Angel investment fund partners with CommunityWorks

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Nonprofits and businesses across the region, including clients of Community Works, Greenville Housing Fund and Homes of Hope, have a new well for capital investment.

Greenville-based donor-advised fund platform Abundance Capital received its 501(c)(3) tax exemption designation in December and launched earlier this year, according to a news release. The fund aims to channel millions in place-based charitable investment to support businesses, nonprofits and other projects where financial returns are reinvested.

“After two decades of helping individuals support the institutions and causes they care most about, I heard again and again from donors, whether giving $100 or $100 million, that they want to do more with their philanthropy,” Mike Gatchell, CEO and co-founder of Abundance Capital, said in the news release. “They want to solve deep problems, generate more impact, and create lasting prosperity for their communities. Abundance Capital provides a new and fun way for people to make their giving regenerative, using tax-deductible contributions for impact investing as well as granting.”

Gatchell and Margaret Gifford created the platform to help clients combine venture capital and charitable giving tools to build stronger and more sustainable communities, according to the release. Donations can be used as equity, grants or capital loans for underserved entrepreneurs and community development projects.

“As of today, our team has identified over $15 million of high impact investment opportunities that range from affordable housing funds and sustainable manufacturing to innovative minority-owned businesses focused on transitional co-housing,” Margaret Gifford, co-founder and chief impact investment officer, said in the release. “Abundance Capital hopes to create a movement of venture philanthropy across the Southeast to address these opportunities, activating their charitable investing to provide right-sized capital to these and other social venture businesses that are building stronger communities.”

Abundance Capital seeks to generate sustainable local economies by connecting an abundance of available capital with an abundance of ideas and talent. Clients can either identify investments themselves and present them for consideration, utilizing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals as a rubric, or they may choose among options curated by Abundance, currently including CommunityWorks Carolina, Greenville Housing Fund, Homes of Hope, and others. 

"Impact investing is little known in our area, but we are thankful Abundance Capital is raising its profile here,” Erin Ouzts, director of the Upstate Entrepreneur Ecosystem at Ten at the Top, said in the release. “There is such a need for risk tolerant, flexible and inclusive funding for entrepreneurs in the Upstate and throughout the region. Abundance Capital is assembling a network of forward-minded philanthropic angel investors to fill an urgent need for highly flexible capital for meaningful businesses.”