Billed as an "Immediate Public Opportunity ... to end homelessness," the IPO was created to close financing for The Next Key Center, a pioneering affordable housing and job-training center under construction in Novato, Calif.
The nonprofit organization that is building the center, Homeward Bound of Marin, has leveraged Mr. Buffett's inaugural share purchase on May 15, 2007, to raise more than $700,000 from community groups, individuals and businesses like Circle Bank and Marion Weinreb & Associates.
"The IPO has succeeded beyond our dreams in offering people a way to take stock in programs that provide long-term solutions to homelessness," said Mary Kay Sweeney, executive director of Homeward Bound.
"We know that homelessness is a community social issue; this strategy has enticed people from all across our community to invest in people. The returns on investment from this IPO will have names and faces -- they will be people with jobs and houses and bright futures ahead of them," she added.
Celebrity "investors" in the nonprofit IPO include rock musician Sammy Hagar, San Francisco Giants pitcher Russ Ortiz, and authors Jack Kornfield and Sylvia Boorstein, along with a wide sampling of Bay Area residents who bought shares for themselves and as birthday, graduation and holiday gifts. The newest shareholders include a Novato Girl Scout Daisy Troop and 8th graders at Marin Country Day School.
Besides joining a broad web of community partners in creation of The Next Key Center, Sweeney said, the IPO has helped Homeward Bound attract new funding from entities that appreciate the support marshaled through the IPO campaign. These include the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, which provided a $1 million grant from its Affordable Housing Program. -- Homeward Bound
