Launched in 2022, the Camden Food Fund (CFF), a component fund at the Community Foundation of South Jersey, was created to build wealth, increase capacity, and contribute to improved food security and health impacts for Camden residents through the creation of a community driven and governed impact investing food fund. An impact investing fund is capitalized by mission-driven investors who put investment or grant dollars into the fund to advance a mission objective.

For our first round of funding, we are providing loans made possible through support from the Campbell Soup Foundation. The Fund aims to learn from this early stage and raise a larger fund, enabling us to make more loans and grants available to invest in Camden businesses.

The Camden Food Fund will provide capital to new and existing business owners who reside in the city of Camden, have faced obstacles to accessing the capital needed to start and grow their businesses, and who participate in or help to advance a healthy, equitable local food economy. The CFF has a preference for investing in for-profit entities but will consider nonprofit investments with strong impact alignment.

Examples of businesses that might be served by the CFF include a restaurant owner offering healthy food options; an app designer providing just-in-time dietary information/education; a community farmers’ market; a corner store expanding to provide fresh produce.

For the Camden Food Fund pilot loans will range from $500 to $15,000. The amount of the loan will be tied to the intended use of capital described by the business owner.

The CFF prefers to make loans of less than 5 years. For the pilot, CFF will offer a sliding scale interest rate for the micro loans (5%- base rate). The interest rate will be based on the needs of the applicant.

The CFF recognizes that Camden-based businesses need financing as well as culturally appropriate wrap-around services including technical assistance. As part of the pilot, information on technical assistance needs will be gathered from applicants and the Community Advisory Board will point to appropriate technical assistance resources as part of the loan assessment process. The Camden Food Fund expects to expand on the technical assistance resources available in Camden as part of its fundraising beyond the pilot.

The Fund is governed by the CFF Community Advisory Board (CAB) whose understanding of Camden and food businesses strengthens their ability to direct resources in a way that maximizes impact. The CAB will be supported in their governance by a volunteer Impact Investment Committee with expertise needed to assess the financial viability and social impact of potential investments.

The CAB has committed to making character based loans, challenging the traditional ways in which credit and other financial information are the sole basis of determining the status of a loan application. As part of this process, a Third-party Underwriting Partner will be engaged to support applicants and underwrite investments recommended by the CAB to the Impact Investment Committee. During this initial stage of fund activities, the Community Foundation of New Jersey (CFNJ) will serve as an implementation partner, executing agreements as part of the deployment process for the Fund.

As the principal leadership of the Fund, the Community Advisory Board is comprised of Camden residents who have committed (1) to bring their unique expertise and lived experience to the governance of the Fund; (2) to build their understanding of local impact investing and their skills in governing an impact investing fund; (3) to objectively use the governance tools created for the Fund; and (4) to use the Fund guidelines as the basis for their investment recommendations.

The CAB will gather information from each business or organization about the potential investment opportunity using an Intake Form. With this information, the CAB will use a Scorecard developed to help assess each investment opportunity in terms of its alignment with the Fund’s focus on investments that:

• Create direct health or revenue generating benefits for Camden residents including the business owner

• Offer the prospect of repayment with interest as demonstrated by a business plan, verbal projections or other evidence of market potential

• Are guided by an experienced business owner/team or newer business owner with a support network or openness to mentoring

• Address two or more of the six pillars of food security as defined by the UN (Availability, Access, Utilization, Stability, Agency and Sustainability.)

• Demonstrate a personal equity stake defined as…

• Meet the preferred investment terms

• Is willing to track the ways the loan has assisted the business in achieving its goals. Is also willing to track how the business is supporting or generating change for the community of Camden

• Would not move forward without a loan from the Fund

The Fund intends to make character-based micro loans at least during the pilot phase. The underwriting process will not consider credit scores, citizenship status, or incarceration history. Personal guarantees will not be required as part of the loan approval process.