Member Loan Campaign to Launch on March 23

Why are we doing a second member loan campaign? For many reasons:

• The co-op will need about $3.9 million to open.
• Our first member loan campaign was a smashing success as we raised more than $1.7 million.
• Member loans are our most attractive form of debt capital – on average the co-op pays about 4% on member loans and the maturity is 15 years. By contrast bank loans can be above 7% in interest cost and for shorter maturities.
• We have hundreds of new members since we launched our first member loan campaign in April 2019 and some members who participated in the first campaign have expressed a willingness to make an additional loan.
• The more our co-op is financed locally, the more control stays local.

We genuinely appreciate the banks and lending institutions who have agreed to provide capital to our co-op. However, we plan to reduce the amount that we draw on these bank loans to the extent that we raise additional funds through member loans.

Once the member loan campaign is launched on March 23, we will contact all members. However, if you would like to consider being an early investor, please contact us at fxbgfoodcoop@gmail.com.

Participation in our member loan campaign will be limited to our co-op members who reside in Virginia or (in the case of non-residential members) whose businesses are located in Virginia.

Published February 2, 2020