About Us
History of CGF
The foundation for the Capital Good Fund was laid during the summer of 2008 when Alan Harlam, director of Social Entrepreneurship at Brown University’s Swearer Center for Public Service, brought together two Brown University students who were interested in microfinance, Mollie West (A.B. ’09) and Andy Posner (A.M. ’09) to establish a student-led microlending program in Providence, Rhode Island. Alan Harlam led Mollie and Andy through a period of intense research on the practices of microlenders in the US and around the world. The Swearer Center provided a space for research as well as connections to community leaders and organizations throughout Providence. Through conversations with members of the community, Mollie and Andy realized that there was a tremendous need for access to affordable financial services among low income individuals that was not being met. They decided to undertake the process of creating a sustainable, innovative organization that could meet that need and thus help foster economic development in many Providence communities.
During the fall of 2008, both West and Posner used Social Entrepreneurship, a class offered at Brown and taught by Professors Barrett Hazeltine, Chris Bull, and Geoffrey Kirkman, to formalize the structure of what they envisioned as a socially-minded lending institution benefiting the Providence community. It was during the fall that Raisa Aziz (’11) and Nabeel Gillani (’12) joined the project. Together, the four students learned the theory of establishing sustainable social ventures, management structures, fundraising, and clients’ expectations, and began to apply this theory to the development of CGF.
The fall of 2008 also saw the strengthening and extension of community relations that Alan, Andy and Mollie had initiated through connections with the Swearer Center during the previous summer. Through focus groups with potential borrowers, meetings with organizations such as the Center for Women and Enterprise and the Small Business Development Center, and interactions with staff members at the John Hope Settlement house and International Institute of Rhode Island, the four students learned more about the needs of their potential clients. The group saw how microlending could substantiate services already being offered in Providence (such as free business training courses and financial literacy programs), and more importantly, how small loans could have a tremendous impact on the well-being of thousands of families in the city. It was during this time that the team decided upon the lending methodology it would implement during its Spring 2009 pilot phase and wrote a full business plan detailing that methodology.
During the spring of 2009, CGF obtained its legal status as a nonprofit organization in the state of Rhode Island. The Fund also pulled together the financial resources with which they would conduct their pilot phase during the spring. Generous contributions from Brown University’s Swearer Center, the Clinton Global University Initiative, DoSomething.org, Ashoka Youth Ventures, Brown University and Rhode Island Elevator Pitch contests, and a number of private donations gave the Fund the money it needed to deliver small loans.
In November 2009, CGF became a national tax-exempt, 501 (c) (3) organization. This status has translated into an expansion of services to members of the target market including, among other things, the ability to report borrowers’ repayments to credit reporting agencies.
The Capital Good Fund continues to grow and implement innovative ways to help low and moderate-income families raise their standards of living. Please help us further our mission of creating a poverty-free, inclusive green economy by clicking here.
