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An Interview with Tawana Rivers:

CEO Tawana Rivers Shares the Power of Investment Crowdfunding for the Black Community

This article is a must-read for anyone interested in empowering the Black community financially. It sheds light on the challenges faced by Black Americans in building wealth, including historical and systemic barriers such as discriminatory policies and practices. But don't despair - the author offers practical solutions to address these issues, including increasing financial literacy, supporting Black-owned businesses, and investing in Black-led initiatives. The article also features inspiring examples of successful Black entrepreneurs and organizations that are making a positive impact. Reading this article will leave you feeling motivated to take action and make a difference in creating a more equitable society.

Tawana will speak at SuperCrowd23, joining a panel discussion on investing like a professional. Andrew Savikas of Yieldtalk will moderate the panel. Dan Devlin of Doriot, Eric Cox of Netcapital and author Karen Rands will complete the roster. 

Below I am re-posting what Devin Thorpe has already posted on LinkedIn.

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You Can Be an Among the First to Invest in The Super Crowd, Inc., a public benefit corporation, my new impact-focused business that hosts crowdfunding conferences to support #SocialEntrepreneurs and #DiverseFounders to build #CommunityCapital.

Last year, I hosted and organized a conference about investment crowdfunding called SuperCrowd22. It was a huge success. It was also a test that proved we could make this into a business.

In December, I formed a public benefit corporation, The Super Crowd, Inc., to own and operate the conference business. We are now raising funds via Crowdfund Main Street.

Will you invest? Please allow me to make the case:

In the US, about 100,000 people invested in impact businesses, including all the companies working on cleantech, education, building community and virtually anything else that has the potential to make a positive change in the world. Because that assessment is a bit subjective, the number certainly isn’t exact.

That’s a lot of people. It would fill the largest stadium in the country.

The problem with that number is that it should be about 100 times larger. About 250 million adults can legally invest for impact via crowdfunding. My goal is to help the number of people who do so grow to 10 million investors in ten years.

To be clear, TSCI and I cannot do this alone. We won’t own the entire community—at best, only a fraction of it. But, we can play a role in accelerating the growth through strategic, ongoing, enthusiastic collaboration with industry players and the broader impact community.

Our crowdfunding campaign is designed to deepen collaboration by more fully aligning the interests of our strategic partners. The more we align interests with a vision for growing the impact crowdfunding space, the more rapidly we can do it.

Our business model is focused on bringing large groups of people together to merit sponsor support.

In 2022, we hosted one virtual conference.

In 2023, we’ll host a larger virtual conference and plan to host three local popup events across the country. We’ll also begin hosting periodic 60 to 90-minute sessions later this year and plan to continue those in the future.

By 2027, we plan to host more than 25 local popup conferences, plus our big annual online event. As our community grows, we anticipate that we can extend the revenue and profitability by both increasing the revenue and profit of each event and by hosting more events.
By building a solid team, we can continue to grow without limitation.

To be clear, we can’t guarantee financial results.

To learn more visit https://devinthorpe.substack.com/p/you-can-be-an-among-the-first-to

Thank you for your consideration. Remember, I can’t guarantee results.

 

For anyone searching for the speeches and presentations to SuperCrowd22, here's a link to those videos. 

https://thesupercrowd.com/video

Look forward to seeing people at the 23 event.

This post was originally shared at Superpowers for Good.

I suspect some readers are tired of my posts about impact crowdfunding—the practice of making investments via crowdfunding to create a positive social or environmental change while earning a financial return at the same time.

You may be one. You may think, “impact crowdfunding isn’t relevant to me because I can’t participate.” Today, I will review ten common reasons that hold people back. For each, I’ll offer my thoughts to help you see how and why you can participate.

1. I can’t afford it.

Investing tens of thousands of dollars is not for the faint of heart. It may not be appropriate even for many “accredited investors”—those legally defined as wealthy enough to invest that way.

Here’s the thing, investment crowdfunding is different. You can start investing with just $100. There are a few offerings available (eight now) where you can invest as little as $50!

