As one of the fastest-growing workplace movements of the last decade, co-working enables people from diverse backgrounds to work together in a common space. The number of co-working spaces around the world has increased by nearly 700% since 2011. Globally, an estimated half a million people work in more than 7,800 shared workspaces today—a number which is expected to climb to 37,000 over the next two years.
This generation is beginning to see this alternative to traditional office space as the place for startups and entrepreneurs. While WeWork and many other national spaces continue to grow, our hope is that there would be a rise in co-working spaces that see themselves as more than hosts, but as friends, even partners that can consider things like Chaplaincy services and other unique ways to care for the leaders that spend most of their waking hours in their space. If you know of co-working groups that are looking to partner with investors and have an emphasis on Spiritual Integration please submit the form below to share with the community.
Know of Another Group that should be added to the List?
Submit it to our editorial team so we can consider adding it to the site.
> “A faith-based investment firm. We exist to operate profitable, operationally efficient, Kingdom Class companies that radically impact the lives of those we serve.”
Investment Approach
INVESTMENT THESIS
Our investment thesis is to help Christian business owners transition out of their business without losing their kingdom impact. Our goal is radically impact lives for Jesus through the businesses we operate. ADG’s wholistic focus is on People, Performance and Purpose, through our proprietary P3 process.
INVESTMENT OVERVIEW
ADG’s Kingdom Impact Fund acquires a controlling interest in lower middle market companies. We transition owner operated business to a next senior leader, develop culture driven performance, and/or reignite companies from growth plateaus. The businesses we purchase typically have annual revenues between $5–20 million, an EBITDA of at least $1M, are located in the US, and have been in existence for more than ten years. We “buy, hold and grow” so we can truly sustain our purpose and impact. Therefore we are placing permanent capital through an evergreen fund structure.
Investments to Date: Under 10
Focused Geographic Regions of Investment:
Is all of your activity in the US? Yes
What countries outside of the US are you active in? N/A
Focused Industries of Investment:
Manufacturing
Data, Software and Technology
Healthcare
Construction and Engineering
Consumer Services
Investment Example:
We Believe: Mission driven businesses are uniquely positioned to impact the world and solve problems like nothing else can. Healthy, missional cultures drive superior performance. A long-term strategy is essential for sustained growth and impact. Christian business owners’ hunger for aligned capital. Therefore we tracking spiritual KPIs. We promote, measure, and assess the impact of missional activates. These include but are not limited to: Bible studies, prayer times, chaplaincy programs, financial literacy courses and sending employees to marriage conferences. To achieve missional impact, we are descriptive versus prescriptive with our CEOs. Business leaders who own the mission, bring the highest level of creativity, passion and can contextualize the solutions. Since inception in June 2017 the portfolio companies we have a 18.85% dollar weighted ROI (updated Q3 2019). We pay a preferred 8% annual distribution on a quarterly basis. And essentially have a “2 and 20” fee structure.
Previous or Active Portfolio Companies:
Capital Raise Strategy
Total Assets Under Management: $7.2 Million
% of Capital from Top 3 Investors: 25-50%
Financial Reporting Frequency to Investors: Quarterly statements and annual valuations
Average Investment: Around $211,000. This is reflecting our lower minimum of $100k when we started. Our fund structure launched November 2019.
Minimum Amount: $500,000, but for $1M we offer legacy services to our investor families.
Setup to accept charitable capital through the National Christian Foundation or other listing platforms? Yes
Leadership Team
Cumulative Leadership Experience in Accredited Investing: 50+Years
Steve’s primary role focuses on mission and vision: building operationally excellent companies that radically impact the lives of people. He leads all efforts to identify and recruit talented people to the ADG team. Steve’s career began with an electrical distributor. Through implementing operational efficiencies, he assisted in growing revenues by over 400%. By 24, he was promoted to president of the company. Subsequently, he has held key business development and management positions with companies in the small–medium sized business sectors. In 2001, he founded the corporate entertainment and hospitality company Concierge of Indianapolis. The company grew to serve national and international clientele. Recently, Steve served as National Director of Field Ministry. He also served on the management team at CBMC, which is a national ministry in the marketplace. At CBMC, Steve helped re-establish their national brand as well as implement a leadership development and training process. Both initiatives have been contributing factors to organizational expansion and the development of national leaders.
Ladell oversees the due diligence, investment selection process as well as the ongoing systemic growth process of our investments at ADG. Ladell and the ADG Management Team work alongside the portfolio company management to build and maximize the performance, profitability and marketable value of our investments. Ladell rose to the top of Wall Street as a manager of a $10.2 billion investment fund, which was the second largest in the country at the time. He then moved to Houston and co-founded Smith, Graham & Company Investment Advisors, L.P. – a premier fixed-income management company with over $2.5 billion of assets. Ladell served as president and chief investment officer of the company. His clients included the who’s who of the nation’s top corporations and municipalities. Ladell has been featured in numerous publications including The Wall Street Journal, Black Enterprise Magazine, Pensions and Investments Magazine and on the NBC special, Succeeding Against the Odds. He has received numerous awards and honors, including being listed in Who’s Who Worldwide.
