Community Finance

Drawing from the experiences of real-life giving circles, philanthropy leader Hali Lee challenges our traditional understanding of giving, showing how everyday people can take back philanthropy from the billionaires and make the world a better place. When you think of philanthropy, what do you...

Entrepreneurial communities based on contracts among individuals are the most natural organization of a free society. So say Spencer Heath and Spencer MacCallum. They argue that such organizations are superior to coercion-based States. Among other advantages, they show how entrepreneurial communities would be the most efficient vehicles to supply consumers with what in economics are called "public goods."

We created VIDA to revolutionize affordable housing—because we’d already seen what happens when systems fail the people they’re supposed to serve. Governments have good intentions, but transformation on this scale takes more than policy. It takes a full system rethink. And while we didn’t have all the answers in the beginning, we had the right questions:

Big banks make huge profits lending to people in your community and small businesses all around you. Learn how you can help these people and entrepreneurs and keep more of these profits in your home town. Barnett offers step-by-step guidance on how to earn returns ranging from nine percent to infinity by doing car leases, secured loans, inventory financing, buying accounts receivables, financing mini and mobile homes, operating leases on machinery and more. High yield investing does not have to mean high-risk investing.

Ben Price reveals that our constitution and legal system were intentionally designed to give more rights to the wealthy propertied class than the rest of us, and exposes how this hamstrings our ability to effectively address a host of pressing social and environmental problems - and what we can do about it. Many of today’s most serious issues - homelessness, gun violence, fracking, prison privatization, predatory lending, and many more - resist resolution because the “rights of property” undermine the rights of people.

Frank Altman, a legendary figure in the Community Development Finance industry, offers a systematic argument for why and how American capitalism can be extended to people from every walk of life, including those from low-income census tracks. He explores the history and cultural realities that have created an unequal financial playing field, particularly for BIPOC communities and how innovative approaches can create sound investment devices and exponential growth in minority and women-owned businesses and increase levels of home ownership.

Are you overwhelmed by the extreme views on sustainability presented by the media? Struggling with feelings of anxiety, frustration, and helplessness as you navigate the pressures of living sustainably? In "Man's Search for Sustainability," David Auge, after decades of research, offers a groundbreaking perspective by comparing two of nature's most fascinating insect communities—honeybees and desert locusts.

There is a looming crisis. Millions of baby boomers are aging and will need care, but there are not enough beds for all of them. Residential Assisted Living is the solution.