What Build from Within Alliance does

Build from Within Alliance (BfWA) is a national nonprofit alliance of 16 community development organizations working in 50 neighborhoods across the United States to support low-income resident entrepreneurs as agents of neighborhood revitalization. Its integrated service model combines four pillars delivered together rather than a la carte: business training, high-risk lending, one-on-one technical assistance, and real estate opportunities. The model is place-based, relying on member organizations with established community roots (e.g., Anchorage Community Land Trust, Neighborhood Development Center in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Emancipation Economic Development Council in Houston, Cornerstone West in Wilmington, Montbello Organizing Committee in Denver) to identify, train, and capitalize entrepreneurs in neighborhoods that have experienced systemic disinvestment. BfWA does not sell a product or charge membership fees; rather, it operates as a coordinating network and field-builder, funded primarily through institutional philanthropy from McKnight Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, JPMorgan Chase, and Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

The alliance was formalized around 2014 out of the success of the Neighborhood Development Center (NDC), which Mihailo Temali founded in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1993. BfWA codifies and disseminates the NDC methodology through annual convenings (rotating through Anchorage 2022, Houston 2023, Wilmington 2024, Denver 2025), research publications (The Entrepreneurial Spirit Report, Build From Within Policy Playbook, Trusted Connectors Report), and a multi-year Kauffman Knowledge Challenge initiative co-developed with Reinvestment Fund and SIAP to build analytical tools measuring neighborhood-level impact. Reported programmatic outcomes include $24 million in neighborhood spending by supported entrepreneurs, $45 million in payroll to local hires, 67% of supported business owners occupying once-vacant commercial spaces, and 79% contributing to neighborhood events.

BfWA is governed by its member organizations, with a small central team (11-50 employees) led by CEO Chanell Scott Contreras and founder Mihailo Temali, supported by Senior Program Director Shahir Ahmed at host organization NDC. The alliance has no proprietary technology product, no mobile app, and no AI/ML capabilities; its distribution is entirely place-based through member organizations. Revenue derives from foundation grants and contributions rather than commercial sales, and no financial figures are publicly disclosed.

Name

Build from Within Alliance

Legal name

Build from Within Alliance

Website

https://bfwalliance.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1993

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Build from Within Alliance is a national nonprofit network of 16 community development organizations serving low-income resident entrepreneurs in 50 U.S. neighborhoods through integrated business training, high-risk lending, technical assistance, and real estate support, funded primarily by institutional philanthropy.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Saint Paul

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Nonprofit Funding Model: Build from Within Alliance is a nonprofit organization that operates through funding from foundations and institutional donors. The organization does not generate revenue from products or services but relies on grants and contributions to support its member organizations and programs.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Build from Within Alliance delivers a coordinated, place-based community economic development model through 16 member organizations serving 50 neighborhoods. The core service combines four integrated pillars—business training, high-risk lending, one-on-one technical assistance, and real estate opportunities—delivered as a single system to low-income resident entrepreneurs rather than as standalone offerings. The alliance also facilitates peer learning across members via annual convenings and shared publications.

Product overview

Build from Within Alliance is a nonprofit national network of community development organizations (16 members working across 50 neighborhoods) that provides a coordinated suite of place-based economic development services to support low-income resident entrepreneurs. The organization does not offer a technology product; rather, it delivers programmatic services including business training, high-risk lending, one-on-one technical assistance, and real estate opportunities to entrepreneurs in distressed neighborhoods. The alliance also produces publications (The Entrepreneurial Spirit Report, Build From Within Policy Playbook, Trusted Connectors Report) and hosts annual convenings to share best practices among member organizations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Books & Bagels: A bookstore featured as an example BfWA entrepreneur success story, operated by Cornerstone West Community Development Corporation's small business incubator in Wilmington, Delaware.

Products and services

• Build from Within Integrated Community Development Model An integrated, place-based community economic development service that combines business training, high-risk lending, one-on-one technical assistance, and real estate opportunities into a single system for low-income resident entrepreneurs, delivered through trusted local member community development organizations.

Quantifiable outcome

• 67% of supported business owners now occupy once vacant spaces
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Reinvestment FundcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in the Kauffman Knowledge Challenge multi-year initiative to develop tools and analyses for understanding local contexts and the impact of the Build from Within model in neighborhoods.
• SIAP (Sustainable Inclusive Communities)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in the Kauffman Knowledge Challenge multi-year initiative alongside Reinvestment Fund, developing tools and analyses to better understand local contexts and the impact of BfWA's work in neighborhoods.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Kiva: Global crowdfunding platform providing zero-interest capital to underserved entrepreneurs, often through community lending partners. Comparable to BfWA's high-risk lending pillar but with a tech-enabled, donor-driven capital model rather than place-based institutional support.
• Opportunity Finance Network (OFN): National membership association of CDFIs. Operates in adjacent space — capital and capacity support for community-based lenders — and serves a similar constituency of community economic development practitioners as BfWA.
• Grameen America: Large national microfinance nonprofit providing small-dollar loans and training to low-income entrepreneurs. Overlaps with BfWA on the entrepreneur-support mission, but uses a direct lending model rather than a network of community development intermediaries.
• The Aspen Institute (Economic Opportunities Program): Policy and field-building organization focused on expanding economic opportunity for low-income workers and entrepreneurs. Comparable to BfWA in advancing the field through research, convenings, and policy advocacy around inclusive entrepreneurship.

Direct peers

• Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO): National membership network of microbusiness and small-business development organizations. AEO is structurally analogous to BfWA as a national intermediary supporting community-based entrepreneur-serving organizations, and shares BfWA's policy-advocacy and capacity-building orientation.
• National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders (NALCAB): National membership network of Latino-focused CDFIs and community asset-building organizations. Like BfWA, NALCAB supports place-based entrepreneurship in disinvested communities through a member-network model and policy advocacy.
• Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC): National nonprofit CDFI supporting place-based community development across hundreds of neighborhoods. Closely comparable to BfWA in mission (revitalizing disinvested neighborhoods) and operating model (funding + technical assistance + real estate), though at far greater scale and with a broader programmatic scope.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/booksandbagels.llc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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 Build from Within Alliance