Northern Lights - Issue 36 - May 2025
Venture North: “Needed More Than Ever.”
by AMY LANE
A busy day at Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate in Empire, MI. A recent Venture North bridge loan - made possible by a USDA RMAP grant - has enabled the business to make a substantial bulk cocoa purchase while awaiting a U.S. SBA loan, thus aiding in the retention of 10 employees.
Through recession, pandemic and more, Venture North Funding & Development has helped entrepreneurs realize dreams, and small businesses grow.
And its work – building success and prosperity of people, businesses and communities through affordable loans and no-cost consulting – registers ever more valuable, amid times of change and for many, economic uncertainty.
Uniting a Small Business Community
Just ask Jody Hayden, who has seen Venture North, a federally certified Community Development Financial Institution or CDFI, step in at key points to support her Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate confectionery enterprise.
“I think in times like these CDFIs like Venture North are critical to small businesses,” said Hayden, who with husband DC owns the Empire sweets store and neighboring gelato shop. “In these uncertain times, I think having an organization that’s really focused on building our economy and uniting our small business community is more important than ever.”
Sixteen years and counting, Venture North has loaned more than $11.8 million to 192 small-business clients and aided 767 with consulting services that can remove business gaps hindering growth, from bookkeeping to business planning and financial projections to managing operations and marketing. Its loans have helped businesses create more than 556 jobs and retain 638.
A Strong Underpinning
“We have the ability, the need and the mission to grow prosperity and jobs,” said Venture North President Laura Galbraith. “Small businesses make up well over 90 percent of the total businesses in northern Michigan, the majority are underserved and we have the mandate and the partners to expand and grow with an immediate aim to double our size and impact in less than two years.”
Indeed, partners are a strong underpinning of what Venture North has become and will continue to be. During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, Venture North built coalitions and partnerships that supported the Regional Resiliency Program or RRP, offering grants of up to $5,000 that were lifelines to small businesses. RRP donors included energy companies, community foundations, economic development organizations and others.
There are continuing partnerships with investing organizations and financial institutions, and foundations that have helped expand the reach of Venture North’s services. Most recently, partnerships among many made possible an emergency mini grant program for small businesses in Emmet and Charlevoix counties that were impacted by the catastrophic March ice storm.
Tyler Vandemark, former firefighter and current owner of TC Golf Carts, has seen his business grow by leaps and bounds. This Traverse City small business was funded in part by a GTRCF-Venture North loan that also created 4 new jobs.
Pivoting to the Need of Others
That ice storm response, like Venture North’s pandemic action, is an example of thinking differently “about how you’re doing business…in response to what your clients need, or the community needs,” said Alison Metiva, chief operating officer of the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation or GTRCF.
The foundation’s pandemic-era Urgent Needs Fund was a contributor to the RRP, but the GTRCF’s partnership with Venture North goes far deeper. Grant money has supported Venture North’s work – like the coaching and technical support that Metiva said “brings something of high value to our business community in a way that is accessible, affordable and effective” -- and capital that Venture North has deployed in loans in the foundation’s five-county region of Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska and Leelanau counties.
Investments in Well-Being
The $500,000 lent to Venture North in impact investing enables the foundation to expand its community impact and support small businesses and the region’s economy. “It really allowed us to invest in our community in a new way that we weren’t able to through our traditional model of grants and scholarships,” as those programs cannot support local businesses, Metiva said. “This partnership with Venture North allows us to support the local business community.”
The foundation’s $500,000 investment has so far resulted in eight loans totaling $680,550 and total project investments of more than $1.9 million. The loans, which have gone to businesses who have created 16 new jobs and retained 20, have leveraged more than $1.2 million in additional capital for the projects. There is a diversity of businesses, industries and geography, and the loans provide high-level examples – one is Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate – of “what this impact investing is making possible,” to the benefit of business and community as well as the foundation, Metiva said.
“When more folks are inspired by this part of the way we do our work, it inspires them to get involved with the foundation,” she said. And the investment “provides both a financial return and a social or community return.”
The foundation has also invested in two other CDFIs: Northern Initiatives, which provides loans and business services to small business owners and entrepreneurs throughout Michigan, and Chicago-based IFF, which has a multi-state Midwest footprint and strengthens nonprofits and the communities they serve by providing leadership, capital and real estate solutions.
CDFIs, Metiva said, are “an important and essential tool and resource for communities,” part of a “layered response to community challenges and community opportunities.”
