LIFT Economy

How to Raise Mission-Aligned Capital

What is this course about?

A deep dive into raising mission-aligned capital. This course is for anyone interested in learning about raising capital and fundraising from a Next Economy perspective. It is relevant for folks who are about to start raising capital, and for those who are in a capital raise but are feeling stuck. This course includes a free 60-minute coaching call with Kevin Bayuk, partner and worker-owner at LIFT Economy, to answer your questions around values-aligned capital and fundraising.

This course covers:

• Understanding business as usual finance
• Order of operations for seeking financing
• Security structure options
• Finding the right investors
• “Pitching” investors
• Case studies of successful and creative mission-aligned capital raises that the LIFT team has firsthand experience in assisting with

Racial and power dynamics when seeking capital are prevalent and we address strategies for entrepreneurs to be able to navigate, overcome and in some cases work to dismantle systems of oppression.

Why did you create this course?

This online self-study course comes from our experiences teaching multiple cohorts of a nine month, live facilitated course called the Next Economy MBA.

The Next Economy MBA is a course for entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs who want to learn key business fundamentals (e.g., vision, culture, strategy, and operations) from a regenerative perspective.

During these cohorts, we discovered that our students wanted more detail on some of the fundamental topics that are central to growing the Next Economy.

The most requested area for additional content and support is around the concerns about and struggles with raising capital. Thus, we decided that "How to Raise Mission-Aligned Capital" would be the first self-study course we would offer.

By creating this self-study course, we aim to give students access to more in-depth materials that can be learned at one's own pace. Our hope is that this can better accommodate the full and diverse lives we all bring to learning and living into the Next Economy.

What's in it for me?

You want to raise capital for your organization or project, but you: 

• Feel unsure about where to start 
• Have been trying to raise capital for some time, but feel it isn’t working 
• Feel unsure about what investors really want.  “Do I need a better pitch deck? Do I need better financial projections? Am I even talking to the right investors? Help!” 
• Want advice about where to turn next 
• Want to make sure you can get the resources you need to grow your Next Economy enterprise without compromising on your values and your aspirations to serve your community in the most beneficially impactful ways

Who is teaching the course and what qualifies you to offer this?

• LIFT successfully raised $1.1M in investment capital from 125 investors for the Force for Good Fund 
• LIFT Partners have helped clients raise millions of dollars in mission-aligned capital 
• LIFT Partners have been intimately involved in raising $40M in venture capital 
• LIFT is helping develop the field of regenerative agriculture investors, racial justice investors, and Next Economy investors more broadly 
• We have exclusively focused on organizing, raising money from, and partnering with mission-aligned investors
•  We have build our curriculum from our own experience and research
• We solicit and incorporate feedback from all of our courses 

How long is the course? What is the format?

• 9 hours of instructional video plus resources and exercises. 
• Depending on your self-motivated engagement, this could be 10-15 hours of total content.

How do I know if this course is right for me? What kind of results can I expect?

• You have a vision and values driven organization or project and think you may need to raise capital 
• You have tried and/or succeeded in raising capital but do not feel vision and values aligned with the investors you have engaged 
• While we can’t guarantee a successful fundraise, we have seen results including; realizing not to raise funds until a later stage of development, successful raise, expanding your networks to connect with aligned investors.

What if I am dissatisfied with this course?

We have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. If you are not completely satisfied with the course, we will refund your entire fee. Our only request for refunds is that you have a conversation with us so we can better understand your experience with the course.

Who do I contact with any questions, comments, or concerns?

You can make comments directly in the course if it is related to the content, and we will be able to respond. If you want to reach out to our team for assistance, please email us at [email protected].