2016 National Expansion Announcement: SourceFunding.org

Inclusive & Equitable Financial Technology

ATLANTA, GA (June 13, 2016) — Institute founder W. Michael Short was invited to the annual Clinton Global Initiative Summit to announce the national expansion of the Institute’s inclusive financial technology platform SourceFunding.org as a 2016 Clinton Foundation-sponsored "Commitment to Action."

Recognized for socially responsible "FinTech Innovation" in the Business & Management Review and highlighted at the White House for economic impact, SourceFunding.org is a community benefit venture focused on helping the 28 million small businesses in the United States expand, create jobs, and revitalize communities.

At launch, SourceFunding.org is the nation's first technology venture focused on helping entrepreneurs, small businesses, and community organizations bypass and avoid the growing number of predatory online lenders and brokers by providing access to the entire network of over14,000 low-cost community banks, credit unions, and community development financial institutions (CDFIs).

"We're especially thankful for the support and input from the brilliant team at the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation like David Wilkinson and Laura Tomasko," said founder W. Michael Short. “We're also incredibly thankful for the world-class team at Clinton Global Initiative and the Clinton Foundation like Dan Goldberg, Stacey Pellegrino, Geoffrey Wnuk, Rose Tobiassen, Shital Patel, Ruchi Bhargava, Kimberly Lovett, and many others."

SourceFunding.org merges unparalleled access to the nation's financing opportunities with the nation's first universal e-application for small business funding. The proprietary system improves loan application outcomes, reduces friction for businesses seeking financing, protects the credit scores of small business applicants, and provides the nation's first viable alternative to the many predatory online lenders.

SourceFunding.org is scaling up the successful SourceFunding™ pilot by GSEI and award-winning Short Enterprises from 2011-2015, which facilitated access to $10 million in capital and economic development resources.

The financial technology platform's expansion was planned in collaboration with university and community college partners in the Ashoka U Accelerator and with the support of co-founder and investor Janet Davas, a mentor with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, principal of social enterprise consultancy Hatch, LLC, and founder of the nationally-recognized and award-winning social enterprise Liberty's Kitchen, which is working to transform the lives of vulnerable and underserved New Orleans youth.

“Our expansion was also made possible by our involvement in the Ashoka U Commons Accelerator, which helped us refine our business model and expansion plans to include a significant focus on empowering the next generation of high impact entrepreneurs — especially in underserved communities — that are unable to access the funding needed to launch and grow their ventures,” said Mr. Short.

To learn more about SourceFunding.org and related initiatives, click here.