The IRS has streamlined its Small Business Installment Agreement process and has now made these agreements available to more businesses. The IRS has raised the dollar limit to allow more small businesses to participate. Now, businesses with $25,000.00 or less in unpaid tax liability may be eligible for the installment agreement program (historically, it was businesses with $10,000.00 or less). The small business participants have 24 months to repay the liability.  For more information, visit www.irs.gov or contact me at sfireman@ecdi.org.

Starbucks is selling wristbands for $5 at every location and one-hundred percent of the proceeds go to OFN to fund capital grants to local lenders like ECDI who fund small businesses. For every $5 that is donated, $35 dollars can be lent out from OFN, making the path towards helping small businesses grow into a much-needed expressway. For a preview of what these wristbands look like and more information, click here.

The next time you stop by your local Starbucks, be sure to purchase the wristband not only to donate but also to show your support for local small businesses.

The Local Fan category basket themes include Sweet, Spice, Beauty, Fresh Baked, Cheese Lovers, Chocolate Lovers, and even Gluten Free. For those on your list who have a bit of a sweet tooth, The Celebrate Sweet, Celebrate Fresh Baked, Celebrate Chocolate Lovers, and Celebrate Gluten free all come highly recommended. For those whose prefer the savory, there are Celebrate Spice and Celebrate Cheese Lovers varieties. Additionally, the Celebrate Beauty Basket offers a selection of skin and hair care products, all local of course.

The Local Enthusiast category offers a broader range of all the baskets from the Local Fan category, or baskets that celebrate Romance, Handmade, Carnivores, and Herbivores. The Romance basket includes all the items necessary for a relaxing evening, such as locally-sourced wine, baklava, and scented candles. The Celebrate Handmade Basket is aimed for those who enjoy creative crafts and handmades. Have any meat lovers on your list? The Celebrate Carnivores includes a selection of grass-fed beef and bison, perfect for roasting or grilling. If you’ve got a vegetarian in your life, the Celebrate Herbivores gift includes a selection of pasta, veggie burgers, and vegetarian-friendly fare.

The largest size of basket is the Local Hero category. Any of the basket varieties mentioned above can be If you’re not sure about which basket to choose, the Celebrate Local Basket provides a deluxe assortment of Ohio products from all categories.

To order a basket today call (614)423-4509, fill out a request form , or stop by the Celebrate Local store at Easton for an order form. The order is not placed until a Celebrate Local staff member calls to take payment.

Celebrate Local requests 7 days to process orders, baskets can be shipped anywhere in the U.S.A.

Can you believe they raised $8.7 million for local non-profit organizations? Thank you, Columbus, for being charitable, enthusiastic, and bold.

It does not matter whether we are dealing with a strange noise our car is making, the need for better insulation in our homes, or an invasive procedure recommended by a medical specialist. Common sense, fiscal sense, and sometimes safety mandates we obtain another opinion to either confirm or call into question the original recommended course of action.

So why do people seemingly never get second opinions when receiving legal advice or services? Because we have been brainwashed and conditioned that it is uncouth or impolite to do so.

Ridiculous! Here are some reasons you absolutely must have a “second opinion counsel” in your corner:

Just as you would want a second medical opinion before undergoing an intensive treatment or surgery, it is important to have a second attorney review your case if you have any doubts about how your lawyer is handling your proceeding. Some valid reasons to pursue a second legal opinion include:

• You want greater certainty you have made or will make the proper decision to sue or go forward if suit is already filed
• You suspect improper, incompetent, or insufficient handling of a case
• You believe there is a conflict of interest
• Your case is moving too slowly
• Your case is costing a lot but you are not seeing results or value for those costs
• Your lawyer does not seem familiar with the area of law or the legal complexities involved with your case
• You can’t get meaningful answers or clear strategies from your attorneys about the case

If you are concerned about how your lawyer is preparing or prosecuting your case, it may be in your best interest to receive a second opinion from a law firm that you can trust. Our attorneys are committed to reviewing all aspects of your legal proceeding and can advise you on whether or not your case is being properly handled.

Whether you need clarification on the legal process or you are considering changing or adding your current counsel, we have the knowledge and experience to address all of your legal business concerns.

We’ve been lucky this summer to have several fresh faces around the office as interns, rolling up their sleeves to learn what it takes to keep a community development organization like ours afloat. Here are their thoughts:

As a finance major, I came to ECDI hoping to learn about credit analysis, portfolio analysis, cash flows, and the use of financial ratios in ECDI’s lending department. Although I was able to learn about all of these things and more during my time here, what I learned about most was the importance of economic development in the lives of everyday Ohioans. Not only did ECDI’s activities help bring about measurable change in the lives of our clients, especially for our lending clients, but ECDI also worked very hard to support those individuals with technical assistance to ensure they would be successful even after their relationship with ECDI had ended. At ECDI this is common practice, but at many banks and mortgage lenders across the country, especially during the last few years, engaging in activities which knowingly harm their clients even before their business relationship is terminated was commonplace and eventually disastrous. While most banks in America do a good job of serving large businesses and medium to high wealth individuals, the riskiness and unprofitability of serving start ups and lower income individuals had made these clients targets for predatory lending long before the Great Recession completely ostracized them from traditional financing sources.