Jon applies broad experience, skills, and passions to lift the cultural and performance levels of the companies and individuals he serves. Jon leads the cultural assessment and developmental process of ADG’s pre and post-acquisition efforts. Working with company leadership, he helps identify key cultural and developmental needs and then advances strategies to drive performance improvement. This unique cultural focus provides significant value to the areas of due diligence, change management, strategic planning and people skills development.
Team and CULTURE
While not complete, one of the things investors have found helpful in the past is seeing how employees, customers have reviewed someone online. As of the date of completing this out …
Glass Door Rating: Not available
Facebook Review Rating: 5 Stars (1 Review)
Spiritual Integration and Impact:
Faith Driven Investing can span a wide range from high yield to concessionary returns that have a higher level of spiritual integration. Having clear expectations of this philosophy is key for the movement. Each investment is unique and you might want to select multiples but if you had to choose one quadrant that best fits your groups spiritual integration and financial performance targets … What would it be?
We are growing in our spiritual KPIs and missional activities being tracked, reported and monitored in our portfolio companies. For performance, I say market is fair. We have seen an 18.85% portfolio return dollar weighted year over year since January 2017 (updated number for Q3 2019).
Describe the Spiritual Integration Activities of the Fund:
We track Spiritual KPIs in our portfolio companies. We promote, measure, and assess the impact of missional activates. These include but are not limited to: Bible studies, prayer times, chaplaincy programs, financial literacy courses and sending employees to marriage conferences. We are more descriptive versus prescriptive. We feel, Business leaders who own the mission, bring the highest level of creativity, passion and can contextualize the solutions.
Is Impact and Spiritual Integration Tracked?
The tools that are most useful to this effort are 1) Marketplace Chaplains reporting and 2) the Denison Organizational Culture survey. The former provides specific but discrete information regarding missional engagements with employees and family. The latter provides overall cultural assessment to insure that the companies are attentive to the holistic health of the organization. Employees beliefs and assumptions are keenly reflective of that reality. ADG’s missional metrics and measuring methodologies continue to be refined. We are adding a third assessment of missional activities that will track and measure the physical, emotional, and spiritual activities that are designed to show caring and impact on employees, families and communities.
Are you partnered with any other organizations?
Marketplace chaplains has been a partner since our first deal. Ron Blue Trust business services division helps in parts of our due diligence. ThreeTen Coalition and Christian Employers Alliance is a partner. Ron Blue Trust business services division helps in parts of our due diligence. ThreeTen Coalition is a partner. The Marketplace Ministry folks like C12, CBMC, Truth @ Work, Convene, etc. are friends in the movement.
A lot of Investing Conversations look at Social Impact related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Is there one of these that most resonates with your organization?
#8 “Decent work and economic growth” followed closely by #9 Industry, innovation and infrastructure
If you’re wildly successful how will the world be different?
> “We will radically impact for Jesus through the profitable businesses we operate. 100% of our portfolio company employees are in a role aligned to their God given gifts. 100% ADG leadership team in life on life mentoring and discipleship. 100% our investors will honor God with all of life including their money and live out their God-given purpose together. For stakeholders, we would have an impact on our employees, their families, business partners, customers and competition to sharpen, challenge and inspire. As we realize a successful future, this impact will grow outside of our companies walls to additional businesses, investors and high capacity families to impact the US, and the world for Christ.”
WHY The FAITH DRIVEN INVESTOR?
Why are you compelled to be certified and a part of the Faith Driven Investor Group? We love the community, developing partnerships, and Kingdom centered group forming here.
Cornerstone identifies opportunities to create a triple-bottom line of profit, social impact and spiritual impact. As an indigenous Northern Irish business with a heart for Belfast, Cornerstone seek off-market opportunities secured through its networks in areas that have been overlooked by property developers until now. With a city that is on a rapid growth curve and by financing the developments with a combination of private investment and institutional loans Cornerstone are able to deliver excellent returns for its investors who share a passion for bringing light to the dark corners of Belfast and seeing the Apartment Life model launched in the UK, Ireland and Europe.
INVESTMENT OVERVIEW
The Cornerstone team have many years of experience in Construction Management but have shifted their business model to retaining the assets to create more opportunity for social and spiritual impact as well as creating better returns for private investors. Cornerstone offer a range of investment opportunities and have partnered with Russell Bjorkman who is collating an international property fund. When developments are funded with a mix of private and institutional funding, deals are sought that provide investors with IRR’s that compare favorably with similar property deals.
