CLIMB Fund Initiate Prosperity Small Business Program

CLIMB Fund will use the award from Truist Foundation to integrate a new web-based system for our small business technical assistance program. CLIMB Fund has a large network of business advisors that currently coach our clients on anything related to running a small business, such as bookkeeping and accounting, marketing, and industry-specific skills. Another CDFI, Northern Initiatives, created a program called “Initiate”.  The program allows consultants to connect directly through the service. Initiate provides advisors with the tools and resources needed to help customers as they launch their businesses. Initiate Prosperity focuses on the topics small business owners need most - “Startup, Money Marketing, and Management”. Initiate includes interactive tools, templates, videos, and guides on the topics that matter most to business owners available in English & Spanish. CLIMB's business consultants will be able to create modules to guide learners through understanding cash flow, creating a business plan, and more. In addition, with access to Initiate Prosperity's network, CLIMB Fund TA providers can attend training and peer events to share best practices and drive future enhancements.  Through this program CLIMB Fund will be able to expand and grow its technical assistance program to make sure our clients are best equipped to succeed in running their small business. With support of Initiate, CLIMB will use our decades of experience to build a modernized approach that emphasizes both the power of learning and the power of lending, while reaching our clients where they are and when they are ready to learn 

CLIMB Fund seeks to use a software platform, Initiate, in order to streamline our technical assistance program for small business owners. This software will allow our small businesses consultants to better connect directly to our clients in need of technical assistance. Initiate provides Interactive tools, templates, videos, and guides on the topics that matter most to business owners available in English & Spanish. CLIMB Fund has been intentional on reaching Hispanic and Latino small business owners in South Carolina and the ability to provide technical assistance programs in Spanish will be a game changer in reaching more small business owners. Through Initiate our consultants will be able to assign resources and modules, as well as other action items to be completed outside of Initiate. We can then track the progress of each task to see who is working on it, what has been completed, and what is still outstanding. This helps ensure that all learners are aware of their responsibilities and are making progress towards their goals. This feature allows our business consultants to track our clients' goals and support them in all the needs of their small business. While capital support is an integral part of CLIMB Fund our "secret sauce" is our technical assistance program provided with all loans made. The technical assistance program allows for CLIMB Fund to support our clients through all stages of their business development. Through Initiate Prosperity, CLIMB Fund will be able to provide even more in-depth technical assistance on a new platform. In addition to tracking modules and resources our business consultants will be able to track the progress of action items for tasks inside and outside of Initiate Prosperity for our clients. The features through Initiate will allow CLIMB Fund to grow and scale our technical assistance program in addition to being able to access a network of training and peer events to share best practices and drive future enhancements for CLIMB Fund through Initiate. 

CLIMB Fund serves those in South Carolina who are the most economically distressed communities. In South Carolina these communities are  

Minority, female, veteran, and low-to-moderate-income (LMI) entrepreneurs. While South Carolina has a relatively strong statewide economy this masks the economic disparity found across the state. The average median household income in the United States is $67,521 compared to South Carolina’s $58,234 showing the large gap many low to moderate income families face in the state. While the state’s unemployment rate is 3.3% compared to the national level of 3.6% this does not account for job quality. Due to a poor education system and lack of labor organizing many jobs are low paying with minimal benefits. Low employment quality contributes to a statewide poverty rate of 14.6% (higher than the US rate of 11.6%) and median income of $58,234 (Us Census Bureau). Poverty is much higher for persons of color: 23.1% for African Americans, and 22% for Latinos (most recent American Community Survey estimates). By providing capital support and small business coaching CLIMB Fund supports the states most disadvantaged entrepreneurs.

The economic disparity in South Carolina shows why small business owners in the state need support through funding and technical assistance. This is why CLIMB Fund focuses on getting money into people's hands so that they can start their own small business and change the trajectory of themselves and their family. Through Initiate Prosperity, CLIMB Fund will be better able to serve these populations by providing capital and through our technical assistance program so that their businesses thrive. With the support of the Truist Foundation and Initiate, CLIMB Fund will be able to to deploy more capital and provide more technical assistance to those small business owners in need of support of business development and financial security. 

The CLIMB Fund is among South Carolina's largest mission-driven small business lenders and has over 40 years of history supporting economically distressed communities by making over 800 loans worth over $30 million to disadvantaged small businesses.  