While I often encourage impact crowdfunding investors to seek to build a portfolio by investing regularly, say once per month, you could accomplish the same risk management strategy by investing once per quarter or even once per year!

If you can afford to ride a bike, which requires you to buy and maintain it, you can likely afford to make a $100 investment once per year.

2. I’m not an experienced investor.

You’d like to get your money back—and then some. That’s the foundational goal of any investment. Experienced investors have an easier time generating financial returns.

How do you think experienced investors got their experience? They started investing.

You will learn. Quickly. By making a single impact investment via crowdfunding, you’ll make the biggest step toward becoming an experienced investor. Each investment you make will teach you more about the administrative process, the legal issues, the financial considerations and the impact metrics that enable you to become an experienced investor.

You will become an experienced investor.

3. I don’t know how to measure impact.

You’re not alone. Measuring impact is a challenge for the most sophisticated investors and even for the management teams of the companies they back.

Collectively, we’re getting better. We’re all learning more about measuring more than the activities we back to determine their results and effects on people and the climate.

You could invest with blinders on, ignoring impact as a goal. Sticking with climate change as an example, you could look simply for the best financial opportunity. In some cases, that could lead you to back a company that contributes directly to increasing global CO2 emissions.

If you seek to address climate change with your investments, does it make more sense to invest in an oil and gas business, for instance, or a company that makes solar panels, wind turbines or devices to capture wave or tidal energy? Not only are you more likely to have a positive impact on your goal to reverse climate change by investing in renewable technology, but you could also eventually make more money.

Many smart people expect the entire world to discontinue the use of fossil fuels entirely, or nearly so, by 2050. Investing in oil and gas could be a great short-term play, but the long run seems to favor investments in renewables—even if we can’t predict the exact number of tons of CO2 your $100 investment might create.

4. No one is creating impact I want to support.

Let’s say you want to focus on supporting LGBTQ founders but assume it is impossible to find them. Wrong. Click here to find them.

Would you like to back women working on startups with social impact in your state, say, Utah? Click here to see the company that fits those three criteria.

While it is certainly possible that no one is doing precisely what you want this week, check back next week. Dozens of new offerings appear every week.

Here’s something to think about. The better we get at funding the things we care about, the more entrepreneurs will do what we care about!

5. For-profit companies can’t create impact.

Despite my enthusiasm for crowdfunding, I continue to give to nonprofits. Last year, Gail and I donated about 15 percent of our taxable income. So, please don’t interpret my enthusiasm for impact crowdfunding as an alternative to your philanthropy.

Still, it is essential to note that for-profit businesses do have significant impact—sometimes for good. Elon Musk has become a lightning rod for criticism in recent months. Still, it is hard to name a company that has done more to advance practical climate solutions—EVs, solar panels, battery storage—than Tesla. And despite its stock performance in 2022, an investment in Tesla at the stage Musk joined the company would have yielded astronomic financial returns.

For-profit companies are part of the solution. Supporting them as we do nonprofits is now part of the model for social impact.

6. Impact investing is someone else’s job.

However, very few of them are investing directly in crowdfunding campaigns. UpStart Co-Lab is working with the crowdfunding site Honeycomb Credit to help foundations invest some of their capital to build communities. The effort is in the pilot stage.

The reality is that impact investing is up to us. As the saying goes, we’re the people we’ve been waiting for. Together, we have almost unlimited power and influence.

7. Investing $100 doesn’t make a difference.

Unless 100 other people also invest a little bit. The average crowdfunding investment is closer to $1,000 than $100. Your $100 is a signal to other investors in much the same way seeing swimmers in the water is a signal to others that swimming is safe, the water is warm.

Your investment, however small, is just one of many. If all the many investors said, “My little investment doesn’t matter,” no crowdfunder would ever raise any money. The entire premise of the crowd is that everyone’s little bit matters.

8. I don’t want to spend hours scrutinizing boring documents.

Crowdfunding is a team sport. Here at Superpowers for Good, we formed the Impact Cherub Club to screen impact crowdfunding deals as a group. We divide up the work and meet together monthly to consider investing.

We’re having a ball, making a difference, and no one is overwhelmed by what we call due diligence.