By understanding the niche of clients that ECDI serves and the lack of alternatives that many of these clients have, it is very easy to imagine what the lives of some of our clients would be like if ECDI had not been there to help them start their own business, save for their first house, or engage in any number of services we provide our clients. With our state government having already decided that cutting social services, assistance to local governments, and even parts of the Ohio Department of Development are necessary sacrifices to relieve the arduous burden of estate taxes and certain capital gains taxes, much of the future economic assistance will be left up to organizations like ECDI to fill the gap. Stepping up to that challenge is something ECDI has been able to do time and again as it has expanded its services to help out certain government programs whose funding frequently dries up (home repair) and to help quickly expanding sectors of Columbus’ economy which need specialized assistance (Food Fort).

The successful expansion of ECDI was built on the success this organization has experienced in its core activities of lending and IDAs. As a lending department intern, I was able to understand that success and how we help our clients obtain it by viewing our client portfolio on a macro and micro level. One of the first activities I was involved in was portfolio sector analysis, which involved understanding the performance of a particular loan sector, identifying its reasons for success or difficulty, and determining which types of technical assistance ECDI could provide these clients to help them become even more successful. Many of the issues raised in the analysis were concerning the future difficulties a sector could face due to changing macroeconomic factors or legislative changes. An example is our daycare sector which will experience increasing costs and, for some, decreasing revenue due to cuts and new regulations implemented in the recent Ohio budget. The analysis identified metrics we should use to gauge a particular daycare’s exposure to these effects and what technical assistance ECDI can provide to help those affected offset the negative changes. In the final part of my internship I underwrote a loan which included a credit analysis, cash flow analysis, and a presentation to the loan committee. In addition to the valuable financial experience this provided me, it was also the perfect opportunity for me to see how a small business that was poised to succeed and make a difference in the lives of its owner, employees, and clients, could rely on ECDI for the additional help it needed. ECDI changes peoples’ lives one loan at a time, and if our economy and governments could also be a force for that change, we could show everyday Ohioans that economic development is not a privilege for the elite, but an opportunity for all who work to pursue it.

We’ve been lucky this summer to have several fresh faces around the office as interns, rolling up their sleeves to learn what it takes to keep a community development organization like ours afloat. Here are their thoughts:

When I tell people I study Economics they ponder and think my days are full of analyzing numbers, finance, or some sort of math. I try to tell them that Economics isn’t all about math, and I haven’t been able to completely articulate what I mean, until I started working at ECDI.  Working at the Economic and Community Development institute is really about people, ideas, and innovation. Every day we work with people who want to make something of themselves. Young entrepreneurs and creative individuals who want to start their own business and provide for their families. We help them do that. And that’s what economics is to me. Utilizing creativity to make something happen.. -Catherine

We’ve been lucky this summer to have several fresh faces around the office as interns, rolling up their sleeves to learn what it takes to keep a community development organization like ours afloat. Here are their thoughts:

I first heard of ECDI when listening to All Sides with Ann Fisher on WOSU.  Immediately after the program finished I hopped on the computer, looked up ECDI’s website, and sent an e-mail saying I wanted to volunteer there.  Working as a legal intern just happened to fall perfectly into my lap because the current legal intern was taking off for the rest of the summer.  Since my first day of working here, I have been nothing less than satisfied.  The people who work here are unparalleled, and so is their passion to make a real difference in people’s lives.

My desire to become an attorney comes from my passion to connect people through facilitating contracts.  I want to help people establish businesses, grow their businesses, as well as merge and acquire other businesses.  Working at ECDI has shown me that it takes a lot of business acumen to succeed as a small business.  Fortunately, ECDI understands this and works with business owners by providing training to help entrepreneurs achieve their goals.  ECDI and I understand how important small businesses are to our economy and society, and the only way we can get out of our country’s current debt situation is by working hard and supporting our own small businesses. -Clark, Legal Intern

I know what you might be thinking – aren’t there already microlenders serving Columbus? Well, the answer is yes but Kiva in some ways does offer a different product. Here’s an at a glance look at how I expect their programs to be different from ours.

Kiva City/ACCION: quick, personal credit score driven, one time injection of capital

ECDI: holistic, grass roots, technical assistance over the life of the loan

With Kiva City, it’s my belief that you may get a quicker turnaround from application to capital acquisition. However, if your personal credit score isn’t at the right tier, you may not be able to access the capital you need to grow your business with ACCION. Also, most microlenders cannot consider projections when vetting you for a loan. They have to look at this slice of time in your business, not how your business could grow and develop.

Again,  there is not much information available about how the Kiva City program will work and these are estimates based on how ACCION currently manages loan disbursement. Overall, I think that the more small businesses that can access capital, the better.

So, Kiva City, come check out the 614 area code. There’s a lot of work to be done here in the capital city, let’s get busy.