Taking a Polycapital Approach
When most people hear “capital”, they think of money. But capital is a broader idea, covering any resource that helps something take root and grow over time.
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Our role is to coordinate these forms of capital around the work already underway – assembling what's needed, in the combinations that fit, and at the moments they can do the most good.
Financial:
money, in the forms the work can actually use
Knowledge:
research, analysis, and practical experience from those who have done this before
Technical:
direct support for designing, structuring, and delivering the work
Relational:
trust, convening, and the connections that enable efforts to find each other and reinforce one another
Human:
the talent, leadership, and experience in the region
Advocacy:
policymaking, mindset shifts, and connections
Money is rarely the only bottleneck. Capital also has to be sequenced, fit to context, and matched to the work already happening on the ground. That's exactly what we're building our fund to do — put money to work in the combinations, and at the moments, it can do the most good.
Grants
for early ideas, shared infrastructure, organizing, and the foundational work that markets undervalue
Patient loans
for cooperatives and small businesses that need affordable financing to grow
Equity
for ventures where shared ownership builds long-term local wealth
Where we are at today:
Orchestration has always been our core role — bringing the right capital partners around the right opportunities and shaping the structures that move this work forward. Now we're taking the next step: our own fund vehicles are complete, and we're beginning to raise. Alongside the capital we coordinate from partners, we'll soon be able to invest directly in the region.
Grants in action: our first microgrants
Grants are the first form of capital we've put to work. Our opening round backed 22 community-led initiatives across food, housing, land, circular materials, and community resilience — exactly the early-stage ideas markets tend to overlook, and the starting point for deeper support as the work matures.
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