Also partnering with Venture North, is Rotary Charities of Traverse City. It, along with Chicago-based global financial services firm Northern Trust Corp., each invested $500,000 in five-year impact investing agreements that began in 2017 and have been renewed.
Rotary Charities CEO, Sakura Takano (far right), speaking at an event welcoming USDA RD Under Secretary Basil Gooden in July of 2024, advocating for continued funding and support for non-profits like Venture North.
Advancing Regional Prosperity
Rotary has also provided grants like a recent $50,000 award to expand Venture North’s capacity “to serve underserved parts of our five-county region, particularly areas without ready access to capital or business support services. It is part of our continued effort to ensure that all communities, regardless of geography, have the resources they need to pursue economic opportunity,” said Rotary Charities CEO Sakura Takano.
“Venture North plays a vital role in our region, particularly in areas that have limited access to traditional economic tools. Their ability to offer both affordable loans and no-cost technical assistance bridges gaps for business owners and entrepreneurs who might otherwise be left behind. As a regional funder, we see Venture North as a key partner in advancing community-led prosperity across all five counties we serve.”
Rotary Charities “is pleased to partner with Venture North in helping small businesses and entrepreneurs turn their visions into reality,” Takano said.
Rotary’s and Northern Trust’s combined $1 million has benefited 35 small businesses who have received more than $2.5 million in loans, creating 105 jobs and retaining 86. As with GTRCF, the capital is deployed and then repaid with interest, building and rebuilding a loan fund and enabling Venture North to reinvest initial money.
The $2.5 million in loans has leveraged nearly $9.9 million in additional capital, bringing total project investments to more than $12.4 million.
Takano said Venture North has a track record that “speaks to a deep understanding of the region and a clear commitment to inclusive economic growth” and its impact “is evident in the number of loans disbursed, the diversity of business owners served, and the dollars reinvested in rural communities – each a testament to their inclusive and community-centered approach.”
Rotary has also invested with other CDFIs – IFF and Lansing-based, statewide Michigan Community Capital, which facilitates the financing and development of low-income and attainable housing and the redevelopment of brownfield sites. CDFIs “fill a critical gap in Michigan’s capital ecosystem,” Takano said, as traditional financing “often excludes those without deep credit histories, generational wealth or access to strong networks.”
Community Anchors
And, she said, “in a time when many small business owners face uncertainty about rising costs, access to capital and shifting market conditions, the support CDFIs offer is more important than ever.
“They do more than lend money – they build capacity, offer trusted guidance, and serve as community anchors. Their patient capital and relational approach make them uniquely suited to support entrepreneurs through both calm and turbulent times.”
Venture North’s focus on low-income communities and underrepresented business owners aligns with Rotary Charities’ values, and the need for Venture North’s services “is undiminished – if anything, it’s growing,” Takano said. “Their ability to pair technical assistance with affordable capital will remain vital to the health and vibrancy of our local economy.”
She said Rotary Charities “holds a long view on change, recognizing that our region’s complex challenges require not only resources but responsiveness. In times of uncertainty – whether economic, environmental or social – we stay grounded in our mission to support changemakers working toward a more resilient, equitable and thriving region.”
“[CDFIs like Venture North] do more than lend money – they build capacity, offer trusted guidance, and serve as community anchors. Their patient capital and relational approach make them uniquely suited to support entrepreneurs through both calm and turbulent times.”
Sakura Takano, Rotary Charities
Bluebird Restaurant and Tavern of Leland has been able to realize some dreams of renovation thanks in part to a Rotary Charities/Northern Trust-funded Venture North loan, helping keep an iconic northern Michigan spot going strong and looking great!
Evolving for Impact
Rotary Charities hopes to “deepen and grow” its partnership with Venture North in the years to come, as both parties continue to learn, respond to change and adapt, Takano said. “As needs change, so do our strategies. It is rewarding to work alongside an organization like Venture North that shares our belief that lasting impact comes from evolving in response to the communities we serve.”
Founded in 2008 during the recession, Venture North has grown in reach and impact in the ten counties it serves, adding programs, resources and team members in its mission to focus on the priorities and needs of small businesses. Its wide-ranging support has touched sectors throughout the regional economy, with an emphasis on businesses “that are filling important community gaps, like child care and early learning, mental health/therapy, food systems, energy efficiency and, of course, job retention and creation,” Galbraith said.
