For Farmers
Farmer Community & Qualifications
Does Steward work with beginning farmers and ranchers?
How does Steward assess animal welfare in farming projects?
What does the Steward loan process involve?
How does Steward define sustainable and regenerative agriculture?
What kind of agriculture businesses does Steward work with?
Am I eligible for a Steward agricultural loan?
Can I use a Steward loan to purchase land?
Using The Steward Platform
Using Steward: Application Process
About Project Pages
What identity verification documents do I need?
Verify your business with Steward's payment facilitator
What should I include in my Farm Page?
Using Steward: Live Loan Project
What happens when a project successfully meets its loan amount?
How do I find anchor lenders to participate in my loan?
What is the point of the private raise period?
Using Steward: Growth & Repayments
Farmer Educational Resources
FAQ Participated Loans - Borrowers
For Lenders
Investor FAQ
How is tax handled for my investment?
Payment Profile Creation - Errors and Solutions
Why did my transaction fail?
How much can I invest?
Can I sell my shares?
I am based Outside the US - can I invest with Steward?
What is Dwolla?
What investor opportunities are available with Steward?
What transaction methods are available when making an investment?
What are the fees for investors?
Why is personal information required in order to handle payments on Steward?
Why is my transaction still pending?
Your Steward Wallet
FAQ Participated Loans - Lenders
About Steward
- All Categories
- For Farmers
- Using The Steward Platform
- Using Steward: Live Loan Project
- What is the point of the private raise period?
What is the point of the private raise period?
Updated
by Steward Team
Steward often uses the term Community Stewardship to refer to the idea that Steward Farmers must meet 20% of their loan value by reaching out to qualified participating lenders during the early stages of their Steward loan.
Why is the Steward process structured this way?
Steward loans are set up as a participated loan. This means that qualified individuals can buy a "piece" of the loan that Steward is making. These supporters are referred to as "participating lenders," and they are buying a "loan participation."
In order to receive your Steward loan, all "peices" of your loan must be bought by participating lenders. This means that a big part of the process is involving your friends, family, and community members to lend to your business and share your success!
To receive your Steward loan, you’ll need to first reach out to your community and meet 20% of your loan amount during your private raise period. During this time your network will have exclusive access to participate in your Steward loan.
We do this because we believe that if your community will lend to you, so will Steward’s network of lenders!
You can read THIS article to get tips and tricks for how to meet the 20% benchmark and make your Steward loan a success!