StackSource’s 1% Pledge
My co-founder Nathan and I often talk about the company we want StackSource to become.
We’re working to make commercial real estate finance more efficient and more transparent for property owners. At a fundamental level, making the capital markets easier to navigate for these real estate owners and investors is a good thing, as real estate investors build wealth while investing in our communities’ housing, offices, retail centers, industrial facilities, and more. The more easily real estate investors can access capital, the more readily they will develop, improve, and manage these properties well.
Being a good company requires more than having a good product, though. We want to act in integrity. We want to have a positive work environment for our team. We want to push each other to be better. And we want to give back.
Effective this past summer (2019), StackSource has become a Pledge 1% company.
The Pledge
We first heard about Pledge 1% back in the summer of 2016 at Techstars, before we had even named the company StackSource, and our tech platform was still an early prototype. We were first making connections in real estate finance at that time, figuring out the shape our product would take, and how we would bring it to market. I bookmarked the initiative in my mind at that time as something that would be great to do when we become a “real company” — a milestone I imagined would be ushered in after raising a formal seed VC round (as if some investor’s money would make us a real company!).
Fast forward three years. We’ve now been in market for 2 years, and have more revenue in the rear-view mirror than outside investment. The team is still small (8 as of the time of writing), but doing great work financing commercial real estate.
It hit me recently. We get to decide when we are a “real company”. It’s based on the decisions we make, how we operate. It’s time to be the company we’d like to see in the world.
We’re still in the early stages of a huge opportunity, but we’re making this step to weave philanthropy into our company culture, and right into our business model. We’re pledging 1% of all StackSource revenue to charitable causes.
The Causes
Our team helps determine the charitable causes we support as a company, and these are a couple we’ve chosen to support so far:
Housing
Habitat for Humanity of Greater Newark has been helping New Jersey residents in need of housing support obtain homes since 1986. Habitat Newark constructs and subsidizes homes for qualifying low income families. They also allow families to put in 200 hours of “sweat equity” as a replacement for a typical down payment on a mortgage.
StackSource’s multifamily financing business helps investors build, buy, or refinance housing assets, and is a great fit to pair with donations to this organization.
Food & Clothing
Founded in 1989, New York City Relief has mobilized thousands of volunteers to compassionately serve those struggling with homelessness by providing hope & resources that lead towards life transformation.
StackSource’s retail financing business maximizes investor returns on various types of retail centers, and will support New York City Relief in providing goods and services to New York’s homeless population.
Children’s Health
Andee’s Army is an Atlanta-based 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to funding the recovery and rehabilitation of children who have sustained brain and spinal cord injuries.
StackSource is excited to support an Atlanta-based non-profit because we have done a lot of our early business in the Atlanta area.
How to join in
StackSource will automatically give 1% of our revenue to charity every time we successfully arrange a financing deal, and we encourage our clients and partners to join us in supporting these and other worthy causes. Starting today, you can see information about featured charity partners on the About Us page of our website. We perform some basic screening on each charity partner in addition to ensuring their mission aligns with the vision of our pledge.
StackSource is a tech-enabled commercial real estate loan platform. We connect investors who are developing or acquiring commercial properties with financing options like banks, insurance companies, and debt funds through a transparent online process. We’re taking the best of commercial mortgage brokerage and updating it for the 21st century. Learn more at StackSource.com.
