The Conservation Fund’s
Natural Capital Investment Fund, Inc.
Marten R. Jenkins
1098 Turner Rd
Shepherdstown, WV 25443
304-876-2815
Fax: 304-870-2205
m.jenkins@freshwaterinstitute.org
www.wvncif.org
www.conservationfund.org
Mission:
The Conservation Fund launched the Natural Capital Investment Fund, Inc.
in 2000 in partnership with the West Virginia Small Business Development
Center to hasten the rate of enterprise formation and business
development in rural West Virginia. The Natural Capital Investment Fund
(NCIF), a 501(c)(3), is a certified community development financial
Institution (CDFI).
The NCIF provides debt and equity financing to high-potential, emerging natural resource-based businesses that will advance sustainable economic development in West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and northeast Tennessee and that are unable to obtain sufficient financing from conventional sources and that have the potential to diversify rural economies and create or retain family wage jobs. NCIF was established in response to the critical, identifiable demand for capital and technical resources by natural resource-based businesses in central Appalachia and to lift up models of sustainable enterprise, to encourage individual and organization leadership in sustainable development, and to increase the participation by traditional arms of the economy and government in sustainable practices. Debt and equity investments are structured to provide incentives to meet specific environmental goals. NCIF requires potential investees to meet all existing local, state and federal environmental regulatory requirements and adopt environmental related industry specific best management practices.
The NCIF will invest in natural resource-based small businesses at any stage of development that have strong management in place and cannot obtain debt financing or equity capital from traditional sources. Eligible activities include, but are not limited to, specialty agriculture, aquaculture, recycling and value-added wood products, sustainable tourism related enterprises, and enterprises whose products or services add value to a natural resource-based product. The NCIF, and its partners, will also provide ongoing technical assistance as needed to ensure the success of portfolio companies.
