Rural Resilience Fund
Putting Capital to Work in the Rural Restoration Economy
Rural America's working landscapes – forests, farms, grasslands, wetlands – are home to some of the most ecologically and economically important land in the country. The landowners, small businesses, and restoration organizations who steward these places face a persistent financing gap. Working capital is scarce. Lending products are poorly suited to the timelines and risks of land-based work. And government conservation programs like NRCS, EQIP, and RCPP, while valuable, are reimbursement-based: landowners must cover costs upfront before any payment arrives, effectively excluding the families most likely to benefit.
The Rural Resilience Fund (RRF) is New Leaf’s answer to that problem.
The Case for a Different Kind of Capital
Climate resilience depends on how we manage the 1.7 billion acres of forests, grasslands, croplands, and wetlands across the United States — the vast majority of which lie in rural counties, which represent 80% of persistent poverty areas in the country.
Regenerative land stewardship can be economically compelling for landowners: native species production, conservation practice adoption, and ecological restoration can improve farm resilience, command premium markets, and generate new revenue streams. But the path to those outcomes requires upfront investment, patient capital, and trust — resources that are in short supply where they are needed most.
Access to capital designed for the unique timelines and risks of land restoration can bridge this gap. When working landowners make these investments, they generate a flywheel of systemic activity: upstream suppliers like nurseries and seed companies and downstream processors like sawmills and aggregators all benefit from increased demand.
RRF is designed to catalyze that flywheel, replicating what Community Development Financial Institutions have achieved in other underserved sectors, but built specifically for the rural restoration economy.
What RRF Deploys
Anchored by the Edward Jones Community Impact Team and managed by New Leaf Climate Partners, RRF is a Community Development Loan Fund deploying roughly $200K per partner across four initial pilot partnerships.
Flexible loan capital. We deploy tailored, low-cost loan products — including bridge loans, working capital facilities, equipment finance, and ownership capital — designed around the timelines and risk profiles of land-based work and rural small businesses.
Technical assistance. Alongside capital, we provide direct TA to borrowers on financial management, conservation program navigation, and business planning, ensuring that capital is deployed effectively and repaid on terms that work for rural operators.
Trusted partnership networks. Capital reaches landowners and businesses through established nonprofit partners with deep roots in farming- and forest-dependent communities — including Bat Conservation International, the American Forest Foundation, the National Bobwhite Grasslands Initiative, and the Arbor Day Foundation. These partners identify borrowers, co-design projects, and in some cases provide credit support.
Impact measurement. We track outcomes using GIIN IRIS+ metrics embedded directly into underwriting and reporting, including capital deployed, acres under improved management, rural jobs created, and share of loans to underserved borrowers.
Built for This, Not Adapted to It
New Leaf Climate Partners is a public benefit corporation built specifically for this intersection of conservation finance and rural economic development. We design financial tools around the actual timelines, risks, and relationships of the rural restoration economy. Several things set us apart:
Partner-first deployment. We reach landowners and rural businesses through organizations they already trust. Each pilot partner curates borrowers, co-designs loan terms, and in some cases provides partial guarantee support. This embedded model dramatically lowers barriers to entry and accelerates adoption.
Whole value chain investing. We invest in the full restoration economy, not just discrete projects. By financing nurseries, contractors, processors, and landowners in coordinated regional ecosystems, each investment strengthens the entire system rather than a single transaction.
Bridging the reimbursement gap. Many of the landowners we serve are excluded from federal conservation programs not because they are ineligible, but because they cannot cover upfront costs while awaiting NRCS or EQIP reimbursement. Our bridge loan product is purpose-built to solve that problem.
Track record in adjacent work. NLC has conducted first-of-its-kind nursery landscape and restoration value chain studies across the U.S., designed impact funds for philanthropic and private investors, and supported land trusts and landowners in navigating emerging conservation markets.
Recoverable capital, not grants. Every dollar RRF deploys is designed to be repaid and redeployed. This recycling model means our capital compounds its impact over time turning a philanthropic investment into a durable financial infrastructure for rural restoration, not a one-time program spend.
To learn more email jake@newleafclimate.com