Capital Raise Strategy
Total Properties Under Management: 1
Total Equity Under Management: $3 Million
% of Capital from Top 3 Investors: More than 50%
Financial Reporting Frequency to Investors: Quarterly
Strategy: Deal by Deal
Investments to Date: Under 10
Total Number of Investors: 10
Average Investment: $175,000
Minimum Amount: $100,000
Setup to accept charitable capital through the National Christian Foundation or other listing platforms? TBD
Focused Industries of Investment:
Multi Family – New Development
Single Family – New Development
Commercial – New Development
Focused Geographic Regions of Investment:
Is all of your activity in the US? No
What countries outside of the US are you active in? United Kingdom / Ireland
Company Differentiator: An exciting Kingdom Business, Cornerstone only consider projects that meet their social/spiritual impact criteria. With a focus on regenerating the areas of Belfast that were impacted most by the Troubles they seek to be a significant catalyst in Belfast’s ongoing renaissance as a successful Global City that attracts talent and capital from around the world.
Investment Example:
Investments have all been arranged on a deal by deal basis. Cornerstone welcome conversations with interested investors and partners and are happy to provide further information.
Previous or Active Portfolio PROPERTIES:
Leadership Team
Cumulative Leadership Experience in Accredited Investing: 10-20 Years
Daniel is passionate about the potential for design and innovation in property development and construction to transform spaces, regenerate communities and enhance people’s lives and wellbeing. A champion of change and progression in the industry throughout Northern Ireland Daniel brings a wealth of insight and experience to every project from bespoke homes to city regeneration schemes.
Andrew’s professional and academic background revolves around the intersection between business and social impact. He is passionate about connecting people and organizations to issues where their resources can make a real difference.
Lauren is passionate about seeing the regeneration of cities which also has positive impact in building and restoring communities. She loves to create and design spaces that promote quality of life and are focused on the end user and their everyday lifestyle.
Team and CULTURE
While not complete, one of the things investors have found helpful in the past is seeing how employees, customers have reviewed someone online. As of the date of completing this out …
Glass Door Rating: Not available
Facebook Review Rating: Not Available
Spiritual Integration and Impact:
Faith Driven Investing can span a wide range from high yield to concessionary returns that have a higher level of spiritual integration. Having clear expectations of this philosophy is key for the movement. Each investment is unique and you might want to select multiples but if you had to choose one quadrant that best fits your groups spiritual integration and financial performance targets … What would it be?
We offer investors above market financial return whilst having seeking to have high spiritual impact and integration. As we are a growing company with growing projects we currently would honestly say that there is medium Spiritual integration. However with each project and ‘Apartment Life’ style model we will continue to grow in Spiritual Integration and Social Impact.
Describe the Spiritual Integration Activities:
Cornerstone’s model has been designed with intentional social and spiritual transformation in mind. We believe that God desires to see His Kingdom Come on earth and we seek to use Cornerstone to bring economic, social and spiritual transformation to the people and communities we interact with. The need for community as God intended is so key to Spiritual Impact and integration as well as overall wellbeing, in a society that struggles with an epidemic of loneliness. We are committed to an ‘Apartment Life’ model for our developments. This is an effective way of integrating Spiritual and Social Impact in each and every project/ development. Cornerstone will facilitate having an onsite ‘live in’ person or persons that links to a supportive and active local church to be a presence in a development. The live in individual will be discipled and trained and overseen by a Cornerstone representative, the individual will carry responsibility to engage with the community, be there for neighbors, facilitate ways for the community to connect, signpost to local church events and ultimately show the love and care of Jesus etc. Cornerstone appoints specific individuals in it’s team to also be focused on the Spiritual Integration of the companies vision outworked in all its projects and to think ahead and plan for the future as developments expand and the ‘Apartment Life’ model gets up and running in this part of the world.
Is Impact and Spiritual Integration Tracked?
Yes
Are you partnered with any other organizations?
Daniel is the current secretary and incoming chair of CBMC and is on the board of directors for Europartners and East Belfast Missions. Andrew is Head of Development of CBMC (Connecting Business and the Marketplace to Christ). Each of our team are connected to local churches that are driven by Spiritual Integration and Kingdom Work. Cornerstone has developed strong relationships with East Belfast Missions, The Church of Ireland and other local churches in the communities that we our engaged in.
A lot of Investing Conversations look at Social Impact related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Is there one of these that most resonates with your organization?
(9) Infrastructure, Industry and Innovation (as we seek to develop cities and bring about regeneration of infrastructure and uniquely make a social impact and spiritual impact in these areas)
(11) Sustainable cities and communities (Incorporating innovative and sustainable design in our projects and using a community building model in each of our developments to provide a greater sense of community whilst also working with the wider community to bring further integration and benefit.
(3) Good health and wellbeing (by way of quality of living conditions and community)
WHY The FAITH DRIVEN INVESTOR?
Why are you compelled to be certified and a part of the Faith Driven Investor Group?