9. Impact investing doesn’t offer good financial returns.

Many do. Some are not designed to provide market returns. Investors in those situations must choose whether to invest with the primary focus on impact. Sophisticated impact investors see their philanthropy as part of their investing strategy.

Donating money to a nonprofit yields social impact but no financial return. Investing money in an impact crowdfunding opportunity likely to yield only 50 cents on the dollar provides you with social impact and an infinitely greater financial return than your philanthropy!

But you never have to invest in any business that isn’t poised to provide you with the financial return on the structure you want. If you want only high-yield debt opportunities, you can pick them! If you prefer only high-potential, fast-growing startups of the sort venture capitalists back, you can choose them.

The choice is yours. You choose your investing style. Impact can still be part of your investing strategy.

10. Investment crowdfunding is too risky.

People still do it because it isn’t too risky. You need to understand how much money you’re willing to risk.

I like to think of the money I invest via impact crowdfunding as more like a hobby than retirement savings. I’m pretty sure I invest less—with the prospect of getting all the money back—than most golfers, skiers or tennis players spend on their sports every year.

My sport is running, and it costs me about $100 per year for a new pair of shoes. It’s a cheap sport, but note that if that were your annual impact investing budget—$100 per year—you are invited to the party.

So, it is true that my impact crowdfunding portfolio likely won’t yield the returns of my IRA. That’s why I’m not moving all my money from my IRA into impact crowdfunding. But that doesn’t mean I can’t play.

You can too.

If you’d like to join the Impact Cherub Club, there is no cost or obligation. Sign up here.

If you’d like to learn more to minimize your risk, optimize your financial returns and maximize your impact, join us for SuperCrowd23. Get your tickets at half price here.

You have a suite of strengths and superpowers. Some you have developed from a young age, reflecting intrinsic abilities. Others, you have developed with discipline and practice. They enable you to do good and make a difference in your community and the world.

You have a superpower you may not have considered. You can invest money in social enterprises that share your sense of mission and purpose. When you do, you enable good to happen that might not otherwise. When things go well, the good continues indefinitely, even as you get your money back—with a profit.

Read the full article here: https://bit.ly/3CFa62i.

SuperCrowd23

On May 10-11, 2023, we’re convening the second annual SuperCrowd23 event. Building on the success of the first event, we’re planning for bigger and better with lots of fun and excitement, along with great networking and so much invaluable content.

At the moment, The Super Crowd, Inc. is offering tickets at a super early bird pricing that is more than half off the full price. As a Superpowers for Good reader, you’re entitled to a 50 percent additional discount, meaning you can get tickets right now for about 80 percent off!

The early bird ticket sales end on January 16. Don’t wait! Register now! https://thesupercrowd.com/super50off.

December Meeting Report

Due Diligence Reports and Investment Decisions

At last month’s meeting, we heard diligence reports from club members on three companies, pocstock, Mana Pacific Inc and amai. The club members discussed the pros and cons of investing and voted to reach consensus investment recommendations for the members.

In December, we took the unusual action of deferring a decision on pocstock to the January meeting.

We don’t announce our investment recommendations. If you’d like to know what we’re seeing, selecting and recommending, please join us on January 17, 2023, at 1:00 PM Eastern. There is no cost to participate; you don’t have to invest anything ever. When members choose to invest, I don’t touch the money and don’t earn any fees, commissions or favors.

New Company Screening

Last month, we took a first look at the following three companies. Club members volunteered to conduct some due diligence and report on all three at our next meeting on December 20, 2022, at 1:00 Eastern.

• Azure Printed Homes
• Kitsbow Apparel, benefit corporation
• tbh

Next Meeting—January 17, 2023, at 1:00 PM Eastern

Preliminary Consideration of New Candidates

• Pink Bench Distillery
• HiveTracks
• VON PERRY

Please join us for the monthly Impact Cherub Club meeting on January 17 at 1:00 PM Eastern. There is no cost or obligation. We’re genuinely having fun! Register here for free.

#impactcrowdfunding #impactinvesting #socialentrepreneurship #socialimpact #ric #communitycapital