Capital Good Fund

The fund was founded by liberal activist Andy Posner while he was a graduate student at Brown University in 2009 and since has grown to raise nearly $5 million annually in revenue. The organization provides lending services in ten states, but much of its work remains centered around Rhode Island where the group was founded and is still headquartered. Andy Posner, the group’s founder, has used the organization to promote far-left environmental policies, calling for an “aggressive” carbon tax, eliminating fossil fuel subsidies, and endorsing “drastic and radical action” on climate issues. ^{1 2}

Background and History

While completing his master’s degree at Brown University, Andy Posner grew interested in financing arrangements for solar energy as well as the work of Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize Winner who has been called the “father of microfinance.” ¹

In 2009, Posner founded the Capital Good Fund with the goal of providing financial services at lower interest rates than existing short-term lenders. The organization began as a project within Posner’s graduate degree program and was run by Posner and other volunteers in the basement of the Urban Environmental Lab on the Brown University campus. ¹

Posner started the organization at age 23 with no financial management experience, and in his words he “had never really had a job before.” In recounting an early fundraising pitch for the Capital Good Fund, Posner recalled a “disastrous” presentation that included a question about underwriting standards for the new organization, stating: “I don’t remember what my answer was, but it couldn’t have been good because…I didn’t know what underwriting was!” ¹

As of 2022, the fund had provided over $11 million in financing since its founding, with several full-time employees and nearly $5 million in annual revenue. ¹

Programs and Activities

The Capital Good Fund is a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), a U.S. Treasury classification for institutions that provide financial services and loans for rent, small businesses, and other types of loans. The Capital Good Fund provides lending for a variety of needs including emergency expenses, as well as the cost of applying for U.S. citizenship. ¹

The organization seeks to compete with payday lenders, which are known for higher interest rates, by offering similar types of loans at lower interest rates. ¹

Social Capital Fund

The Capital Good Fund currently operates in ten states with total assets of slightly over $10 million. In 2020, Posner set a fundraising goal of $60 million to fund the growth of the organization through a Direct Public Offering-based model where investors can contribute a minimum of $5,000 and see an average return of 5.5 percent according to Posner. The campaign has been operated by the Social Capital Fund, a separate organization operated by the Capital Good Fund. ^{1 3}

Solar Lending

In 2021, Capital Good Fund CEO Andy Posner announced plans to combat alleged “predatory” lending for in-home solar-panel systems by launching a $1 million to $2 million pilot program to provide financing for solar panel installation. ⁴

Political Stances

Andy Posner, the founder and CEO of the Capital Good Fund, has endorsed many left-of-center to far-left public policy proposals and has called for the enactment of an “aggressive” carbon tax, elimination of all fossil fuel subsidies, and “drastic and radical action” on climate issues. Posner has stated, “Climate change is the existential threat to humanity that keeps me up at night and haunts me during the day.” ¹

Posner’s far-left stances on environmental issues have led him to oppose U.S. banks financing conventional energy companies, and he supports divestment from fossil fuels. He has criticized many mainstream financial institutions that he also admits contribute to his Capital Good Fund. He noted in one writing that he had switched his personal banking from Bank of America to left-of-center labor union affiliated Amalgamated Bank and has called for individuals to “close their account with a dirty bank and open one with a clean bank.” ⁵

Among the banks specifically listed by Posner in his call to boycott “dirty” banks was JP Morgan Chase, a funder of the Capital Good Fund. ⁵

Funding

Funders of the Capital Good Fund include Bank Newport, BankRI, Credit Builders Alliance, Citizens Bank, Discover Bank, Eastern Bank, Gulf Coast Community Foundation, Harbor One Bank, JP Morgan Chase, the Miami Foundation, Rhode Island Foundation, and United Way of Rhode Island. ⁶

In 2024, the Capital Good Fund reportedly received a $156 million grant from the Environemtal Protection Agency (EPA) under the Biden Administration that year, to be paid over a five-year period, for the purpose of financing development of solar panels for “low-income and disadvantaged communities” (LIDAC). ^{7 8}