We are compelled to be certified and part of the Faith Driven Investor Group and develop our relationship with other like minded investors. We are passionate about investment that seeks to also have spiritual and social impact. The Faith Driven Investor Group is a group that shares the same passion and seeks to see The Kingdom of Heaven displayed in how we invest and do business. We hope to gain wisdom from those who have journeyed this longer than we have, build relationships, encourage one another and ultimately see Faith Driven Investment become established in Europe.
Eagle invests in Seed and Series A companies who need value’s aligned capital to reach their goals. We believe values-driven businesses out-perform, and we target above-market-rate returns with significant social and spiritual impact.
INVESTMENT OVERVIEW
Early-stage SaaS and FinTech companies that are located near Texas and Switzerland. Our first fund, “Eagle Venture Fund, LP” is closed to new investors. We are currently raising capital for special purpose vehicles to co-invest in our portfolio of 12 companies and preparing for fund two.
Investments to Date: 10-25
Focused Geographic Regions of Investment:
Is all of your activity in the US? No
What countries outside of the US are you active in? Switzerland, Germany and the United Kingdom
Focused Industries of Investment:
Data, Software and Technology
Healthcare
Energy
Investment Example:
World Wide Generation is a blockchain-enabled SaaS platform that is bringing an unprecedented level of transparency to Wall Street. World Wide Generation’s vision is to catalyze a generation to believe in and achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The company landed more than 20 FTSE 500 companies as clients since we invested, increasing the value of our investment by 50% in six months.
Company Differentiator:
Experience: The Eagle general partners bring the experience of 60+ mergers and acquisitions, founding or co-founding 50+ companies, and 100+ seed and PE investments.
Process: Our due diligence process is rigorous, quantifiable, and repeatable. Two of our three-stages of due diligence are codified into SaaS companies. (Step 1) Opportunity IQ measures early-stage companies based on 50 criteria that make a startup more or less likely to succeed. (Step 2) We use Startup Financial Model to verify or rebuild every startup’s financial model and calculate capital needs, cash flow cycles, break-even point, key opportunities, and evaluate scaling models. (Step 3) We evaluate management teams and their impact on each stakeholder in their business using Likert-Scale scoring.
Previous or Active Portfolio Companies:
Capital Raise Strategy
Total Assets Under Management: $3 Million
% of Capital from Top 3 Investors: More than 50%
Financial Reporting Frequency to Investors: Quarterly statements and annual valuations
Average Investment: $250,000
Minimum Amount: $100,000
Setup to accept charitable capital through the National Christian Foundation or other listing platforms? No, but willing to be set up.
Leadership Team
Cumulative Leadership Experience in Accredited Investing: 50+Years
Wade has founded or co-founded, invested in, and been a director of over 35 companies and has completed over 100 financing and M&A transactions as part of his business building strategy. He started selling door-to-door as a boy and worked full time most of his high school and college years at many jobs and at-risk ventures to put himself through school. His startup and business building focus has been on software and IT-enabled services companies that have high gross margins, recurring revenue, and repeatable and scalable offerings. His startups have included a firm that grew into a global IT services company that was capitalized with $75m in venture capital prior to selling to a public company and an Inc. 5000 nationwide tech-enabled real estate services company that has grown into the fifth largest firm among several thousand competitors in its industry.
Raffaele is a serial entrepreneur with a focus on FinTech and the dynamics of the Interest/Forex/Credit/Stock markets. Raffaele was the youngest director in history at a large European bank, where he was responsible for the expansion of the proprietary trading, market making, sales and new issues of international bonds. Raffaele received his post graduate program in Finance at the IFZ School in Zug and has earned the international Financial Analyst CIIA qualification. Raffaele has started more than a dozen companies since his bank career.
Wes is an entrepreneur, investor, Certified Financial Planner(R), Certified Kingdom Advisor(R), and Veteran. Wes is experienced in faith-based investments in both the public and private markets. Wes was a general partner for a multi-strategy private equity fund from 2015-2019 where he co-lead 29 private investments. In the public markets, Wes developed high-impact public market portfolios for DC-area Registered Investment Advisor, and launch Faith-Based Portfolios to help advisors launch faith-based portfolios. Wes runs a consulting firm for startups focused on financial modeling and strategy, and he is primary for operations of Eagle Venture Fund.
Rai is a Business Professional with global experience in a wide range of technologies. Rai maximizes the effective use of technology in Sales, Marketing, General Management and Business Consulting and Project Management. Rai has a record of building strong, successful relationships with prime influencers, senior executives and business partners across a range of companies and industries. His sound professional judgement allied to a strong entrepreneurial flair has resulted in delivery of results and high commercial awareness. Rai’s multi-linguistic skills and cultural awareness enables effective business interaction internationally.
Team and CULTURE
While not complete, one of the things investors have found helpful in the past is seeing how employees, customers have reviewed someone online. As of the date of completing this out …
Glass Door Rating: Not available
Facebook Review Rating: Not available
Spiritual Integration and Impact:
Faith Driven Investing can span a wide range from high yield to concessionary returns that have a higher level of spiritual integration. Having clear expectations of this philosophy is key for the movement. Each investment is unique and you might want to select multiples but if you had to choose one quadrant that best fits your groups spiritual integration and financial performance targets … What would it be?
