- Crowdfunding Rules Are Here
- Business Ownership and the Racial Wealth Gap
- Read the CAMEO op-ed in The Hill – The small business case to designate California Desert monuments
- The Goodies – This week’s highlight is to vote for Teri Kelsall, The Jonas Project’s founder, for L’Oreal Paris’ Woman of Worth 2015. You can vote once a day, every day until November 20.
Crowdfunding Rules Are Here
The Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, enacted in 2012, created a structure to allow and expedite crowdfunding investments. Since then, everyone in the finance industry has been waiting for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to issue their rules for crowdfunding. The wait is finally over. On October 30, the SEC issued a final rule for crowdfunding that will be effective January 29, 2016. Highlights of the new requirement include:
- Small businesses can raise up to $1 million in a twelve-month period and with certain disclosures.
- The amount an investor can spend is limited depending on their net worth.
- Funding portals are required to register with the Financial Industry Regulatory authority (FINRA).
For more details and resources, may we suggest the following:
- Wall Street, Meet Main Street – Equity crowdfunding finally makes its debut, written by Marsha Bailey, President, CEO & Founder of WEV, and Chair of Association of Women’s Business Centers and
- What the new SEC crowdfunding rules actually mean, a dispatch from John Katavich, President of Cutting Edge Capital, a CAMEO member that specializes in equity financing and crowdfunding.
Business Ownership and the Racial Wealth Gap
The racial wealth gap is a growing problem, and expanding opportunities for business ownership can help to counteract it. And CAMEO’s been a strong proponent of promoting business ownership as a way to close the gap. Claudia testified in the fall of 2014 at a Senate Banking Committee hearing entitled “Who is the Economy Working For? The Impact of Rising Inequality on the American Economy.”
Existing research shows that African Americans and Latinos frequently encounter barriers that limit business ownership and growth, including lower levels of financing, lower levels of education and business experience, and lack of market access. As a result, these groups tend to have lower levels of business and financial assets, contributing to overall lower levels of wealth.
The Asset Funders Network (and co-written by Joyce Klein of Aspen Institute’s FIELD) has a new report out that explains the potential for microenterprise development organizations and worker cooperatives to create and strengthen opportunities for individuals of color to benefit from business ownership – Narrowing the Racial Wealth Gap through Business Ownership.
Two other related resources: In last week’s Must Know we wrote about two programs that are designed to increase diversity in small business lending; and CFED had a webinar Wealth Inequality and the Tax Code: Communications and Advocacy.
The Goodies
New opportunities for training, conference information, funding, scholarships, and other information that have crossed our desks since the last Must Know. I have posted a running tab of current Industry Goodies on the CAMEO website that lists items that were in past emails. Check it out to make sure you’re not missing anything, like grants whose deadlines are still alive!
Member Kudos: Congrats to Arcata Economic Development Corporation who received $1 million to provide low-interest loans for business and community development from the USDA.
Member Kudos: CALED in partnership with VEDC are now administering a Statewide Revolving Loan Fund (SRLF) through guidelines set by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration.
New Report: The U.S. Small Business Administration, released a study entitled Income and Net Worth of Veteran Business Owners over the Business Cycle, 2007–2013.
For Your Client: The U.S. Department of the Treasury recently announced the official launch of myRA, a new retirement savings account for the millions of workers in America who don’t have access to a retirement savings plan through work or have not found an easy way to start saving.
FIELD’s EntrepreneurTracker: The tool offers a credible, affordable way to collect and understand outcomes achieved by small business and microbusiness clients. Such outcomes include: Business start and survival rates, jobs, changes in revenue, hourly wages paid to workers, and client movement out of poverty. To discuss pricing and learn more about EntrepreneurTracker, please contact Tamra Thetford.
Economic Forecasts: Beacon Economics provides customized five-year data forecasts. Check out what your region’s forecast looks like: Los Angeles, San Diego, East Bay, South Bay, and San Francisco.
CDFI Opportunity: The Wells Fargo Works for Small Business®: Diverse Community Capital program is a three-year initiative that will deliver $75 million in grants and lending capital to CDFIs. Register for Wells Fargo’s information session that will discuss the program guidelines and answer questions on November 17, 2015, 1:00-1:45pm PT // 4:00-4:45pm ET. Interest Forms for Diverse Community Capital are due December 1, 2015.
AEO Policy Call: AEO is hosting a policy call on Thursday, November 19, 2015 at 11:00am PT // 2:00pm ET. Phone number: (712) 432-1212; Meeting ID: 176-513-221. Topics include the FY16 funding landscape, microloan legislation, WBC modernization legislation, and healthcare.
Take Action: The Jonas Project is CAMEO’s WOVEN project manager. Vote for Teri Kelsall, The Jonas Project’s founder, for L’Oreal Paris’ Woman of Worth 2015. This award recognizes women that are making a beautiful difference in the world. As a recipient, Teri was given $10,000 for The Jonas Project and has an opportunity to win an additional $25,000. Vote for Teri the National Women of Worth honorees! You can vote once a day, every day until November 20.
Small Business Saturday: It’s that time of year to join CAMEO and be counted among the hundreds of organizations supporting small businesses across the country on Small Business Saturday, November 28th. Join the Small Business Saturday Coalition to support the campaign. As a member of the Coalition you will have access to special communications tools and be listed on www.ShopSmall.com. And now it’s got DC’s stamp of approval. This week, the Senate unanimously agreed to a Resolution designating November 28, 2015 as Small Business Saturday.
For Your Client: National Small Business Week has been recognizing the special impact made by outstanding entrepreneurs and small business owners since 1963. During this week, the U.S. Small Business Administration honors small business owners and entrepreneurs for their outstanding achievements through various awards. The The deadline is January 11, 2016.
AEO National Conference: Save the date May 18-20, 2016 in Washington, DC to celebrate 25 years!