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The Southern Opportunity And Resilience (SOAR) Fund provides flexible, affordable capital and free business support services to small businesses and nonprofits across the south and southeast to help them navigate and rebuild from the Covid-19 economic crisis.
1,148
Loans
$62.8M
Funded
SOAR IMPACT
88%
Have <10 or Employees
84%
Have Diverse Ownership
95%
Have <$1M in Revenue
THE CHALLENGE
Small businesses are integral to our economy, and we will only have a strong recovery if the small business sector is strong. Small businesses are more financially fragile and not as equipped to weather a prolonged period of substantially reduced revenues, such as those during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recent polling finds that 42 percent of small businesses are operating at reduced capacity compared to a year ago and 18 percent of Black and Latino entrepreneurs report they are likely to permanently close their business in early 2021.
Further, the South lagged in recovery coming out of the Great Recession and we can't let this happen again.
THE OPPORTUNITY
Southern Opportunity and Resilience Fund (SOAR) is a concerted effort to invest in and help small businesses in the South and Southeast adapt, reopen safely, and rebuild.
SOAR provides access to flexible, affordable capital and free business support services to small businesses and nonprofits through trusted community-based organizations.
These organizations have decades of experience supporting historically under-resourced small businesses, including those in low-income and rural communities and owned by women and people of color.
GEOGRAPHY
IN THE NEWS
“The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated an already uneven recovery from the Great Recession. Southern states had slower economic growth, lower labor force participation, and higher unemployment than the rest of the country, partially driven by the historic lack of corporate and philanthropic investment in the region. The SOAR Fund, with support from leading banks, foundations, and corporations, will tackle these issues head-on by addressing structural barriers to economic opportunity by providing capital to Southern small businesses and nonprofits that need it now.”
- George Ashton,
Managing Director at LISC Strategic Investments
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