Our target is the top right. We are pursuing above-market rate returns via diversified exposure to highly scalable opportunities that positively impact the world.
Describe the Spiritual Integration Activities of the Fund:
We partner with entrepreneurs who are transforming dark marketplaces, and we do everything we can to help them, from capital needs to consulting, networking, board leadership, praying together, and encouraging them through thick and thin.
Is Impact and Spiritual Integration Tracked?
We do not currently measure our impact or spiritual integration in a scalable way, but we are working hard to figure out how to solve this problem
A lot of Investing Conversations look at Social Impact related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Is there one of these that most resonates with your organization?
#4 (Health) is where we have the most impact
#7(Clean Energy)
#17 (Partnership for the goals).
If you’re wildly successful how will the world be different?
> “ If we are wildly successful, our financial success combined with high impact will catalyze faith-based investors to take faith-driven investing to the next level. ”
WHY The FAITH DRIVEN INVESTOR?
Why are you compelled to be certified and a part of the Faith Driven Investor Group? We believe in the faith-driven investor movement, and we deeply believe that a rising tide lifts all boats. We hope to see the FDI industry gain credibility, and we hope to connect with entrepreneurs and investors.
Advenir believes the current economic environment offers a truly unique opportunity to acquire attractive multi-family assets and generate superior risk adjusted returns. Our business model is centered on a “preservation of capital” philosophy – driven by strong, stable cash flows with the potential for capital appreciation. We accomplish this by acquiring stabilized, income-producing multi-family assets in markets that have exhibited, and are projecting, healthy economies, positive employment growth, and in-migration.
INVESTMENT OVERVIEW
The investment is structured as a single purpose entity. Investor equity yields an 8% annual Preferred Return, and a 70% backend share of profits. All equity is returned prior to any backend sharing of cash flow. There is no Sponsor catch-up of any sort. All debt is sourced from Freddie Mac, as Advenir is a “Select Sponsor” of the lender. Acquisitions are very selective, in 2019 Advenir underwrote in excess of 400 investments to acquire 4.
Capital Raise Strategy
Strategy: Deal by Deal
Total Properties Under Management: 42 with a total of over 13,500 Units
Total Assets Under Management: $800 Million
Investments to Date: 50-100
Total Number of Investors: 400
Average Investment: TBD
% of Capital from Top 3 Investors: Less than 10%
Minimum Amount: $100,000
Financial Reporting Frequency to Investors: Monthly
Setup to accept charitable capital through the National Christian Foundation or other listing platforms? Yes, however there will be UBTI
Focused Geographic Regions of Investment:
Is all of your activity in the US? Yes,
Florida, Colorado, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama & Louisiana
What countries outside of the US are you active in
N/A
Focused Industries of Investment:
Multi Family – Existing
Company Differentiator:
Advenir is not a Fund which allows investor to pick and choose the multifamily investments they would like to participate in. Advenir’s interests are aligned with investors, as it does not charge extensive fees and relies upon overall profitability of the investment for its earnings. Advenir manages its own properties which allows for certainty of execution of the business plan. Advenir continues to invest in its people and technology in order to out-perform the market. Advenir has an investor Portal which maintains all investment results, cash flows, tax documents, and monthly financial reporting.
Investment Example:
The key to a successful investment is culture, leadership, people, proper model and underwriting, location of the asset, execution of the business plan, and economic environment. Typical investments have a four to seven-year investment strategy. Advenir acquires both value-add and new construction assets in lease-up, with a current target cash on cash return of 6% and an overall investor yield of 13% per annum. For a more detailed case study please visit the website at www.Advenir.net.
Previous or Active Portfolio PROPERTIES:
Advenir has owned and operated 78 apartment communities, 36 have been sold for an average return on invested equity of 1.99x. Our average hold for this group of assets is 4.5 years. We currently own 42 properties yielding a current cash flow of 8% or greater. The full portfolio can be viewed on our web site: www.advenir.net/portfolio
Leadership Team
Cumulative Leadership Experience in Accredited Investing: 21-30 Years
Stephen Vecchitto founded Advenir in 1996 and serves as the company’s Managing Director. He is responsible for creating the business plan for more than 13,000 units in Florida, Texas, Colorado and North Carolina and has oversight responsibility for acquisitions, financing and investor relations.
Prior to his work with Advenir, Stephen, a licensed CPA, founded VSM, LLC, a Hartford, Connecticut-based financial services firm. The firm specialized in litigation support, mergers and acquisitions, fraud, appraisals. Under his direction as Managing Partner, VSM grew to 40 professionals and became the fifth largest private firm in Hartford.
