One of the key innovations of MFES is a unique community investment model. By integrating elements of micro-financing, venture capitalism, and social philanthropy with elements of the cooperative or collaborative model, each community can leverage existing school, economic development, and social service funding to transform underutilized or threatened farms and other neglected community assets into engines of a new, sustainable, and local economy.
We seek to establish direct connections between funders and the projects they fund and between our educational platform and the Maine economy that will need graduates as workers. For example, individuals interested in funding sustainability initiatives can fund projects creating greater energy efficiency for small businesses through sharing infrastructure; families interested in supporting the development of best practices in educating at-risk children can support the documentation and replication of successful initiatives; partner organizations can identify gaps and overlaps, creating a multiplier effect not just with financial support, but by eliminating inefficiencies and duplication. While the goal of each enterprise is economic self-sufficiency and growth, there is also opportunity to create a multiplier effect - a venture philanthropy infusion into the solar energy business will have the tangible outcome of supporting apprenticeships, and the likely effect of reducing the project’s energy consumption. When solar technology reaches the point where it is a viable option for most Mainers, that investment will have played a part in developing a replicable small business model by preparing entrepreneurs to start those businesses and trained employees to make them work.
