Direct pubic offerings (DPOs) allow enterprises to obtain investments directly from community members, including from friends, customers, and anyone with even a modest amount of savings available to invest. A DPO can describe the process of raising investment from a community or the general public using various legal mechanisms to comply with securities law (and extensive collection of laws designed to protect investors). Unlike in an IPO ("initial public offering"), in a DPO, a business owner or a group of leaders of an organization advertise the opportunity to invest in their enterprise to their community or to the general public directly, without the use of stock markets, brokers, or other middlemen. This makes DPOs a more cost effective strategy for raising money from the public small businesses, cooperatives, and nonprofit loan funds that support small business. DPOs tend to work well for community-supported enterprises.

But enterprises seeking to conduct a DPO often pay a significant amount in legal fees to use this financing mechanism. DPOs are legal in all 50 US States but in some states there are more burdensome regulations than others, meaning that the steps and costs to getting started vary. We don't think DPOs need to be so expensive, so our goal is to make the process more accessible and affordable.

What We're Working On

We are working with a client to complete a DPO in California to help demystify the process, which will result in a guide that will help empower communities to make DPOs a more realistic financing option. 

Examples

Examples of businesses and organizations that have done DPOs in California include:

Nonprofit Loan Funds: RSF Social Finance, Northern California Community Loan Fund, and Economic Development and Financing Corporation of Mendocino and Lake Counties.

Small Food Enterprises: People's Community Market (forthcoming Oakland grocery market), Farm Fresh to You (produce CSA/distributor in the Capay Valley), Placerville Food Co-op, Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op, Brio Baking (bakery and cafe in Arcata), and many others.

Disclaimer: The Sustainable Economies Law Center does not endorse or recommend investing in the enterprises listed above. We are providing these lists as examples of DPOs only. Investors must do their own research and analysis to determine if any particular investment deal is suitable.

Resources

• You can read more about DPOs in the Grassroots Financing Guide for California Farmers. 

• Want to compare key considerations for conducting a DPO in California via permit versus Regulation Crowdfunding? Check out this chart.