Stephen dedicates much of his spare time to serving in the business community. He is on the board of directors for Teach for America-Miami and a cornerstone member of Make-A-Wish Foundation in South Florida. Stephen was on the board of directors at both Deering Bay and the Greater Hartford Chamber of Commerce. He is also a former president of the Rocky Hill Chamber of Commerce, an organization that once named him Person of the Year.
Stephen graduated Suma Cum Laude in 1978 from Bentley University with a Bachelors of Science degree in Accounting.
David Vecchitto is Chief Executive Office of Advenir Real Estate Management. As CEO, David is responsible for executing the business plan for the portfolio of properties, providing strategic direction to the management company, and developing our people and culture. David joined Advenir as Chief Financial Officer in April 2015 and values integrity, accuracy, and outstanding customer service.
Prior to joining Advenir David has had financial leadership positions in public accounting, captive insurance, risk management, not-for-profit, and agri-business. He has extensive international experience, with a passion for providing strategic direction and implementing growth and improvement initiatives to strengthen financial and organizational performance.
David volunteers his time working with national leaders to provide leadership and social development in the majority world. David has a Bachelor’s degree from Bentley University, a Master’s degree from Trinity International University, and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Connecticut.
Arnold Faze is Director of Construction for Advenir Living. He is responsible for the oversight and management of all value add construction and asset preservation projects across Advenir’s billion dollar plus portfolio of real estate holdings. Arnold joined the Advenir team in February 2018 with extensive experience in residential, hotel, and retail construction management.
Prior to joining Advenir, Arnold amassed over 18 years in construction project management experience working for Turnberry Construction in Las Vegas and Plaza Construction in Miami, FL. His work scopes ranged from ground up new build to full renovations of existing structures including five luxury high rise condominium towers, a large casino-resort hotel, an oceanfront hotel renovation, and a regional shopping center expansion. During his tenures, Arnold helped to build over $2 billion worth of assets including Turnberry Place Las Vegas, Turnberry Towers Las Vegas, 1 Hotel & Homes South Beach, and the new Aventura Mall expansion completed in November 2017. His drive and passion for achieving excellent results through collaborative teamwork will help fuel Advenir’s forward growth and success.
Arnold obtained his bachelor’s degree from Florida International University and leads his team with the mindset of exceeding customer expectations. His core values include integrity, fairness, leading by example, and living by the golden rule. He enjoys spending his free time enjoying the great outdoors with his wife and three children.
Spiritual Integration and Impact:
Faith Driven Investing can span a wide range from high yield to concessionary returns that have a higher level of spiritual integration. Having clear expectations of this philosophy is key for the movement. Each investment is unique and you might want to select multiples but if you had to choose one quadrant that best fits your groups spiritual integration and financial performance targets … What would it be?
The quadrant would be the middle, medium spiritual integration and market rate financial return. We are first driven by investment parameters to preserve equity and produce a reasonable risk adjusted return. Advenir’s culture is of a Christian base, driving from a biblical foundation. It becomes a weaving of leadership and financial goals.
Describe the Spiritual Integration Activities:
Apartment Life – they are currently engaged on a number of Advenir properties with an expectation to be close to 100% integration. Advenir has been one of the original donors to start up the Florida Apartment Life division and we participate on both the Florida and National advisory councils.
Is Impact and Spiritual Integration Tracked?
Yes – Apartment Life Tracks Success at the Individual Property Level
Are you partnered with any other organizations?
Apartment Life
A lot of Investing Conversations look at Social Impact related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Is there one of these that most resonates with your organization?
Gender equality, affordable and clean energy, quality education, sustainable communities, decent work and economic growth
WHY The FAITH DRIVEN INVESTOR?
Why are you compelled to be certified and a part of the Faith Driven Investor Group?
Being certified compels us to continue our leadership in a faith-based direction.We hope to be an avenue for investments that yield a market risk return while maintaining a Christ-like business environment.
The Talanton Impact Fund serves faith-driven investors who understand the power of high-growth, mid-sized businesses to create good jobs for underserved populations while providing viable, growing markets to thousands of suppliers and adjacent businesses. These businesses have the power to transform lives and communities. 600 million new jobs are needed by 2030 to alleviate human suffering. 80% of those jobs will need to come from small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
The Talanton Impact Fund has a distinctive focus—to generate a significant number of new jobs for underserved populations by investing in high growth, well run businesses ranging in size from $500,000 to $5 million in sales. This underserved segment is commonly called the “Missing Middle”. Why? Because these mid-sized companies need capital to grow yet are generally too small for traditional private equity funds, underserved by micro-finance and traditional banks, and unreachable by nascent local capital markets.
INVESTMENT OVERVIEW
The Talanton Impact Fund is an “Evergreen Fund”, which means there are ongoing opportunities to invest in high growth, high impact businesses. Talanton focused on post-revenue (>$500K in Sales) businesses with near-term positive EBITDA prospects. We offer competitive loans, generally in a senior position, with small equity positions in select circumstances.
