Patient Capital Works: Op Ed by Janice St. Onge

Fourteen years ago, the Flexible Capital Fund (Flex Fund) set out with a simple but bold belief: that patient, place-based, values-aligned capital could grow strong businesses, resilient communities, and deliver real returns, financial, social, and environmental.

Together, we have shown that this approach works through collaboration, partnership, flexible investment instruments like revenue-based financing, and a mindset that we are all in this together.

On Jan. 1, 2026, the Flex Fund reached its first close of about $7 million on a $15 million offering. This milestone recapitalizes the fund and launches our next chapter of lending and investing across Vermont and Northern New England. We will continue raising capital through the end of 2026.

We are pleased to welcome new investors into the Flex Fund community and to welcome Casey Johnson as fund manager. Casey brings a decade of experience in impact investing and food systems finance, and will work alongside me as we scale the fund’s work in the region.

Why Revenue Based Financing Still Matters

New England continues to need more revenue-based financing options. Many small and midsize businesses in rural, coastal, and working lands communities are strong operators but are not a match for traditional equity or venture capital. These businesses often prioritize steady growth, local ownership, and community impact over rapid scale or exit. As a result, they are left underserved by conventional capital markets. Revenue-based financing fills this gap.

As an impact investment fund and Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), the Flex Fund uses revenue-based financing as our primary investment tool. Revenue-based financing offers entrepreneurs in rural communities a flexible alternative to equity investment that supports growth without giving up ownership or control. Because repayments are tied to a company’s revenue, this approach aligns with the natural ups and downs of rural and seasonal businesses, easing cash-flow pressure during slower periods. 

This approach allows founders to maintain long-term ownership, keep decision-making in their communities and build enterprises that stay rooted for the long term. It provides patient capital they need to scale sustainably.

What We Accomplished in Our First Chapter

As we close out Fund 1.0, the results show the power of patient capital.

Since 2011, the Flex Fund has invested $9.2 million across 47 investments in 25 Northern New England companies. Those investments helped catalyze $261 million in follow-on financing, which equals about $35 leveraged for every $1 invested. This is real capital moving with intention, discipline, and trust in local entrepreneurs.

Our portfolio companies are the heartbeat of Vermont’s regenerative economy, including food and forest products, clean technology and climate solutions. Today, they support nearly 700 jobs, triple the number just five years ago, and generated $87 million in annual revenue in 2024.

These jobs created are quality jobs:

• 67% of companies pay a living wage or higher

• All provide paid vacation

• 10 of 11 offer health insurance

• Seven offer employee ownership or stock options

Last year alone, portfolio companies spent $10.5 million locally, strengthening supply chains and keeping capital circulating in our communities.

What Comes Next

Our work continues because the challenges facing rural entrepreneurs are real. They need capital partners willing to take risks with them. Risk, as a noun, implies danger. To risk, as a verb, means to act with bravery. And meaningful impact requires bravery.

This next decade demands builders. To confront climate change head-on, we are investing in entrepreneurs who are strengthening regional food systems, unlocking innovation in sustainable forest products, breathing new life into rural communities and driving measurable reductions in carbon emissions.

To our earliest investors, thank you for proving that financial returns and social impact not only coexist but reinforce each other. You planted the seed, and watched it grow.

To our new investors, thank you for choosing to step forward with us as we scale. Your support helps carry forward a legacy of flexible, non-extractive capital that helps businesses grow without compromising their values of growth with integrity.

And to those considering whether to join us, we invite you to be brave with us.

Across Vermont and Northern New England, entrepreneurs are working every day to create a more resilient, regenerative economy. They are building businesses that feed communities, create dignified work and strengthen local supply chains. They are solving problems that matter. Our job is to ensure they have the capital to do it.

Patient capital continues to prove that it works. It works for entrepreneurs, for communities and for the long-term health of our regional economy. Let us keep moving money into places that heal and into the hands of those building a better future for all of us. 

Janice St. Onge is the President of the Flexible Capital Fund, L3C, a mission investment fund providing risk capital to growing businesses in the food system, forestry and clean technology sectors in New England.