Partners

We Put Our Experience to Work for Our Partners

To learn more about how you can support ICIC, please email Liz Pugh, Director of Development.

Our corporate, foundation, and individual partners have one thing in common: an unwavering commitment to helping under-resourced communities and small businesses thrive. ICIC collaborates with fortune 500 companies, anchor institutions, and local stakeholders to advance knowledge of underserved economies and the strategies that inform local economic policy.

NATIONAL SUSTAINING PARTNERS

Goldman Sachs & Co.

ICIC leads the application and selection process for Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses, a $500 million investment to help small businesses create jobs and economic opportunity by providing them with greater access to business education, financial capital, and business support services.

Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente has partnered with ICIC on our Inner City Capital Connections (ICCC) program to realize Kaiser’s vision for improved wellness outcomes through economic empowerment.

Santander

Santander and ICIC have partnered together to launch Cultivate Small Business, an innovative program linking small business resources to a regional cluster, designed to help early-stage entrepreneurs in low-income neighborhoods build and sustain their businesses, with a focus on women-, minority-, and immigrant-owned businesses in food-related industries. Santander also partners with ICIC on other Urban Business Initiatives, including the Inner City 100 and the Inner City Capital Connections (ICCC) program.

Bank of America Foundation

Bank of America and ICIC co-created the Inner City Capital Connections (ICCC) program in 2005, which is now offered in dozens of cities throughout the United States and Canada. ICCC is the only program of its kind, focused on teaching small businesses in economically-distressed areas how to raise capital and facilitate connections with interested investors. As a result of their long-term partnership, Bank of America and ICIC have helped more than five thousand under-resourced companies who are engines of economic growth in their communities

Chevron

Chevron Corporation supports ICIC’s longstanding entrepreneurship program, the Inner City 100, and our annual analysis of urban small business. Chevron and ICIC celebrate shared value in the co-creation and presentation of the Dorothy Terrell Community Impact Award, which honors the Inner City 100 company with the greatest impact on its community and workforce.

FedEx

FedEx has partnered with ICIC to create a robust Inner City Capital Connections (ICCC) site in Memphis as well as bringing the program back to Dallas, helping FedEx realize its vision for empowering entrepreneurs and creating employment pathways for the underserved. FedEx also partners with ICIC on the Inner City 100 program that recognizes and celebrates fast-growing companies whose success illuminates the competitive advantages of locating within the inner city, including presenting the annual FedEx Champion of Global Entrepreneurship Award.

BCG

Boston Consulting Group has been one of ICIC’s most enduring partners, working with us to accelerate inclusive growth in America’s most underserved communities starting with our groundbreaking joint retail research study in 1998. Over the years, BCG has provided ICIC with strategic consulting services to maximize our impact, supported the IC100 award and our Annual Conference, and helped design Building for Growth, ICIC’s new tuition-free program which aims to help BIPOC- and woman-owned construction contractors build capacity and develop sustainable growth strategies that position their businesses to increase revenues and profits.

Yum! Brands

As part of Yum! Brands’ global Unlocking Opportunity Initiative, which is its commitment to tackle inequality and make a positive and sustainable social impact in communities and on frontline restaurant workers, Yum! has partnered with ICIC to bring the Inner City Capital Connections (ICCC) program to Canada for the first time as well as in support of the Dallas ICCC program. The program focuses on equity and inclusion, education and entrepreneurship – all key tenets of Yum!’s initiative. Delivered in partnership with Pizza Hut and KFC, the program is offered in English and Canadian French, targeting minority-, immigrant-, indigenous-, and disabled-owned businesses throughout Canada.

Regions Bank

With Regions’ support, ICIC has brought the Inner City Capital Connections (ICCC) program to Birmingham, Memphis, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Houston, Indianapolis, and Nashville over the last several years. By providing local entrepreneurs with access to capital, education, and resources for growth, Regions is helping create shared value by strengthening economically-distressed small business ecosystems throughout its footprint.

Ochsner LSU Health

With a goal of inspiring healthier lives and a stronger community, Ochsner LSU Health has made deep commitments to investing in community-based economic development and strengthening small businesses, and has partnered with ICIC to bring the ICCC program to Shreveport, Louisiana for the first time. By offering critical technical assistance resources to under-resourced entrepreneurs, ICIC and Ochsner LSU Health will foster business growth, create jobs, and contribute to the economic development of the local economy, which in turn enable access to other social determinants of health, like food and housing security, and quality healthcare.

Cencora

Cencora and the Cencora Impact Foundation have partnered with ICIC on our Inner City Capital Connections (ICCC) program to drive inclusive economic growth and provide capacity building for small businesses, including a subset that are health care-focused.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

With a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and in partnership with SRI, ICIC is conducting research on regional economic connectivity as a pathway to tackling concentrated poverty and advancing inclusive innovation.

Intuit

ICIC and Intuit have partnered in support of the Building for Growth (BFG) construction cluster small business program. Through this partnership, ICIC and Intuit are providing BIPOC- and woman-owned businesses in the construction industry with networks, tools, and education needed to build their backlog, access capital, and increase their bonding capacity.

Vizient

Vizient’s support of ICIC’s Inner City Capital Connections program helps ensure that small business owners in cities around the country will receive effective executive training, coaching/mentoring, and access to capital. Vizient, the largest Group Purchasing Organization in the United States, began its partnership with ICIC in 2018, to bring ICCC’s unique program model to small businesses within its network of more than 1600 members.

The Home Depot

The Home Depot (THD) is a founding partner of ICIC’s Building for Growth program which supports construction industry businesses from under-resourced areas, including those that are BIPOC-, woman-, and veteran-owned, by providing them networks, tools, and education needed to build their backlog, access capital, and increase their bonding capacity. This collaboration aligns with THD’s goals to operate as a company that reflects and supports diversity, equity, and inclusion among its associates, suppliers, and in the communities it serves. Together, we are successfully scaling construction businesses.

Arctaris

Arctaris has been a leading supporter of the Inner City Capital Connections program since 2015, supporting cohorts in Massachusetts and Detroit. Arctaris has partnered with the Kresge Foundation, ICIC, and multiple other foundation, federal and state government agencies to invest in Opportunity Zones, inner cities and targeted rural communities throughout the U.S., with the aim of delivering above-market investment returns alongside positive social impact.

2024 PARTNERS

ICIC is also deeply grateful to its partners for their generous support of our mission. The following contributed $20,000 or more during the past two years:

Target

Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E)

The Abell Foundation

American Family Insurance

American Securities Foundation / Michael Fisch

Lynda Applegate

Appleton Partners, Inc.

Bain Capital

Berkshire Bank

Blackstone Consulting

The Boston Foundation

Cardinal Health, Inc.