Buffalo Common Wealth LLC makes loans and investments that will help WNY businesses and organizations create positive impacts on the local environment and the local economy.  To that end, we focus our lending in the following areas:

Improving local food systems

     Using business to strengthen support for local, sustainable agricultural practices.  Loans are granted to businesses that work directly with local farmers and regional food producers, or who are local farmers and regional food producers that use sustainable practices.  Examples include urban farms, restaurants that source food locally as a core business practice, and small scale food producers and cooperatives.

Sustainable Ecological Businesses

     Businesses that use or pioneer sustainable practices that rely on alternative energies, re-use of raw materials, or other substantive ecoligical practices as a core part of their business model.

Businesses that create employment and opportunites in distressed neighborhoods

    To encourage business ownership by entrepreneurs that live in the area in which the business operates.  These types of businesses can have a huge impact on the quality of life in a neighborhood by providing goods, services and employment opportunites to local residents; keeping money in the neighborhood.

Benefits Corporations

    We want to encourage the formation of Benefits Corporations or other social enterprise businesses. We will work with businesses that are working with the Small Business Development Center at Buffalo State College to form Social Enterprise businesses.

There are certain types of loans which we will generally NOT make.  These include loans to purchase or rehab investment property, loans to restaurants, residential mortgage loans and other types of loans for which there already exists business lending opportunities through banks, credit unions or SBA loans.