converging in one place for this event. 

I'll also be on a panel while a number of impactful startups pitch in front of a live (virtual) audience on Friday. Don't miss it!

You can see the detailed SuperCrowd22 agenda here.

Still need a ticket? Use coupon code "cfpamembers" at checkout on the page here to save $124 off your ticket!

Tomorrow I will speak at SuperCrowd22  (see: https://www.supercrowd22.com ) - a two day event (September 15/16) - along with thought leaders and practitioners addressing issues at the cross section of impact investing + investment crowdfunding. 

I am honored to be participating in this event. 

I'll address the topic of "Will Local News be the Next Frontier for Investment Crowdfunding?" 

I believe it's a topic of vital importance to our country and for the preservation of US democracy. At SuperCrowd, I'll speak to: 1) the current state of Local News media (it's not good) 2) a historical perspective on how we've gotten here and 3) a view on what can be done to help save or reinvigorate Local News across the country.    
 
As a preview, here are some slides and facts from part one of my presentation - the current state of Local News.  

Slide 2: The US loses two local newspapers each week! Since 2004, there has been a net loss of 2,514 papers. 

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Friday, December 31, 2021

Dear friends,

Thank you for another year far surpassing my hopes both personally and professionally.

The CfPA continues to be highly-regarded here and abroad as a generous and vital organization expanding access to capital and opportunity for entrepreneurs, small businesses and investors. Our work in 2021 helped Crowdfunding reach new highs, extended our global voice, and expanded our capacity domestically. We saw over $500M raised using RegCF offerings where even non-accredited investors finally got a piece of the pie. We saw RegA+ offerings land over $2B. For these, and so many other reasons, it continues to be an honor to be a part of a leadership team on the cutting edge of Alternative Finance. CfPA’s reputation continues to be enhanced by the many professionals who freely contribute their time and expertise to advancing the association and the industry. There have been so many noteworthy moments and I look forward to seeing even more debut in ’22.

In 2021...more