Bloomberg Highlights Open Road Venture’s First $10 Million in Loan Disbursements
We’re thrilled to announce that as of September, Open Road’s loan fund, Open Road Ventures (ORV), crossed the $10 million mark in disbursements.
Back in February, we announced the official launch of ORV with a commitment to at least $50 million in loans to nonprofits and social enterprises over the next five years.
We developed ORV after identifying a significant gap in the kinds of funding available to nonprofits and social enterprises, and recognizing that the rigidity of traditional philanthropic funding was inhibiting the potential impact of social organizations. What began as a pilot loan program quickly proved a valuable offering to social entrepreneurs.
Laurie Michaels in the Bloomberg interview:
“…we got very positive responses from the people to whom we proposed this. In fact, many of the social entrepreneurs were happier to have a loan. It allowed them to start to establish credit. One person was very clear that it allowed her to get off her knees and stop begging donors for money, but to walk in and propose a deal with donors in which she felt of equal status.”
As of today, ORV has kept $105.4 million worth of impact on track. We’re honored to be able to support our partners who are doing the hard work of managing a business while building a better tomorrow.
We’re excited to cross the $10 million milestone (with no defaults to-date) on our way to deploying $50 million for impact over the next five years.
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