It’s an approach that meets businesses where they’re at, providing consulting if needed to help the business become ready for growth capital, placing high priority on the character of the business owner in lending decisions, and supporting startups “that are almost always starved of capital from other sources, helping entrepreneurs seek and achieve their dreams,” Galbraith said.
Sometimes, those dreams are a life change. Take Jennifer Logan, who last year made the leap from elementary school teacher to Cadillac furniture store owner, with the help of Venture North.
A System of Support with Friendship
After years of teaching, Logan had grown ready for something new and that emerged, in the form of a 35-year-old business that a friend she’d known since childhood had decided to sell. “I was nervous,” Logan said. “The economic climate, you’re always worried about that. And I didn’t have a ton of experience…but I had the willingness to learn.”
Jennifer Logan sits in her Oak Heirlooms furniture showroom in Cadillac thanks to a loan that enabled the purchase of the existing business and retained four local jobs.
A referral from economic development organization Alliance for Economic Success brought her to Venture North, which provided a $185,000 loan that she used to refinance inventory and pay off Oak Heirlooms’ owner, a mentor as she’s learned the business. As she developed her business plan and tackled other financial aspects, there was help from Venture North business development manager Annie Olds. “She was really good at answering my questions, my worries,” Logan said.
Assisted by a team of long-standing employees, Logan said she’s continually learning and things are “going well.” Offering primarily Amish-made furniture in a variety of woods – for bedroom, children’s room, kitchen and dining room, office, and outdoors – as well as custom-made pieces, Logan said she has an American-made niche that people like.
She’s working to expand the store’s customer base, stock distinctive merchandise and grow the business. And Logan said she feels like if she “ever had anything” arise that was a need, whether financial or technical assistance or simply a question, Venture North “would be the first people I go to.
“I think Venture North has been a very good support system. I feel like you’re forming friendships,” she said, and those friendships bear resources.
Community Vibrance: From Day Care to Yoga
It’s part of what makes Venture North’s work impactful, said Jennifer Hayes, senior vice president, public policy at fellow CDFI Invest Detroit. “Organizations like Venture North…are not only providing the access to capital, but you’re able to build relationships, provide services that help businesspeople be successful,” she said.
“Venture North is one of these organizations that has found a way to create a successful CDFI and have such an impact, I just love seeing that in a community, especially a rural community in northwest Michigan.”
A CDFI making an impact in its own right, in Detroit, Invest Detroit supports real estate projects including affordable housing, small businesses, commercial and industrial companies and early-stage startups.
It is one of more than 50 Michigan CDFIs, touching every county in the state and providing loans and technical assistance programs – a network helping businesses grow, and neighborhoods and communities thrive. As with Venture North, Invest Detroit’s reach is broad.
“We support everything from day care centers to restaurants to small retail shops to yoga studios,” Hayes said. “It is really finding, I think, what is vibrant in the community that you’re serving and where are the needs, and really helping to fill those gaps.”
CDFIs can also help businesses be resilient among challenges, whether economic or urgency-driven like during the pandemic. They are “financial first responders,” working closely with local businesses “to quickly address needs, connect resources and adapt with new programs,” said Venture North’s Galbraith.
Venture North’s RRP became a fund of more than $1 million from donors large and small, aiding more than 300 small businesses. Hayes said Invest Detroit also “immediately got into action mode” in the pandemic, assessing what it meant to businesses and how Invest Detroit could help, offering grants and a variety of programs “to help mitigate the challenge of having a loan, during a time like that.”
Another recent Venture North project involved Traverse City business Cultured Kombucha whose loan will result in continued growth for the company including the addition of 5 new jobs and the retention of 4.
Resilience in the Face of Change
CDFIs evolve with challenges, Hayes said. And “CDFIs aren’t political organizations, we try to work the best we can with whoever’s in office. We’re here for the long term, and I think you’ll see that in the work that’s done.”
At Venture North, Galbraith said the organization will “continue to adapt and be resilient in the face of change.” And “by making the needs and priorities of our clients our focus, we believe that we will continue to grow and prosper supported by an expanding partnership base. One of the partnerships that is almost certain to grow is our ‘win-win’ relationship with other lending institutions and the leverage they offer to small business capital needs.”
Venture North’s $11.8 million-plus loans have leveraged an additional $34 million from other lenders, including Huntington Bank, Fifth Third Bank, Nicolet National Bank, First Community Bank, West Shore Bank, Honor Bank and State Savings Bank. And partnerships can extend further; Huntington, for example, is among financial institutions to grant tens of thousands of dollars to support Venture North’s programs and services.
