Slow Money Gathering with Woody Tasch (May 2016)

"What would the world be like if we invested 50 percent of our assets within 50 miles of where we live?" Woody Tasch, founder of the Slow Money Movement. 

Approximately 100 people convened on a Tuesday evening in May, for the second Slow Money Minnesota Gathering., which took place at the Como Dockside Restaurant in St. Paul. People gathered to hear Slow Money founder Woody Tasch and hear presentations by  farmers and entrepreneurs as well as  investors.  Noshing on delicious hors d’oeuvres provided by area food-makers, attendees explored and connected over ways to finance a local food economy. This second gathering not only strengthened local connections and honored the movement’s founder and vision, but also marked progress at the local level with the launch of a new Slow-Money-style, micro-loan fund: the Grow A Farmer Fund.

The evening began with  reflections on the progress made in the past year. MNvest, the online investment portal that had been legalized the previous year, will be finally launched at the end of month. This mechanism will allow the average person to invest in Minnesota entrepreneurs (you can learn more about MNvest here!).

 Check out our blog post, for a recap of the event.

Slow Money Seminar: Investment Clubs 101 (November 2015)

A Conversation with Joe Riemann, Cooperative Principal

Investment clubs are one avenue for aligning your investment dollars with your values. But how do they work? How do you start one? What do you need to know? On November 12, we sat down with Joe Riemann, co-founder of Cooperative Principal to learn how he started an investment club, and what he knows now, a year into it. 

Check out our blog post, for a recap of the event.

Inaugural Slow Money Minnesota Gathering (June 2015)

On a lovely summer evening in June, 150 people came together for the kick-off of Slow Money Minnesota. The event came about because of the energy and interest bubbling up locally around how Minnesotans can do more to support a healthy local food system. The gathering provided an opportunity to learn about investing in food and farming, as well as sampling delicious local fare.

Read the full recap of the event here. 

View the agenda here.

FEAST Finance Forum & Local Foods Businesses Conference
(May 2015)

Issue: While the seeds of a local foods economy have been planted and tended over the past couple of decades in Minnesota, efforts have been isolated and under-resourced. As a group, we are ready to create structures to deliver capital, and support, to local foods businesses. To get to this goal, we need to identify innovative financing mechanisms that can be implemented over the next 24 months.

Solution: Bring together leaders from across the region to develop innovative mechanisms to provide capital and resources to local foods businesses ready to expand.

Strategy:
Invite national leaders from organizations and institutions that have developed and successfully implemented local foods financing and investment models to participate in a workshop we will organize in Southern Minnesota.