I want to thank Jackie Turner-Lovsness for sharing the following story on crowdfunding in Southwest Minnesota…
Food, fellowship and family. Angie Horkey has found a way to combine three of the most important things in her life while starting her own business, The Recipe, in Westbrook, Minnesota.
Angie fondly remembers spending Sunday dinners at her grandmother’s home and preparing family meals to help out while her mother ran in-home child care. “I still love to cook,” she said.
With a building available—the old bowling alley had been empty for several years—along with encouragement from her husband Ron, Angie decided the time was right to pursue her business dream.
When she came to the Southwest Initiative Foundation (SWIF) through a referral from a local county commissioner who knew about our entrepreneurship and loan programs, the time was also right to test one of our new loan tools.
The Recipe became SWIF’s first endorsed project through Kiva Zip, an online crowd-funding tool. Kiva, an international microlending site http://www.kiva.org, started Kiva Zip for businesses within the U.S. SWIF was invited to become a trustee—the first in Minnesota—which allows us to endorse a project.
Crowd-funding is the newest wave in financing small business projects in a unique way by directly involving friends, family, community members or anyone who takes an interest in the business. Anyone can loan the business interest-free money $25 at a time—or more, but the idea is to promote that you made the loan through social media and other channels, prompting others to get involved.
“The Foundation has support people and resources I’ve never thought of,” Angie said. The Kiva endorsement was paired with a loan from SWIF’s Microenterprise Loan Program, which also gave Angie access to free one-to-one technical assistance from our staff who have personal business experience. They offered help for things from menu planning, to bookkeeping, to promoting the business on Facebook, which strengthen Angie’s skills as a new business owner.
After setting up a Kiva account, Angie had her $2,500 loan funded in about a month, which allowed her to finish remodeling the cafe’s kitchen and open in January 2013.
“You want to see things happen,” said Merlyn Hanson, a Westbrook resident for more than 40 years. “My wife and I wanted to contribute to this.” He and wife Joann supported The Recipe through Kiva. They also joined the café’s Diners Club, a program that offers nutritiously balanced, proportioned meals at reduced prices for people age 60 and older.
“We could just as well eat at home but it’s important for socializing,” Merlyn said. They meet the group every weekday for lunch and Angie greets them as they walk in. “As busy as she is, she always has a smile on her face,” Merlyn said.
Through contracts with Minnesota River Area Agency on Aging and Lutheran Social Services, Angie offers not just the Diners Club but also Meals on Wheels for Westbrook, Storden and Jeffers. With these programs, daily specials and a short-order menu, The Recipe serves on average 30 to 50 meals each day. In the afternoon, high school students stop in for coffee or a treat. Visitors attending school activities stop in on weekends. The Kiwanas, Lions, birthday clubs and others rent the party room weekly. Soon they plan to add evening hours, which Angie thinks will bring in another new set of customers.
“That was my goal—feed the world one person at a time,” Angie said. “Without the support of the community and family, I wouldn’t be here.”
Two of Angie’s daughters wait tables before and after school and her parents help package meals and wait tables during the day. Having family so connected to the business has made the experience especially rewarding and Angie is finally starting to look back and see how much has been accomplished.
“If you have a dream, don’t give up on it.”
It’s fun to hear about a project that allows a community to rally and invest in their neighbors and their Main Street. I have been hearing more about crowdfunding from Kickstarter to Indiegogo. (Both are focused more on arts funding.) Apparently Kickstarter requires you to set a goal and won’t disperse funds until you do – while Indiegogo allows you to keep what you earn. I have a friend who is currently have success raising money for a US tour with Indiegogo.