ing companies participated, including Vermont Smoke & Cure, Green
Mountain Creamery, Snowville Creamery and Modular Food Systems.
(As of this writing, two of these are in advanced discussions with investors.)
Overall, more than $1.8 million was committed to eight of the presenting companies by mid-October, with more expected. The next
national gathering will be held at Fort Mason in San Francisco,
October 12-14th, 2011.
Local Networks. Local Slow Money initiatives are emerging in
Austin, Seattle, Boston, Madison, Pittsboro, Boulder, Maine and elsewhere.
In Pittsboro, NC, small loans are being made to food enterprises
with help from a local foundation. In Austin, TX, a steering committee
meets weekly, and the group hosted an inaugural event at City Hall
that drew a standing room crowd. In Madison, WI, a series of workshops is leading to the design of a local fund. Slow Money Northwest
has secured investors for its Microloan Development Fund and is collaborating with the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies
(BALLE) on the Northwest Washington Community Capital Project.
In addition to drumming up 15 percent of its funding through na-
tional Slow Money networks, Gather, a restaurant in Berkley, CA, was
able to recruit over 60 small investors, most of whom were from its own
community. This approach of combining local outreach and seeking
mission-driven investment demon-
strates how the Slow Money approach
can be used to generate to start-up
capital for companies building local
food systems.
Report from the 2010 Annual Slow Money Gathering
Adapted from an article by Mark Cherrington
It began with a whirlwind showcasing 26 small food enterprises from around the
country looking for investment. Some of the entrepreneurs were fairly large and had
very polished presentations, as expected at investment showcases like this. But many
of them were farmers looking not to take over the world or promise lucrative exit
strategies, but only to preserve the land and spread the message.
