Is this a United States-based effort or elsewhere?
If US, let's pool research efforts on what is legal.
For instance, there is definitely some leeway in
http://sec.gov/investor/pubs/invclub.htm
for investing clubs
But then again, there could also be a legal framework for information
and rating, that has nothing to do with the actual exchange, which
could be facilitated by the businesses themselves, until formal
frameworks are produced. I don't think there is any requirements for
registration or regulation on people discussing businesses, mentoring,
performing due dilligence, and rating businesses on multiple factors,
with the hope that this will lead towards individuals deciding to
invest in an enterprise.
I have argued in the past that we should not just explore loans, but
also *investment*. This is something that we are going to explore in
depth with
http://localfoodsystems.org in the coming months.
The flip side of the coin is that, instead of investment, or loans,
when an enterprise is working within existing commons, like open
license content, open source software, and open license hardware/
product design, that people might pool resources around ventures as
*donations* instead of loans or investments. See
http://openfarmtech.org/weblog
for an example. I think this can work best when an enterprise is
based on a commons. The enterprise does snot have to be organized as
not for profit formally. Mine is not, and I work extensively with the
development of open source software and open license content, and am
entering the realm of open source hardware/product design. If you can
find stakeholders who recognize that you are working towards
contributing to a common pool resource, they could be willing to pool
money, time or other resources with you towards creating commons-based
building blocks that can be re-used for both for-profit and not-for-
profit ventures in the future. Some enterprises (like mine) may be
compelled to continually contribute to a resource pool in order to
help sustain or accelerate the development of open licensed "stuff"
Consider building commons-based building blocks for independents and
social enterprises, or contributing towards their development.