Natural Capital Quarterly - Winter 2007/2008

Welcome to our debut issue of "Natural Capital Quarterly," the newsletter of the Natural Capital Investment Fund. In each issue we will share news about our investments in environmentally friendly businesses that are creating jobs in rural communities across our four state service area. You will also hear about the partners who work with us to advance sustainable economic development in the region. We hope you will be as excited as we are about the successes of the entrepreneurs we support. Happy holidays!

Marten Jenkins
Executive Director

NCIF Open For Business In NC, VA and TN

This summer NCIF's Board of Directors approved the Fund's expansion beyond West Virginia into North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. With an expanded staff and Board and capital from the Appalachian Regional Commission, Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation and Calvert Foundation, NCIF will now invest in natural resource-based businesses across all four states. We're grateful to ARC, the Ford Foundation and the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation for their support of the expansion planning process.

Columbia MBAs Study NCIF Business Model

This spring, NCIF will be one of three organizations featured in Columbia Business School's "Financing Social Ventures" course, which analyzes mission-driven groups that are driving for financial self-sufficiency. Teams of students will examine NCIF's mission and operations and recommend a financing strategy for our expansion.

Recent Investment Activity

NCIF extended its support of sustainable businesses in West Virginia with a recent loan to Renick Millworks & Old Mountain Supply in Renick, WV. Thanks to NCIF, this family-owned company - which specializes in the manufacture of antique flooring, beams and millwork from reclaimed lumber - will be able to create four new jobs. NCIF is also helping the company seek Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification for their reclaimed lumber products.

Welcome NC Board Members

It is with great pleasure that we welcome these three seasoned community partners and public servants to the NCIF board. Their valuable guidance is essential to helping NCIF grow.

• Becky Anderson, Handmade in America
• Archie Hart, North Carolina Department of Agriculture
• Mikki Sager, Resourceful Communities Program, The Conservation Fund

NCIF Team Additions

NCIF newcomer Joe Brouse, Business Lender, launched the Beckley, WV office in August, quickly putting nearly fifteen years of commercial lending experience to work in southern West Virginia and southwest Virginia.

Rick Larson, NC Program Director, is the latest addition to The Conservation Fund's Chapel Hill, NC office. Since May, Rick has been busy helping raise capital and operating support for NCIF, building awareness of the Fund's activities in North Carolina and Virginia and reviewing loan and investment proposals.

NC Investment Committee Formed

NCIF's success to date has been due in large part to the guidance of the lenders and community partners who have served on the Fund's Investment Committee in West Virginia. We're pleased to announce that the following individuals have agreed to serve on NCIF's North Carolina Loan & Investment Committee, which met for the first time on November 26 in The Conservation Fund's offices in Chapel Hill, NC. Special thanks to Jim Evans who has agreed to serve as Chair of the Committee.

• Carl Bond, USDA Farm Service Agency
• Tom Byers, Self-Help Ventures Fund
• Jim Evans, Harrington Bank
• Bonny Moellenbrock, SJF Advisory Services
• Everett Wallace, Initiative Capital