Community Sourced Capital (CSC) is a newly formed lender headquartered in Seattle, Washington, that aims to apply the crowdsourcing model to encourage the growth of locally owned businesses. “The hardest part is often not attracting shoppers once the project is off the ground,” explains co-founder Casey Dilloway, “but securing capital to get it started.”

CSC’s objective is to harness the power of the connections that tie local people together—both via social media and in the physical world—to find people willing to loan money to small local businesses. They may initially connect through CommunitySourcedCapital.com.

Lenders make funds available in $50 blocks up to a maximum of $250 per project, and are acknowledged by the receipt of a pale-blue square card bearing the CSC logo, which identifies them as “Squareholders”. The funds are then made available to borrowers at zero interest, and loans are paid back at a designated rate based on the company’s revenue. CSC makes loans of up to $50,000.

Source: Yes magazine