Being a not for-profit enterprise presents a number of challenges in raising start-up capital for a Community Enterprise.
There are no workable government programs to apply for these funds. Accordingly, we must rely on donations to finalize the business plan and bring the enterprise to the stage of being “investment ready”.
There are challenges to raising financing for land acquisition and the capital project. The corporation does not have shares to offer and therefore must rely on debt to finance these activities. It would be helpful if the provincial or federal government issued a “Community Economy Bond” as a source of financing for these activities or at least had a program to guarantee the debts of these types of corporations/projects.
