We were lucky to catch up with Jen Risley recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jen, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How do you feel about asking friends and family to support your business? What’s appropriate, what’s not? Where do you draw the line?

Since 2017, I’ve used rewards-based crowdfunding to invite friends and family to support my work. Emphasis on the “invite” — since I hope they’ll contribute to my campaign because the mission (or the “why” of the work) resonates with their values and work. I use the Local Crowd Cooperative’s crowdfunding platform and make it available for other entrepreneurs and community members in my community to use.

We’re raised over $450K for 57 crowdfunding campaigns since bringing The Local Crowd (TLC) to our region. It builds community in addition to funding programs and projects.

We started TLC Monadnock as part of a two-year study to build support networks for entrepreneurs in rural communities. During our pilot, we focused on five communities most economically impacted by the closure of Vermont Yankee, a nuclear power plant.

The Vermont Yankee closing caused the loss of 176 high-paying jobs in our region and a ripple effect that reduced economic activity by $30 million annually. We wanted to demonstrate that instead of recruiting businesses from outside the region to make up for this loss, we could empower community members to support values-aligned businesses based here.

We gave preference to campaigns aligned with our regional master plan and contributed to a healthy, just, safe, and environmentally sustainable community. We supported efforts to build more resilient communities, including campaigns that focused on sustainable agriculture, local art, renewable energy, and alternative transportation.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I served as an early organizer of our local food co-op in 2007 and witnessed the power of local investing. We raised funding from our member-owners to launch (and then later expand) our community-owned grocery store.

When our co-op opened, I became their marketing manager. I refined my social media, email marketing, and graphic design skills in that fantastic position. Additionally, I promoted our co-op’s impactful community programs, such as a grant opportunity for local farmers.

From there, I became program manager of The Local Crowd Monadnock, director of operations for the American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA), and editor of The Main Street Journal — all opportunities to strengthen the Local Economy movement (on the local, national, and international level).

AMIBA builds a strong local economy movement by supporting the growth and development of local business alliances and networks, creating more equitable, sustainable, and inclusive local economies. We invite independent business owners to our monthly Local Leaders Roundtables to connect with others, share best practices, and discover new ideas.

Individuals can also partner with AMIBA through our Choose Indie Local program. This program inspires and supports community members to boost the ripple effect of economic and community benefits we receive when we spend and invest dollars at locally owned businesses. We offer partners nine creative campaigns they can adapt locally, ranging from a Shop Indie Local Holiday campaign to a Move Your Money: Bank Local, Invest Local campaign.

I joined The Main Street Journal team to deepen the Invest Local movement. The journal is the world’s hub for local investing news and events. I’m incredibly proud of this work since it connects individuals (often working in isolation) and introduces them to an international movement. I’m also a huge fan of the publisher, Michael Shuman. Michael is an economist, attorney, author, entrepreneur, and leading visionary in community economics.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

A book that significantly impacted my thinking is The Local Economy Solution by Michael Shuman.

From Michael Shuman: A “pollinator” is a self-financing enterprise committed to boosting local business. Some pollinators are for-profit businesses, some are nonprofits, but all allow a community to undertake one or more of five key economic development functions — planning, purchasing, people, partnerships, and purse — with far greater efficacy and at a substantially lower cost than typical, taxpayer-funded programs. [Pollinator enterprises] ultimately aim to avoid dependency on government grants or charitable contributions.

After reading this book, I organized an event that brought Michael to our community. He gave a public lecture called “Cultivating Pollinator Enterprises to Grow Jobs and Prosperity” and a day-long workshop to help entrepreneurs develop a pollinator enterprise.

I discovered a Request for Proposals from The Local Crowd the day after Michael’s visit. It seemed like the perfect expression of a pollinator enterprise and felt like a sign that I had to bring this program to our community. Immediately, I sent it out to others who forward community economic development in our region. Though the proposal was due just two weeks later, a group of organizations jumped on board and devised a plan. Six years later, the program continues!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I’m incredibly self-motivated, and when I was younger a chronic workaholic. I was also an elementary school teacher, where the work never ended. The job was very fulfilling but had a huge toll on my health. I had to leave that career and re-invent myself.

I started volunteering at a local business incubator, where I met one entrepreneur who was excited about social media. This way of communicating and organizing the community just clicked for me. When a group of business owners wanted to start a “Buy Local” group, I used social media to spread the word. When our community started organizing to build a food co-op, I used social media to spread the word. From there, new career opportunities emerged!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://amiba.net
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.amiba
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theAMIBA
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferrisley/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/theAMIBA
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU05x5XqxnvTioTplgFw5GQ
• Other: https://monadnock.thelocalcrowd.coop/ https://tlcmonadnock.com https://www.themainstreetjournal.org/

Image Credits
Photo of young women: Kimberly Peck Photography Photo of Michael Shuman and Jen Risley: Beth Pelton Photography