-1.png?width=5076&name=Logo%20Full%20(1)-1.png "Tim McCarthy & the Business of Good")
the Business of Good FoundationMy wife, Alice, and I started the foundation in 1997. The Business of Good is a private 501c3 and entirely self-funded. We started by contributing 25% of our company's pretax profits each year to build the first foundation and have experienced several iterations over our 22 year of work. But our mission has never changed: "we serve those who serve the poor." So far, we've invested over $10 million and thousands of hours to support existing non-profit organizations who solely serve the working poor. Our mission centers on three long term solutions to poverty: knowledge, jobs and self-employment. Our primary investments to date have been in lending to un-bankable entrepreneurs, incubating social enterprises and developing a platform for mentoring first generation college students.
ECapital Ashtabula is the current phase of the micro-lending we've been doing in my little hometown since 2008. Ashtabula fronts Lake Erie about 60 miles east of Cleveland and like so many rust belt cities is today about half the size of what it was when i was growing up. We've circulated (and re-circulated) about $5 million into about 50 local businesses over that time, about 40 of which still prosper, providing an expanding financial base for the families we back. Every loan agreement includes a commitment by the borrower to meet with their peers monthly and our business counselors quarterly. if there is a key to success in micro-lending it is staying on the journey with borrowers after they've received their training and capital.