The CLIMB Fund’s mission is to provide access to capital for those who have been denied access to traditional commercial financing. Our mission is creating access to capital that will have positive local impact, elevate opportunity, and advance social and economic justice. According to the Federal Reserve’s 2021 Small Business Credit Survey, nearly 80% of minority small-business owners said their companies were in weak financial shape, compared with 54% of white business owners. And Black small business owners face unique challenges. While owners from all other demographics told the Fed that their main problem was low customer demand, Black respondents cited a different top challenge: access to credit. 41% of Black-owned businesses do not have outstanding debt (Federal Reserve 2021 Small Business Survey), placing them at a disadvantage because they do not have an established lender relationship. Further, in South Carolina, 15% of households of color are unbanked (vs. 2% of white households) and 28% are considered underbanked (vs. 14 % of white households). This lack of access to capital for minority communities has created a gap when starting a small business.  The CLIMB Fund exists to fill that gap in local funding opportunities available for disadvantaged small businesses. Access to capital has been critical for small businesses’ ability to handle the many disruptions and changes felt throughout the economy the past three years. These challenges included a tight labor market, inflation, supply chain disruptions, unpredictable demand for goods and services, and the need for strong traditional banking relationships. The CLIMB Fund and its clients have substantial firsthand experience dealing with these issues and have expanded over the years in order to meet these challenges. CLIMB Fund has shown a proven method of creating wealth and businesses for those communities most in need in South Carolina. 

CLIMB Fund currently serves 400 small businesses with the goal of serving 475 small businesses in a year, and 700 in five years.

CLIMB Fund lends to those most economically distressed communities in South Carolina. In order to ensure our funds are reaching those most in need CLIMB Fund has partnered with many local governments including Spartanburg and Charleston in order to provide financing and technical assistance to those small business owners in need. In addition to local governments, CLIMB Fund partners with a number of banks like ,Truist Bank, in order to meet their Community Reinvestment Act lending requirements as the CLIMB Fund reaches those communities better than most financial institutions. These partnerships in addition to local community organizations like, Lowcountry Local First allow the CLIMB Fund to reach these communities and receive and feedback on our programs.

Over the past two years, CLIMB Fund has sought to increase its expertise, reputation, and capacity to serve disadvantaged small business owners by being intentional about building a strong and growing network of clients, referral sources, business coaches, and community partners in areas with the most need. Reaching individuals who struggle to equitably access capital requires building personal trust and strategic partnerships. That is why the CLIMB Fund outreach strategy focuses on growing a network of partner organizations and our staff members having in-person meetings, events, and workshops over most forms of paid marketing and promotion. To fuel its lending growth, community outreach, and deepening commitment to equity, the CLIMB Fund has also doubled its staff since 2020 with an emphasis on building a diverse and multi-lingual team.

Depth and Breadth- Grow the volume and impact of our lending

-At least 60% minority owned, 23 South Carolina counties

Efficient and Effective- Increase efficiency throughout our technical assistance program to provide more support for our small business owners

-Maintain TA ratio with increase in loan volume

Improve and Innovate- Provide new technical assistance classes through Initiate Prosperity for our clients.

-Identify and invest in new was to increase operational efficiency (Initiate Prosperity)

Client Care- Continue to provide and increase the amount of technical assistance available to our clients

-Reduce loan process to 45 days, Build new ways to engage and scale

While CLIMB Fund has a successful track record of helping small business owners and entrepreneurs, with our expansion into all of South Carolina we are faced with new exciting challenges of making sure everyone across the state has access to our technical assistance program. With the lack of access to high-speed internet throughout a large portion of the state presents a problem when trying to administer technical assistance to accompany our financing. Through Initiate Prosperity and its mobile app, CLIMB Fund will now be able to access any small business owners that have a smart phone. with the support of the Truist Foundation and MIT Solve CLIMB Fund will be able to implement a statewide technical assistance program more effectively and reach more small business owners in need of technical assistance. This new use of technology will allow CLIMB Fund to maneuver and adapt in a business world that has moved more remote in recent years and reach clients located throughout the entire state of South Carolina. 

With a 44 year history and as a federally-certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), our mission is to provide small business capital and technical assistance support to those in South Carolina who have been denied traditional access to financing. As one of South Carolina's largest mission-driven lenders who focuses primarily on the states most economically disadvantaged communities, in 2021 CLIMB Fund began a statewide expansion and now has active loans in 17 South Carolina counties, up from just the four counties in the Charleston area that it had served previously. Certified to lend in all of South Carolina's counties, the CLIMB Fund currently has active loans in 17 counties in the state and has made 128 loans worth $5.2 million in 2022. That year, 60% of the CLIMB Fund's 128 new loans were made to minority owned businesses, 35% to women owned businesses, 19% to veteran owned businesses, and 25% to small businesses located in rural areas of South Carolina. Our portfolio ended the year with active loans that were distributed among a wide variety of industries including Food & Beverage, Transportation & Logistics, Health & Wellness, Consumer Services.