Prairie Rose Development Corp.

Background Statement

After a different nonprofit discontinued facilitating Kiva loans in Colorado in early 2021, Prairie Rose Development secured grant funding to operate a Kiva Hub in Colorado and hire two bilingual Capital Access Managers to provide technical assistance and support to new, emerging or established small businesses otherwise unable to secure financing on reasonable terms from other nonprofit or bank lenders in the state. Kiva loans are 0% and $0 fee loans up to $15,000 (average loan is around $8,000) provided through a crowd-lending platform, kiva.org.

Kiva loans are no-cost loans to help small business owners start, scale and prove-out a business model as they grow operations. Year to date, Prairie Rose Development has facilitated almost $200,000 worth of Kiva loans in Colorado. Some 74% of funding has gone to woman-owned businesses, 22% to Latino-owned businesses, 22% to BIPOC-owned businesses, and 13% to rural-based businesses.

Prairie Rose Development earns no income from facilitating Kiva loans and offers this service because Colorado's economy has traditionally been dependent on jobs created by new small businesses and no other nonprofit lender in the state is willing to offer funding and support to otherwise typically financially excluded entrepreneurs.