Known and Mission Driven Finance Build an Ownership-First Partnership

Known and Mission Driven Finance choose collaboration over competition Nathalie Molina Niño, Co-Founder and President of Known Holdings, and Lauren Grattan, Co-Founder of Mission Driven Finance (MDF), chose to work together rather than compete for the same clients. They formalized a long-term strategic partnership linking MDF with Known’s Built, Fund as a Service platform. The collaboration began without months of boardroom negotiations or teams of lawyers. The two organizations reached a handshake agreement, then sent their teams to bid together on competitive client contracts. They won two of the three bids, giving their frontline staff a chance to see how collaboration worked in practice before the partnership was formalized. For Grattan and Molina Niño, that experience demonstrated that the organizations could offer more together than either could alone. Grattan described their shared role as an integrated “pit crew” for community enterprises, rather than rivals competing for the winner’s podium. In a field where impact firms often protect their individual brands and pipelines, joining forces with a direct competitor is unusual. Their early joint bids provided a practical test of the partnership—and showed that cooperation could help them serve clients while challenging the scarcity mindset that encourages firms to fight over limited opportunities. An integrated platform built to move capital at scale Capital managed with an equity lens does not have to remain quaint, soft or perpetually subscale. Known and Mission Driven Finance combine complementary strengths to build infrastructure capable of moving investment at the scale communities need. Known contributes institutional fund design and Wall Street-caliber structural sophistication. MDF brings a decade-long lending track record, a history of place-based credit and the back-office engine to support the work. Together, they can deliver six- and seven-figure checks—the missing middle where mainstream finance refuses to tread. This integrated platform is designed to make funds ready to deploy when investors are, rather than wait for institutional allocators to change their approach or donor-advised funds to release capital. The partnership brings fund architecture and lending operations together, helping community enterprises access investment that can meet their needs at a meaningful scale. By pooling their operational strengths instead of competing for narrow slices of capital, Known and MDF are building an alternative set of rails for community investment. Their collaboration shows how institutional design and place-based lending experience can work together to move larger amounts of capital toward communities. Investment structures designed to protect ownership For Known and Mission Driven Finance, the design of an investment vehicle starts with a firm principle: the people building an enterprise should retain ownership. Rather than push founders into equity-surrendering venture terms, including the traditional “2-and-20” model, the partners favor revenue-share and royalty structures. These can provide capital without requiring creators to give up the rights that make their work valuable. One example is a fund designed for independent film and television studios. It aims to help creators produce breakthrough cultural intellectual property while preserving the studios’ underlying rights. The approach reflects a broader commitment to avoid taking ownership from people and communities whose ownership has already been taken away over generations. That principle also applies within the partnership itself. Mission Driven Finance is formalizing a five-year transition to become an employee-owned business. Rather than treating ownership as a benefit reserved for outside investors, the firm is working toward a structure in which its employees share in owning the company. Together, these choices show how investment terms can be designed to put ownership and long-term control in the hands of the people doing the work. Community-led investment in the South Chicago Southland In the South Chicago Southland, Known and Mission Driven Finance (MDF) are helping 16 municipalities turn reclaimed industrial land into a community-owned investment opportunity. The municipalities united to reclaim abandoned industrial parcels that already have transit access, creating a foundation for new housing, grocery stores and manufacturing sites. Known and MDF are providing the institutional fund architecture to stand up a fund that can finance these projects. Rather than seeking conventional bank approval one deal at a time, communities can invest in and own the places and services they need. That structure offers an alternative to piecemeal debt financing—and to extractive capital models that can separate builders from ownership. The approach reflects a central principle of the partnership: the people affected by investment should retain ownership of what they build. By designing a fund around reclaimed, transit-accessible land and community priorities, Known and MDF are creating a way to channel capital into local assets while supporting community stewardship. It is a practical example of how shared fund infrastructure can help communities shape investment on their own terms.