Village Micro Fund

What Village Micro Fund does

Village Micro Fund is a US nonprofit founded in 2014 and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, that operates a community-led microfinancing and economic-empowerment platform targeted at Black entrepreneurs and Black communities in the Southeast United States. The organization deploys grant capital, mentorship, and education rather than traditional commercial products, and structures its donor and partner relationships around long-term covenants rather than transactions. Its stated outcomes include "millions" granted to local businesses across a decade of operation.

The core product set consists of four interconnected programs. The Flourish Fellowship is a 15-week intensive education program covering the business model canvas, customer discovery, legal frameworks, financial management, fundraising, sales, and team leadership, and serves as the organization's primary pipeline and community-building channel. The Worker's Equity Fund is an alternative private equity vehicle that invests in a Black-owned business, supports growth for 4–5 years, and then sells ownership back to the employees who powered the business through profit-sharing. EnDAO is a Community Decentralized Autonomous Organization that functions as a collectively-owned, democratically-managed investment fund for neighborhood-level economic initiatives. Time Bank, listed as forthcoming, converts labor, time, and skills into investable stakes in collective investments.

The revenue model is donation-based, accepting one-time and recurring contributions at suggested tiers of $10, $20, $30, $40, or custom amounts, supplemented by programmatic and financial support from institutional partners including Walmart, Target, Microsoft, Mailchimp, Forbes, Kindred Futures, AECF, and Fearless Fund. The organization is co-founded by Donte Miller (Co-Founder & President), Harriett Williams (Vice President & Co-Founder, and a Flourish Fellowship alumna), and Nate Jones (Co-Founder), all of whom previously worked at Goldman Sachs prior to founding the organization. Go-to-market is community-led, with the Flourish Fellowship as the top-of-funnel acquisition mechanism and Instagram plus an email newsletter as the primary digital channels.

Name

Village Micro Fund

Legal name

Village Micro Fund

Website

https://villagemicrofund.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Village Micro Fund is a 2014-founded Atlanta-based nonprofit that delivers microfinancing, a 15-week entrepreneurship fellowship, an employee-ownership investment fund, and a community DAO to support Black entrepreneurs and Black communities in the Southeast US.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Development Finance / Microfinance & Entrepreneurship Education

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Public Charities & Grantmaking Intermediaries (BPAGAKAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Microloans & Working Capital Loans (FSAKAGAA), Community Foundations (BPAGAKAB)

Keywords

• Community development finance
• Entrepreneurship education programs
• Alternative investment funds
• Worker-owned equity funds
• Community DAO governance

Headquarters

HQ city

Atlanta

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations & Charitable Contributions: The organization accepts donations from individuals and organizations to fund its operations and programs. Donation options include one-time, weekly, or monthly contributions at various levels ($10, $20, $30, $40, or custom amounts).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Village Micro Fund is a nonprofit community investment organization that delivers a 15-week entrepreneurship education program (Flourish Fellowship), grant capital via a culminating pitch competition, and alternative community-owned investment structures — the Worker's Equity Fund and the EnDAO Community DAO — designed to finance Black-owned businesses and ultimately transfer ownership back to the workers. Donations from individuals and corporate partners (Forbes, Mailchimp, Target, Walmart, Microsoft, Kindred Futures, AECF, Fearless Fund) fund the grants and operations.

Product overview

Village Micro Fund is a community investment organization that offers four interconnected products: the Flourish Fellowship (a 15-week entrepreneurship education and mentorship program), the Worker's Equity Fund (an employee ownership investment model), the EnDAO (a blockchain-governed community investment fund), and the Time Bank (a forthcoming platform that converts labor into investment capital). Together these form an ecosystem where Black entrepreneurs access education, capital, and community ownership structures.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Flourish Fellowship: A 15-week fellowship program that transforms entrepreneurs into leaders, building bridges between generations of entrepreneurial insight.
• Worker's Equity Fund
• EnDAO
• Time Bank

Products and services

• Flourish Fellowship A 15-week fellowship program for Black entrepreneurs covering practical business skills — customer discovery, legal frameworks, financial management, marketing, fundraising, sales, team leadership, and public speaking — anchored in the business model canvas. Connects fellows with mentors and culminates in a pitch competition where they compete for grant capital and potential follow-on investment.
• Worker's Equity Fund An alternative to the traditional Private Equity Fund. Village Micro Fund invests in a Black-owned business, supports its growth for 4–5 years, and then sells ownership back to the employees who powered it. Employees purchase ownership not through outside capital but through the profits they share — reimagining the relationship between labor and ownership.
• EnDAO (Community DAO) A Community Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) that functions as a collectively-owned and democratically-managed investment fund. Neighborhood residents can propose, vote on, and implement local economic initiatives, putting economic power directly in community hands through digital governance.
• Time Bank A forthcoming platform that transforms community members' time, skills, and labor into a form of capital investment, allowing them to earn stakes in collective investments through their work and creating investment pathways for those locked out of traditional financial systems.

Quantifiable outcome

• Millions granted to local businesses
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• ForbesminorOthersFeatured as a partner logo on the Village Micro Fund website, indicating a media or promotional relationship.
• Kindred FuturesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed as a partner logo, appears to be a strategic ally in the ecosystem supporting Black economic empowerment.
• Fearless FundminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMentioned in social media content expressing solidarity. Both organizations support Black entrepreneurs.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Camelback Ventures: Runs a fellowship and accelerator for BIPOC entrepreneurs paired with capital and coaching. Closely matches VMF's Flourish Fellowship + pitch-for-capital model targeting the same Black and underrepresented founder segment.
• Fearless Fund: A venture capital fund focused on women of color founders, explicitly referenced as a solidarity partner by VMF. Directly comparable as a Black-founder-focused investment vehicle combining grant/equity capital with community-building programming.
• Kindred Futures: Listed as a strategic partner on VMF's site, Kindred Futures is an ecosystem ally supporting Black economic empowerment. Directly comparable as a Black-focused, community-centered funding and capacity-building organization.
• BLCK VC: A nonprofit organization increasing representation of Black investors in the venture capital ecosystem. Comparable to VMF as a Black-focused capital-allocation organization, though BLCK VC's emphasis is on the investor (LP/GP) side rather than founder support.
• Echoing Green: Provides fellowships and seed funding to social entrepreneurs, including leaders of color. Comparable to VMF as a fellowship-plus-capital nonprofit targeting mission-driven founders with structured cohort programming.
• African Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF): Listed as a partner logo on VMF's site, AECF provides financing and technical assistance to small and growing businesses in Africa. Comparable as an enterprise-finance intermediary with a development-impact mandate.

Broad incumbents

• Accion: Global nonprofit focused on financial inclusion for underserved small businesses, deploying capital and advisory services. Comparable to VMF's microfinance and small-business capital-deployment model, with significantly broader geographic and product reach.
• Grameen America: U.S. affiliate of Grameen, providing microloans and financial services to low-income entrepreneurs, predominantly women of color. Comparable to VMF as a microfinance institution serving economically excluded U.S. entrepreneurs with group/community lending models.
• Kiva: Global crowdfunded microloan platform enabling small-dollar loans to underserved entrepreneurs. Comparable to VMF's microfinance-and-community-funding orientation but at significantly larger global scale and with a broader geographic mandate.

Others

• Opportunity Finance Network: National membership and intermediary organization for Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). Relevant ecosystem peer to VMF's community-finance orientation, as a potential certification and capital partner for scaling VMF's lending activities.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/p/C7kNy5EPb-q
• Xx.com/thevillagefund
• Facebookfacebook.com/villagemicrofund
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/village-micro-fund

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Village Micro Fund