{"id":1851,"date":"2011-01-31T11:35:09","date_gmt":"2011-01-31T18:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.financenewmexico.org\/articles\/?p=1851"},"modified":"2013-06-24T16:47:31","modified_gmt":"2013-06-24T22:47:31","slug":"alternative-lender-helps-kids-find-their-castle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/articles\/obtaining-a-loan\/alternative-lender-helps-kids-find-their-castle\/","title":{"rendered":"Alternative Lender Helps Kids Find Their Castle"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"F.

F. Leroy Pacheco, CEO, The Loan Fund<\/p><\/div>\n

Sandra Monica has a passion for working with children. That\u2019s why after 15 years as an employee, Monica decided it was time to start a day care center of her own.<\/p>\n

Starting out was no easy task but with her husband\u2019s support and financing from The Loan Fund, Monica opened Kid\u2019s Castle Child Development Center in Las Cruces. The center has helped alleviate New Mexico\u2019s shortage of daycare providers by offering early education to children six weeks to 12 years of age. Kid\u2019s Castle serves more than 100 children and employs approximately 25 full-time teachers.<\/p>\n

After approaching several lenders, the Small Business Administration referred Monica to The Loan Fund. \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for The Loan Fund, I wouldn\u2019t have been able to start up,\u201d Monica said. \u201cI made a presentation \u2026 and they were very supportive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Loan Fund is an alternative lender, founded in 1989 by people affiliated with the New Mexico Conference of Churches, with a $70,000 investment from the Michigan-based Adrian Dominican Sisters. Today it is a non-profit organization, with $16 million in assets and a loan pool from sources as diverse as state and federal agencies, banks, individual donors, and faith-based organizations.<\/p>\n

In 2010, The Loan Fund reached several significant milestones when it surpassed $41.5 million in loans to more than 1,200 New Mexico clients that created or preserved 6,000 living-wage jobs. More than $12.5 million \u2013 30 percent of the overall total \u2013 has been disbursed during the recession of the past two years, as the need for business financing increased and many banks stopped lending.\u00a0 More than $11 million is in The Loan Fund\u2019s portfolio for businesses and nonprofits that collectively generate over $80 million in sales annually.<\/p>\n

Focusing on hard-working, low- to middle-income people whose financing needs may not fit a bank\u2019s traditional lending guidelines, The Loan Fund has made loans as small as $2,000 to a home-based coffin maker and as large as $750,000 for a chile processing plant. Loans are not limited to businesses; non-profit organizations have also received funding. These are people who are starting or expanding sustainable organizations that enrich their communities.<\/p>\n

As The Loan Fund grows, its services are expanding. In 2010, it started offering SBA 504 loans, which provide long-term fixed-rate financing to purchase fixed assets such as real estate or equipment. The organization also began managing Bernalillo County\u2019s $1 million Revolving Loan Fund under the County\u2019s \u201cIncrement of One\u201d initiative.<\/p>\n

As an alternative lender, The Loan Fund can be flexible with terms and conditions. Collateral is required, but loan packages seek to balance social and fiscal responsibilities, which includes the number of jobs a loan helps create or preserve. It is the only alternative lender in New Mexico providing financing to nonprofits.<\/p>\n

In addition to providing loans and credit, The Loan fund offers technical assistance and mentoring \u2013 services that can help entrepreneurs turn financing into long-term success. As one business advisor for The Loan Fund said, \u201cFinancing doesn\u2019t do you much good if you don\u2019t know how to use it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sandra Monica says the consultation and follow-up helped her stay on track. \u201cThey\u2019ve been great,\u201d she said. \u201cEven though they are based in Albuquerque, someone is always checking in with us. When they\u2019re in Las Cruces, someone always stops by and sees how everything is going.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information about The Loan Fund, visit www.loanfund.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Article 174<\/p>\n

Download\u00a0174_Alternative Lender Helps Kids Find Their Castle<\/a>\u00a0 PDF<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Loan Fund is an alternative lender with $16 million in assets and a loan pool from sources as diverse as state and federal agencies, banks, individual donors, and faith-based organizations. In 2010 it surpassed $41.5 million in loans to more than 1,200 New Mexico clients that created or preserved 6,000 living-wage jobs. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1851"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1851"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6024,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1851\/revisions\/6024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}