Nonprofit Offers a Chance to Invest Locally

By Robert Struckman, 6-09-08

	Caption: Rosalie Cates, director of MCDC

A Missoula-based nonprofit bank offers investors a double return: your retirement account can help grow businesses in your community.

The nonprofit bank is the Montana Community Development Corp. It loans money and offers consulting and other services to startups and established businesses. The nonprofit’s central account is the 4-year-old, $8 million Montana Fund. Director Rosalie Cates has a goal for the fund of $15 million.

The fund’s managers loan its capital to businesses in the region to help them grow and compete locally and regionally. Clients have included Poly Warehouse Inc. of Stevensville. Institutional investors in the fund include Wells Fargo Bank, First Interstate Bank, First Security Bank and the Northwest Area Foundation.

“We have a mission of helping people make a better living in western Montana,” Cates said.  “That’s a social mission.”

Last summer, a local couple called Cates and asked if they could invest their self-directed retirement account in the nonprofit’s loan fund.

Most people’s main concern for their Individual Retirement Account, Cates said, is the financial return, but some want to see the impact of their fund on their community.

The couple eventually put $50,000 into MCDC to invest locally. MCDC plans to grow the retirement investments, but slowly.

“We’re letting it grow by word of mouth right now,” Cates said. On Monday, Cates spoke at the Missoula City Club luncheon about how locals can invest in their own community. MCDC keeps its fund money in Montana, where it is “starting to weave an entrepreneurial tapestry,” Cates said.