Building Stronger, More Connected Communities
Since 2019, Huntington has donated $68,000 – dollars that have provided foundational support for Venture North programming, such as the team of consultants who help businesses and provide technical assistance.
“Strengthening our communities is deeply tied to our sense of identity and belonging. Their deep roots, connections and local insights help ensure that the work that we do has a real lasting impact where it’s needed the most,” said Nick Florian, northern Michigan market president for Huntington Bank.
“Venture North is a critical component to the success of the region. And the benefit of them being regional across ten counties…when we’re supporting them, we’re not just helping a business, we’re building a stronger, more connected community within that regional footprint.”
Venture North aligns with Huntington’s strategic community plan, which is Huntington’s commitment, since June 2021, to provide $40 billion in loans and investments to strengthen small businesses and foster economic equality throughout the bank’s national footprint, with a focus on under-resourced communities.
Nick Florian of Huntington Bank says partnership with Venture North means, “…we’re not just helping a business, we’re building a stronger, more connected community…”
Huntington has also partnered with Venture North on educational programming, like access to capital seminars that provide financial education on various topics. There is also discussion around different financing options that are available through CDFIs and traditional lenders – “creating a pathway to being further prepared for business,” Florian said.
He said Huntington has a “strong and very collaborative” partnership with Venture North. “Organizations overall like this just make strong community partners because they positively impact a wide range of businesses, a diverse community set, and individuals across that whole (northwest Michigan) footprint,” he said.
“I would hope our partnership with Venture North continues to remain very strong as we continue working together to strengthen the communities we call home. This is home to both of us.”
Here to Help: from Growth to Belt Tightening
Going forward, Venture North sees no letup in business need. “Given the growing significance of small businesses in our region, we do not envision that the need for our services will do anything but increase,” Galbraith said.
In the first few months of 2025, Venture North’s lending pace was strong, with loans running well above projections and totaling $600,000, with another $350,000 approved and yet to close.
“We are seeing a rise in business acquisitions, with many family-owned businesses preparing for retirement and selling to new entrepreneurs. There is also growth through expansions – second locations in new communities and the launch of new business lines,” Galbraith said.
Still, some economic clouds are apparent.
A survey conducted in March by the Small Business Association of Michigan cited small business concerns about the state and national economy and found nearly half of small businesses taking steps to reduce overall expenses, with almost a quarter delaying capital expenditures. Some two thirds of respondents said they’d increased wages over the last year to help staff meet emerging economic challenges.
Jody Hayden, at Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate, has heard concerns. She’s had discussions with fellow small business owners who are struggling for various reasons, including inflation, and are “now seeing economic uncertainty on top of that,” she said. Decisions to be faced, aren’t easy.
“We are doing our best to manage our costs and provide good jobs. We eventually have to pass along price increases,” Hayden said. “That’s a hard thing to do, nobody wants to hit customers in pocketbooks. But we also want to stay in business and serve our community.
“We got word our chocolate is going to go up again. Tariffs at this point are an unknown. It’s a real tricky puzzle as a small business owner.”
Hayden said she’s “a little nervous going into the summer but I’m still optimistic. To me, growth isn’t important this year, it’s being stable and providing jobs.”
Her year-round staff of 14 swells to just under 30 in the summer, and the business has grown exponentially since she and DC purchased Grocer’s Daughter in 2013. Venture North has come in at critical times, Hayden said, including with loans for $190,000 and $144,500 that enabled Grocer’s Daughter to buy in bulk from the Ecuadorian farms where it sources most of its cacao, and a $50,000 bridge loan that enabled her to secure inventory from cacao as she awaited a $110,000 U.S. Small Business Administration loan.
In This Together
There have also been grants, valuable connections to people and resources, and formation of “a very deep relationship with Venture North” that’s both helpful and reassuring, Hayden said.
“As a small business owner sometimes you feel like you’re operating alone, so I think Venture North offers this level of comfort to small business owners. I think having an organization that is proactive the way Venture North is, to support small businesses, is critical,” she said.
“I think we, the small business community in northern Michigan, are going to need them more than ever before.”
Amy Lane is a veteran Michigan business reporter whose background includes work with Crain Communications Inc., Crain’s Detroit Business and serving as Capitol correspondent for nearly 25 years. Now a freelance reporter and journalist, Lane’s work has appeared in many publications including Traverse City Business News.