Investments to Date: Under 10
Focused Geographic Regions of Investment:
The less developed, high growth regions of the world, starting in East Africa where the Partnership group has deep on-the-ground networks and trusted partners. As Talanton goes to scale, select countries in SE Asia and Central America will come into play.
Focused Industries of Investment:
Agriculture
Manufacturing
Energy
Construction/Engineering
Consumer Retail
Banking and Finance
Investment Examples:
Long Miles Coffee:
Founded in 2013, Long Miles Coffee processes and exports specialty coffee from Burundi to craft roasters around the world and aims to lift people out of poverty in a market-driven context. LMC sources from smallholder coffee farmers, paying them above-market prices. Their niche in specialty coffee commands prices of $4.50-$6.00 per pound, compared to commercial grade coffee of $0.90/pound. Of LMC’s multiple social impact initiatives, the most important is its Scouts Program, in which scouts are trained to educate farmers on best coffee-growing practices, leading to significantly higher yields.
# of Farmers: 5,480 Permanent Jobs Created: 55 Seasonal Jobs Created: 300-400 per harvest season Communities Impacted: 38 Increased yields: 3-4x coffee cherry quantities via Scouts program Higher income: pays 20% premium over government mandated prices, totaling over $251,000 Education: 4,646 children sponsored for schools through Summer Coffee Camp Environmental: 35,000 trees planted in reforestation project
Educor:
Founded in 2010, Educor’s vision is to provide a holistic educational experience that will nurture, educate, and inspire greatness in early learners. It currently operates five Early Childhood Education schools: one elementary school, three preschools and a corporate daycare. Prisca has identified the great demand and need in lower-middle class communities in particular for high quality, Christian- values-driven preschools. In one such community, Kiambu, she will start the development of a flagship campus with Talanton’s investment.
# of Students: 200 # of Special Needs Students: 12 (2018) Jobs Created (Teachers & Staff): 60+ Expected Impact w/Campus #6: 570 students by 2023, 100 learning support students by 2022
Educor’s indirect impact on job creation and quality of life for lower-middle income families is tremendous. There are 2,365 early childhood (age 0-11 years) schools in Kenya and around 9 million children under the age of 14. Less than 12% of children in Sub- Saharan Africa have access to early childhood education services. Significant research has shown that children who receive a preschool educational start are more likely to be productive adults, including 1) are more likely to be employed, 2) have significantly higher median annual earnings, and 3) are more likely to have a savings account and own a house.
Company Differentiator:
The quality and deep experience of the Fund Managers/Partners is a key differentiator. Together we have well over 100 years of experience working with and investing in developing world entrepreneurs and taking businesses to scale. In addition, we have partnership agreements with five Christian organizations that specialize in mentoring and discipling business leaders. These five organizations have quality talent on the ground, which also helps to feed our investment pipeline.
PREVIOUS OR ACTIVE PORTFOLIO COMPANIES INCLUDE:
Long Miles Coffee – A $2.2M sales specialty grade coffee sourcing, processing and exporting business based in Burundi and expanding into Uganda and Kenya. Long Miles has helped over 5000 smallholder farmers triple their yields and quadruple their coffee prices.
Educor – A $1.1M in sales early-childhood education business in Nairobi, Kenya. Educor serves over 250 students with a Christ-centered, leadership development focused curriculum. Educor employs teachers, administrators, music teachers, swim teachers, mechanics, landscapers and other service providers. Talanton is funding the development of schools #5 and #6.
Talanton expects to close on 6-8 additional investments in 2020. Average investment size per business: $1-$2 million, starting with an initial tranche of $300-$500K. Many of these prospective businesses are progressing through our rigorous due diligence process.
Capital Raise Strategy
Total Assets Under Management: $2.5M (after one-year of a capital raise)
% of Capital from Top 3 Investors: 25%
Financial Reporting Frequency to Investors: Quarterly (with monthly investor newsletters)
Average Investment: N/A
Minimum Amount: For investors in the fund, the minimum investment amount is $25K if through a Donor-Advised Foundation and $100K if the investment is purely commercial (no upfront tax benefit taken) or from a family foundation. Talanton is turn-key for Program Related Investments.
Setup to accept charitable capital through the National Christian Foundation or other listing platforms? Talanton is approved for impact investments through the Impact Foundation and the New Horizons Foundation (a donor-advised foundation). It is not difficult to invest in Talanton from any donor-advised foundation (such as NCF) through one of our two partner DAFs.
In the spring of 1984 David and his wife Kim were standing in a farm field in Guatemala, where he understood for the first time the power of business to accelerate the Great Commandment to love God and love our neighbor. He has been privileged to spend significant time of his life using sustainable, finance-driven solutions to bring hope, create jobs and transform lives for people living in poverty, principally in the developing world.
