WHAT IS ENTERPRISE CAPITAL?
Enterprise Capital (EC) is a better way to build financial strength and scale impact for nonprofits. EC makes it possible to achieve more through access to the same long term flexible capital available to most successful businesses.
Our successful Enterprise Capital approach has already delivered resources that have helped:
Delta Circles maintain financial stability as it worked to scale efforts to address generational poverty in the Arkansas Delta.
Sustain Venceremos whose mission is to ensure the human rights of poultry workers.
Grow the Delta Community Development and Law Center’s ability to advocate for and produce affordable housing.
The Arkansas Enterprise Capital Grant Fund includes a diverse group of investors, including:
Co-Investors
Traditional philanthropic giving is generally project-based, short-term funding that limits nonprofit potential. Enterprise Capital is unrestricted capital injected at the enterprise/organization level. Enterprise Capital delivers:
Unrestricted Funding
Fund the ENTERPRISE, not just the operations or the project. Trust nonprofits to allocate resources where needed - just like we trust the executive team of our most profitable businesses.
Long-Term Support
Multi-year grants provide predictability, strategic flexibility, and breathing room for transformation—not survival.
Larger Grant Amounts
Fewer, larger grants create meaningful change. Avoid the “spray and pray” approach with dozens of small grants that only keep the lights on.
Grants Not Debt
Grants are more powerful than loans. Use PRIs only when paired with grants to avoid burdening organizations with repayment risk.
AECGF investments include capacity building services that strengthen organizational performance and impact. We integrate the financial capital with a deep bench of organizations support that ensures nonprofits can absorb large investments effectively and leverage them for greater impact. Enterprise capital aligns sources of funds, uses of funds, and capacity-building services to strengthen performance and impact. Integrating financial capital with a deep bench of organizational support ensures nonprofits can absorb capital effectively. Enterprise Capital provides:
Capacity + Capital
Combine enterprise grants with leadership coaching, strategy development, and technical assistance.
Cohort Support & Consulting
Provide wraparound services—just like business accelerators do for startups—so nonprofits grow into strong, scalable organizations.
Philanthropy is strongest when we move in unison. Instead of fragmented, one-off grants, the AECGF unites foundations, collaboratives, and individual donors in a single powerful vehicle—pooling insight, capital, and trust to multiply impact across Arkansas. When you invest through AECGF, you’re not just funding a project—you’re joining a movement to rewrite how philanthropy works in the South.
Together we:
Amplify Impact
Shared investments fuel transformational growth for nonprofits that would be out of reach for any single funder.
Reduce Waste
Streamlined processes and shared reporting free grantees to focus on mission, not paperwork.
Build Alignment
Common goals and shared metrics help funders and nonprofits learn together and accelerate systemic change.
Shift Power
We flip the traditional script—trusting nonprofits to lead, while funders collaborate as partners and learners.
HERE AND NOW:
The First in the South
Arkansas is the South’s first enterprise capital fund —bringing a national model into a local context. Your investment here pioneers a smarter approach. ​
A Crucial Time
Amid a rapidly shifting federal, state, and philanthropic funding environment, Arkansas nonprofits need bold investment - now.
An Exportable Model
What starts in Arkansas can influence national practice. Let's build something here that sets the tone for what's possible across the country.