Community Credit Lab

Flexible, patient, and community-rooted investments are urgently needed to fill the persistent gaps left by traditional lenders and investors who often impose rigid, exclusionary requirements that have long disproportionately impacted Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color. These conventional capital sources tend to prioritize short-term financial returns over community sustainability, failing to provide the supportive infrastructure—such as technical assistance and relationship-driven lending—that is essential for long-term success. Common Future’s model intentionally disrupts this status quo by deploying capital in partnership with trusted local organizations, offering below-market, flexible financing paired with deep, ongoing support that centers community control and ownership. This approach not only increases access to capital but also builds the ecosystem needed for wealth to stay rooted in the hands of those most impacted by economic injustice.

At the same time, the economic and social realities confronting our partners remain urgent and complex. Many face systemic barriers such as underinvestment, structural racism, and policy obstacles that affect their ability to repay loans on traditional timelines. Borrowers are navigating challenges akin to a crisis-level urgency—comparable to the COVID-19 pandemic—yet without comparable relief or resources. Despite these hardships, most borrowers are committed to repaying their loans, emphasizing the need to put community needs and power at the forefront rather than investor returns. This dynamic underscores why Common Future’s flexible, patient capital and supportive approach are critical. As of June 30, 2025, 92% of our outstanding portfolio is performing well, with a low charge-off rate of 3%, demonstrating our unique capacity to manage risk while advancing community wealth building.

Supporting the organizational infrastructure that enables these initiatives to thrive is not a luxury—it is essential to driving sustained, systemic change. These critical roles—from administration to program management to community engagement—are necessary to sustain initiatives that build power, shift narratives, and transform capital flows. Without adequate resources, these efforts risk being sidelined, slowing progress toward racial and economic justice.

At Common Future, we’ve moved beyond simply increasing access to capital. Instead, we’ve built a justice-informed capital model that supports not only entrepreneurs but also the infrastructure and ownership structures needed to generate lasting, community-held wealth. This includes working with partners that are investing in land, cooperatives, and shared assets that grow in value and keep wealth rooted in place.

This is a prime example of what it means to challenge notions of wealth and deservedness to take a more redistributive and collective approach to economic justice and inclusion. It's a call-to-action for wealth holders who are able to show results through their capital redistribution efforts, in meaningful terms.

In 2025, for example, we are investing $250,000 in The Ke’nekt Cooperative in Atlanta to pilot a community lending program supporting neighborhood businesses and cooperatives. In Mississippi, we are partnering with Higher Purpose Lab to acquire a community-owned building anchoring local enterprise and organizing. Across the country, we co-create lending programs with trusted local partners so capital moves through relationships, not transactions.

Through our Community Credit Lab Fund, we offer 0% interest loans combined with financial guidance tailored for each lending partner and long-term support, enabling local organizations to invest in what their communities need most—whether cooperative housing, land trusts, food cooperatives, or business expansions. Our Character-Based Lending model replaces credit scores and collateral with trust and local knowledge, closing financing gaps traditional lenders leave behind. To date, over $800,000 has been deployed through this model, primarily to BIPOC-led recipients.

Our Community-Based Real Estate initiative adds another layer of wealth-building. We’ve deployed catalytic capital alongside support for innovative funds like Jane Place in New Orleans, a Black-led community land trust focused on affordable housing and housing justice. Through a two-year cohort, we worked with partners to identify challenges from capital access to defining “community-owned real estate”, developing a toolkit to reduce friction in philanthropic due diligence and align investments with long-term community control.

In Memphis and Durham, our Legacy Lab invests directly in community-rooted businesses with $50,000 in seed philanthropic capital, paired with technical assistance and storytelling support. These investments help small businesses grow while resisting displacement and building community ownership of critical neighborhood spaces.

We engage partners through a process rooted in deep alignment and local accountability. Our internal assessment considers community-based decision-making, leadership accountability, catalytic impact, explicit focus on closing the racial wealth gap, and organizational capacity grounded in care. This approach ensures that our investments advance transformative economic models led by and accountable to the communities they serve.

• As a result of hacking wealth, Community Credit Lab exists as a regenerative investment vehicle for high net worth individuals and philanthropies looking to redistribute personal wealth towards community wealth building. To this end, the Fund will:

• - Provide flexible, non-extractive capital tailored to community-rooted enterprises’ unique needs

• - Scale cooperative ownership and community governance models that build generational wealth

• - Strengthen infrastructure and leadership capacity in Black and Indigenous communities

• - Invest in ecosystem-building projects that integrate economic, cultural, and environmental justice

• - Demonstrate replicable, reparative investment models that shift traditional power dynamics in finance and impact investing