David has served as president of Opportunity U.S and Chaired the Opportunity Global board during a time when we had some ten million clients. He was a founding chair of MicroEnsure, a Bridgespan Partner, S.E.V.P. at MBNA, CEO of the Red Cross Washington/Baltimore Region, and a White House Fellow. David started his career at Bain & Co.
David and Kim live in the U.S. and have two wonderful adult sons. They enjoy sailing, touring historic sites, involvement with both their local church and C12 and serving throughout the developing world. David graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Penn/Wharton and has a joint J.D. and MBA with distinction from Harvard.
Harry has a 25 year career leading cross-cultural teams primarily in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa delivering large scale programs in the finance industry. Harry has led global teams for large commercial firms (Macquarie Bank and Anderson Consulting) and for global social impact organisations (Opportunity International and Oikocredit).
He is personally involved in several startup social enterprises in the UK, is on the board of a $50M microfinance investment Fund (Dia Vikas Capital India) and is excited about the impact of bringing significant capital into SMEs in Sub Saharan Africa, Asia and beyond. He spends his free time with his wife and three teenage children, enjoys listening to and playing good music and loves sport of all kinds – still managing to play cricket on a regular basis.
Harry has an MBA (with distinction) from the University of Oxford and a BSc in Computer Science (honors 1st class) from the University of NSW, Australia.
Jon has 25 years of experience in international business leadership, investment, development and strategy consulting with two of world’s leading food and agriculture multinationals, Cargill and Land O’Lakes, where he served as a Vice President. He has lived and worked on three continents, most notably in Tanzania where he led a talented team in executing over 50 loans to SMEs across East and West Africa. Jon witnessed firsthand the transformational impact of a thriving business achieving scale in challenging contexts. His areas of passionate interest outside of impact investing are mountain climbing, canoeing and skiing, both alpine and skinny skis!
Jon has a BA from Wheaton College and an MBA – International Business from Regis University.
Mark has a lifelong career financing entrepreneurship, in the developing world through microfinance and then in the venture capital industry. Mark led investing teams for large firms, such as GE Capital and Ares, and venture debt funds. Talanton’s work allows Mark to draw on this varied experience in pursuit of ending global poverty.
He’s a deeply rooted in Chicago, its pizza, Blues, and sports. When not trying to feed or clean-up after his three teenage sons, Mark and his wife of 25 years enjoy spending time in Wisconsin’s Door County.
Team and CULTURE
While not complete, one of the things investors have found helpful in the past is seeing how employees, customers have reviewed someone online. As of the date of completing this out …
Glass Door Rating: Not available
Facebook Review Rating: Not available
Spiritual Integration and Impact:
Faith Driven Investing can span a wide range from high yield to concessionary returns that have a higher level of spiritual integration. Having clear expectations of this philosophy is key for the movement. Each investment is unique and you might want to select multiples but if you had to choose one quadrant that best fits your groups spiritual integration and financial performance targets … What would it be?
Talanton offers an 8% target return net of fees and costs with a high level of spiritual integration. We evaluate the spiritual growth and ethical core of the leadership teams, as a result of discipleship and redemptive relationships with diverse stakeholders.
Describe the Spiritual Integration Activities of the Fund:
We have a conviction to follow Jesus Christ’s call to love and serve those living in poverty. The Fund seeks to demonstrate a distinctively Christian approach—including a firm belief in the power of prayer— while remaining fully grounded in sound business principles.
Each person on this team is motivated by their faith and has shown a life-long commitment to sustainable business development in challenging contexts, whether large or small.
Is Impact and Spiritual Integration Tracked?
Yes. At Talanton, evaluation addresses three domains: financial, social, and spiritual. We look for a “return on investment” in these areas.
To asses impact, Talanton has developed 15 metrics that it gathers from each firm. These universal measures are aggregable and supplemented with narratives of impact that are unique to each firm.
Are you partnered with any other organizations?
The Navigators (informal partnership, but very active)
Agora Enterprises
Sinapis
Development Associates International (Colorado Springs)
Partners Worldwide
A lot of Investing Conversations look at Social Impact related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Is there one of these that most resonates with your organization?
N/A
If you’re wildly successful how will the world be different?
> “There are two primary areas where Talanton seeks to generate redemptive and scalable impact. For each investment, we develop a CEO and leadership team professional mentorship and discipleship program. Our aim is to come alongside CEOs to help them grow as leaders and Christ-followers. In addition, we seek businesses that serve ‘the least of these’ (Matthew 25) by providing good jobs while bringing thousands of suppliers (e.g. small-holder farmers) and service providers into a growing market ecosystem. ”
WHY The FAITH DRIVEN INVESTOR?
Why are you compelled to be certified and a part of the Faith Driven Investor Group? At the very core of Talanton’s mission is a desire to transform lives, both spiritually and socially. We hope to connect with like-minded, values-driven investors who care immensely about leveraging their resources or “talents” for redemptive impact through scaling-up Christian-led high impact businesses.
