Opportunity Fund Receives $3 Million Donation from Chase for its GreenForGreen Program

Based in San Francisco, California, one of area’s largest not-for-profit organization that helps local small businesses, the Opportunity Fund has announced on January 28, 2011, that it has received a $3 million donation from Chase Bank to help small businesses be productive by conserving energy with its newly launched GreenForGreen loan program.

The object of the Opportunity Fund’s new GreenForGreen program is to encourage the Bay Area’s business community to be more green and find more efficient ways to conserve energy as they continue to produce. The Opportunity Fund has gained a reputation in the area by helping families establish substantial small businesses to help the local economy. Now, as environmental consciousness is becoming a growing trend in the world’s business communities, the Opportunity Fund decided to jump on the band wagon and develop its own program.

According to the founder and CEO of the Opportunity Fund, Eric Weaver, this donation of loan capital for small business loans is the largest ever made in the entire Bay Area. The most important note of this large donation is that it will allow the organization to double its lending capacity to local entrepreneurs, hence helping the economy in the Bay Area. The most important service that the Opportunity Fund provides is the creation of jobs. With each small business loan the organization makes to area entrepreneurs, it allows these businesses to expand and have the capital to keep people employed, thus helping the economy.

By providing loans from the GreenForGreen Program, the organization will enable to bring in over $15 million in revenues by helping small businesses reduce their energy costs and set up environmentally friendly energy sources.

As one of America’s largest banks, Chase has been partnering with CDFIs nationwide for over 20 years, providing over $1 billion in loans, grants, donations, and investments to CDFIs only in the past three years.

Peter Barker, Chairman of Chase Bank’s California Operations had this to say over the latest donation. He believes that this is another way that his bank is helping small businesses throughout the United States survive and grow in this difficult economic climate. Mr. Barker further added that this grant will help small businesses achieve the credit they need to raise the employment rate and continue to gain the momentum to help the green economy in the Bay Area.

In showing the generosity that Chase Bank has for US small businesses, the bank’s representatives have presented a check for $3 million to Mr. Weaver on January 28 at Gentle Parking’s North Beach Garage, which is one of the Opportunity Fund’s clients which already employing over 30 people from low income neighborhoods throughout the San Francisco area.

Chase Bank is one of America’s largest banks with operations in all fifty states and in California, alone, serves over 13 million people in over 800 bank branches and 2,900 ATM machines. Chase is a subsidiary of the J.P. Morgan Chase Company, which is a financial institution which helps consumers, businesses, corporations, and government entities.