Will Spokane play BALLE?

Advocates for investing in Spokane-based sustainable businesses have identified both supply—in other words, investors—and demand—green companies seeking capital. Now, they are exploring the best ways to bring the two together. In the end, Spokane’s green community may end up playing BALLE. BALLE, in this instance, is the Business Alliance for Local, Living Economies, a Bellingham, Wash.-based organization that has developed networks of socially responsible businesses in 80 communities in 30 states throughout the U.S. There isn’t a BALLE network in Spokane yet, but as part of the Sustainable September activities, green businesses and other sustainability advocates will explore the prospect of starting such a group, said Susanne Croft, executive director of Spokane-based Sustainable Local Investment Partners. SLIP is hosting a Green Business Networking Luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Monday, Sept. 20, in the Cutter Dining Room of the Spokane Club, at 1002 W. Riverside. BALLE national director Michelle Long will be the event’s keynote speaker and will lead a discussion about whether such a group is needed—and what it might look like—in the Inland Northwest. Croft said such networks in other communities serve various functions. In some cases, they form collaborative efforts for marketing and franchising. Other times, they create a cooperative to find and buy green business products in bulk. In Spokane, she said, “It could be both of those. It could be more than that. There’s a lot of value in the business-to-business conversations. There seems to be a lot of interest.” In all likelihood, there would be an investment component to the group. The Green Business Networking Luncheon event comes on the heels of a Sept. 2 sustainable investment panel where owners of a half-dozen green businesses emerged to say they could use investment capital to help their businesses grow. They pointed out that there is only one angel-investment group in Spokane, and it can take months to get on that group’s agenda. If you get on the agenda but fail to secure funding, you’re back to square one after months of effort. Croft was glad to see the demand for investment. Prior to that meeting, she had said there were individual investors who were interested in putting their money into local, sustainable businesses, but she was unsure whether there were enough green businesses in the Inland Northwest to support such an investment effort. Indeed, SLIP’s founding was predicated on the notion that a local, sustainable investment option was needed. With both investors and companies seeking capital identified, the next step involves finding investment mechanisms that will work, a task that is somewhat more complex than one might think. Accredited investment is subject to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules and regulations, which add cost and restriction to the process. Consequently, Croft said, they are looking for nonaccredited solutions. For example, one option local advocates will explore is whether they can set up a microloan system like that established by international nonprofit Kiva, which lends money to entrepreneurs in developing countries around the world. It’s possible that such a program could be established to make small loans to sustainable businesses. With Kiva—and likely, with similar green-bent programs—the word investment is used in a broader sense of the word than is typically used in the financial sector. “People are doing this because they are aware of a qualitative return,” Croft says. “You’re investing in the future viability of the community, not just a financial return.” While some options might not place an emphasis on the financial return, some ideas being floated presently would require a return. Such ideas include forming some sort of a state bank whose primary purpose is to make loans to sustainable businesses or putting aside a portion of public employee’s pension funds to a green-business investment fund. To determine the best ways to invest in local, sustainable businesses, Croft said a collection of politicians, professionals, and business owners who attended the Sept. 2 event has agreed to meet over the next year. “We’re on the cutting edge,” Croft said. “The whole country is trying to figure this out. Maybe we’ll have something to report next year at Sustainable September.” The lunch is $15 per person and is limited to 70 people. As of earlier this week, only a few spots remained open. For more information, go to www.slipspokane.org or contact Croft at Susanne@slipspokane.org.