Black-owned (or majority Black-owned) food businesses located in the Northeast that use their businesses to build community wealth, move forward economic justice, practice ecological wellbeing, and are community oriented. The Northeast Comprises Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusets, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

You can find a list of the businesses that the Pilot Community chose to recieve financing from our Pilot Fund here. BFF plans to continue to invest in businesses across the food system. For example: farmers (food, fiber, fuel), value-add, restaurants, distribution, etc.).

The funding amount is based on the available capital to deploy and the specific needs of the entrepreneur. We are taking this on a case-by-case basis and starting our engagement with you by fully valuing your business and understanding your true needs before making any decisions.

Black Farmer Fund organizes virtual and in person spaces for skills development and relationship building. Through coordinating community work days, virtual skillshares, and 1-1 holistic technical assistance for investees, we facilitate supportive environments for learning and exchange that are for and led-by Black agricultural business entrepreneurs.

The Pilot Fund was the initial fund that BFF raised. Our goal was $500,000 and we oversubscibed the fund at $1.1M. The fund, similarly to BFF Fund 2.0, was an integrated capital fund that had a combination of grants and loans to provide to Black agricultural businesses.
We are launching a new fund because the demand for capital in Black farming communities across the Northeast is large and we are building off of the groundwork laid by the Pilot Fund to continue doing so.

For our Pilot Fund, we had a community-governed body called the Pilot Community comprised of Black farmers and food systems entrepreneurs from across New York. For “BFF Fund 2.0” we now have a new governing body called our Investment Committee. We are proud to be creating opportunities for shared power through collective decision-making within our Investment Committee, where community members are investing in each other and investing together.

Historically, “risk” is a term used in finance to describe the impact on the funder’s profit if they were to invest in a business. Instead of asking, “What is the risk of investing in this business?” we ask, “What is the risk of not investing? What can we help make possible for this person, for our community, that wouldn’t be possible without this investment?” In this, we commit to seeing you all as whole people, who have real, complicated lives and needs and dreams.

Black Farmer Fund is directed by community power building. BFF is by us, for us, with a community of 12 Black farmers and food systems entrepreneurs from across the state leading the fund’s governance and making decisions around which applicants receive funding. Our process is consensus-seeking and guided by our values of economic justice, community wealth building, and managing environmental/ ecological impact.

The violence and oppression that Black farmers and people have faced on this land have everything to do with ownership and control of decisions - and Black people being prevented from making decisions together about the conditions that affect our lives and livelihoods. By taking back this decision-making power, we create a place where community members invest in each other and invest together.

Black Farmer Fund (BFF) was created by Black farmers who were frustrated with the limited financing options available to them in New York, hoping to make a funding vehicle that would challenge the racial injustices and wealth inequalities faced by Black Food actors in their area. When we launched the application form for the Pilot Fund, we were surprised to see a range of applicants that were in states bordering New York that also had relationships with farmers in New York. We wanted to respond to the broader regional food justice movement that we are a part of so we expanded our work to the Northeast.

There are endless ways to get involved with this cause – here are a few:

-Donate or invest in BFF Fund 2.0

-Support the Pilot Cohort directly

Black Farmer Fund is not a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). Black Farmer Fund is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that has a community investment fund as a part of our organization’s activities. In addition to our community investment fund we also do programming like relationship/community building and technical assistance.

Integrated capital is a term to describe a fund using a blend of financial and non-financial resources to support businesses that are faced with complex capital needs in order to advance impact. Black Farmer Fund provides businesses with loans, grants, emergency relief grants, technical assistance, and relationship/network building. The use of these different type of tools ensures that the businesses have a wide range of tools to choose from in order to nurture and grow community wealth and health. We use this tool because the communities that we are working with have been excluded from traditional financing options or are limited in the options that they can choose from. We aim to be an institution that our communities can trust to provide tools that will fit their needs and not replicate systems of harm.

We are excited that you are interested in building community wealth with us. First and foremost, please read the Offering Memorandum on the Invest page. Once you have read the Offering Memorandum, you can fill out this Investor Application Form to get into our queue.

Our friends at Boston Ujima Project, a community-led investment fund in Boston, have created a Personal Finance Worksheet with information on how to make sure that you are not investing beyond your means. This worksheet also has a list of mission-aligned Investment Advisors and Financial Coaches that you can reach out to for support.

This worksheet does not constitute investment advice Black Farmer Fund, Inc. is not an investment advisor. This worksheet is designed for purely educational purposes to be used as a resource to support investors in making their own decisions about whether to and how much to invest in BFF Fund 2.0.

Accredited investors include people who have the following (See the SEC for further information):

-Net worth over $1 million, excluding primary residence (individually or with spouse or partner)

-Income over $200,000 (individually) or $300,000 (with spouse or partner) in each of the prior two years, and reasonably expects the same for the current year

-The following entities with assets in excess of $5 million: corporations, partnerships, LLCs, trusts, 501(c)(3) organizations, employee benefit plans, “family office” and any “family client” of that office

-Investment professionals in good standing holding the general securities representative license (Series 7), the investment adviser representative license (Series 65), or the private securities offerings representative license (Series 82)

-Investment advisers (SEC- or state-registered or exempt reporting advisers) and SEC-registered broker-dealers

Unaccredited investors are people who do not fall within these categories. Not to worry, we accept unaccredited investors in select states!

Yes! We are accepting investments from unaccredited investors who have lived experiences in the communities that Black Farmer Fund serves. These unaccredited investors are able to invest in our Communtiy Wealth Building Note - which provides unaccredited investors with the highest interest rate and higher protection from risk.

The investments in BFF Fund 2.0 are illiquid, which means that you can’t get your principal back before the maturity date. You have an option to choose whether or not you want to be paid interest annually or compounded annually and added to principal balance of the Note. Compounding interest annually will provide you with a slightly higher interest return.

As detailed in the risk factors of the Offering Memorandum, investors are not guaranteed their principal plus interest back. The Fund is structured so that if it underperforms, Community Wealth Building noteholders have 1st priority and will be paid back first. Followed by Reparative noteholders, and finally, Philanthropic noteholders. BFF Fund 2.0 will maintain liquidity of 8% and has a $100,000 loan loss reserve. In case of default, the loan loss reserve will be used to absorb any losses the fund occurs before investors.

Reach out directly to Olivia Watkins, BFF President, at invest@blackfarmerfund.com.