Seattle Economic Development Fund dba Business Impact NW
Helping Small Businesses Grow So Local Communities Thrive
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Starting small, local businesses is a powerful way to end the cycle of poverty for individuals/families, and bring jobs and economic growth into struggling communities. However, there are many barriers to business success for people of vulnerable populations, including lack of access to business training/coaching, and difficulty accessing capital (Hamilton Project, U. Mich.). Traditional lenders deny loan applications 3 times as often for minority races than whites (MBDA.gov), and women seeking first-year funding receive about 80% less capital than men (Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation). A 2017 impact study by Accion & Opportunity Fund states that “one of the primary reasons small businesses fail is because they lack the necessary capital to survive... Small business loans help business owners get the capital they need to start or grow their business.”
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Classes
To increase the knowledge, confidence, and professional networks that entrepreneurs need in order to be successful, we offer a wide variety of free and very low-cost classes. Our organization-wide offerings include:
- “Square One” webinars and in-person classes to help entrepreneurs get started
- Small Business “Toolkit” Series of webinars
- “Launch and Grow” educational series -- tools to launch a successful business (SEAP approved)
- “Grow and Thrive” program, mentorship for established business owner strategic planning
- “Business Expert Sessions,” lunchtime learning lectures by local experts on topics of interest
- And more!
Small Business Coaching
In the last year alone, we helped to start over 100 new businesses and provided free one-on-one business coaching to over 1300 startup and established entrepreneurs. This technical assistance is provided through our microloan program and Loan Readiness Center, our Food Entrepreneurshi Center, our Washington Women's Business Center, and our Veterans Business Outreach Center.
Access to Small Business Capital
Since 1997, Business Impact NW has made over $71.5 million in loans to over 1,500 business owners, and saved or created over 6,000 jobs. We provide small business loans to startups and established business owners from $5,000 to $350,000. As an alternative lender, 99% of our loans go to those deemed "unbankable" by traditional lenders. We pride ourselves in provide access to funding for success to traditionally underserved individuals, including communities of color, women, veterans, LGBTQ+, and immigrants.
Where we work
Affiliations & memberships
Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) 2019
External reviews
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of loans issued to clients
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Ethnic and racial groups, Veterans, LGBTQ people, Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Access to Small Business Capital
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Total dollar amount of loans issued
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Ethnic and racial groups, Veterans, LGBTQ people, Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Access to Small Business Capital
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Number of jobs created and maintained
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Ethnic and racial groups, Veterans, LGBTQ people, Economically disadvantaged people
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Please note that this number is self-reported by clients and is anticipated to be at least 1/5 of the actual number - most clients do not report back once they have created their business.
Number of loans issued
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Ethnic and racial groups, Veterans, LGBTQ people, Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Access to Small Business Capital
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of financial literacy courses conducted
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Ethnic and racial groups, Veterans
Related Program
Classes
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Business Impact NW has a vision that all business owners have an equal opportunity to succeed - despite obstacles, barriers, and systemic issues. Our missions is to grow businesses that create jobs in underserved communities. These communities include those of color, immigrants, women, LGBTQ+ and veterans.
We know that providing someone the tools they need to generate their own income not only helps them to support themselves and their families but allows them to create jobs in their communities. In turn, they build a stronger community, help offset displacement and poverty, and contribute to the economic health of their neighborhoods.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
By offering a well-rounded support system: free coaching, classes, and access to capital, we provide the tools needed for a budding or established business owner to launch, grow, and sustain a successful business. This includes training in financials, marketing, credit, business planning, taxes, business loans from $5,000 to $350,000, and more.
We partner with local resources providers to increase our ability to serve everyone and give them everything they need to succeed.
We partner with local traditional funders to fund businesses that they cannot, help build credit and refer our clients back out to refinance once they have established business success.
We partner with diverse funders, from national grantors to local corporate funders and sponsors of our programs, to corporate and individual investors in our loan portfolio.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Thanks to the US Small Business Administration, the USDA, local financial institutions, local private investors, and more, we are able to provide microloans, small business loans, free coaching, and free to low-cost classes.
Our staff serves Washington and Oregon with lending services, and WA, OR, ID and AK with technical assistance. We do this with a team that is versed in in-person, virtual, and phone support.
Our staff of qualified business coaches, lending professionals, accountants, and administrators is also proud to reflect the diversity that we serve.
Our loan portfolio is at over $19 million, allowing us to provide over $11.6 million in capital last year. Our Washington Women's Business Center, Veterans Business Outreach Center, Food Business Resource Center, and Loan Readiness Center all allow us to target specific at-need populations and high priority sectors. We are open to everyone with a dream of starting or growing their business so that they can help create and sustain the kinds of neighborhoods we all want to live and work in.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Since 1997, Business Impact NW has made over $71.5 million in loans to over 1,500 business owners and saved or created over 6,000 jobs. In the last year alone, Business Impact NW was able to help start 109 new businesses, train or counsel 4,802 entrepreneurs, create and retain 654 jobs, provide 306 loans for $11,656, 202 to small businesses in need, including 214 PPP loans totaling $6.5 million dollars to small businesses who couldn’t get them anywhere else. 43% of these PPP loans went to small business owners of color.
We work hard to keep our neighborhoods thriving, in urban, suburban, and rural areas of WA, OR, ID and AK.
We have received capital investments from loan banks, credit unions, and private investors so that we can relend these funds to our small business owners.
We sustain public, private, and corporate funding to support our free and low-cost services. Our partnerships allow us to serve those who need it most by providing them the means to create their own living wage jobs.
We are proud of helping sustain an environment of positive economic development.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We act on the feedback we receive
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Seattle Economic Development Fund dba Business Impact NW
Board of directorsas of 03/09/2023
John Zmoleck
Formerly Verity Credit Union
Tom Berquist
BECU
John Zmolek
Formerly, Verity Credit Union
Jessica Enzi
Amazon
Lorri Wallace
SAP Concur
Kellen Ball
Remitly
Peter Ha
Monroe Partners
Munzer Sukhun
Rivermark Community Credit Union
Paul Kirkbride
WSECU
KD Hall
KD Hall Communications
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
Equity strategies
Last updated: 12/07/2021GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.