Conscious Community Capital: the fund we almost built

Between 2019 and 2021, together with collaborators, we designed a real-estate investment fund for conscious community living — working titles "Conscious Community Capital" and "True Home Fund". It never launched: we couldn't at that time raise the capital, nor find the right person to run it. But the analysis behind it still holds, and it is the foundation of what Teal Estate — now the Fund stream of Developmental Spaces — became. We're publishing the core of it here, both as a record and because the problem it addresses is more alive than ever.

The idea in one paragraph

A real-estate fund that raises capital from investors and banks, purchases land and buildings, and stewards them long-term — making them available to partners developing conscious community living projects. A form of "conscious capital": deep social impact with security of capital and a fair return (we targeted a 4–6% IRR at conservative leverage, under 50%).

The problem: initiatives lack capital, and investors lack initiatives

Creating mindful, purposeful community living requires a stable physical space. But raising capital for one is structurally hard:

Community-scale properties are large. Even though per-person cost is lower, the up-front capital need is substantial.
Groups pool capital badly. One person deciding to buy a property is much easier than six people coordinating; even when a group has the wealth, it's often illiquid (someone has to sell a flat first).
Groups borrow badly. Banks find collectives complex and unattractive counterparties.
The right people are often the wrong demographic for capital. People oriented to community, well-being and inner development tend to be younger and earn less than, say, bankers.

Meanwhile, on the other side: a growing pool of investors wants a secure and ethical home for capital — including a mindful, spiritually committed subset — but has no way to locate and vet community projects. And cities want community-oriented, affordable spaces to address loneliness and affordability, but find few viable, capital-ready groups to work with.

The fund was designed as the bridge: bringing confidence to capital, and capital to conscious communities.

Why "conscious community" real estate?

There wasn't (and still isn't, really) an established term for this sector. We called it conscious community real estate — the fusion of two practices: an explicit awareness of one's impact on others and the planet, and active engagement with inner development, spiritual or secular. Co-living here is not an economic convenience; it's an active commitment to fostering community — across the whole spectrum from fully shared space to private dwellings with communal kitchens, from long-term residence to retreat formats.

The principles

Five principles guided the design — they still guide our capital work:

Strong in our ethics
Rigorous in our assessments
Flexible in our approach
Compassionate in our actions
Patient on our journey

Along with a structural commitment: a not-for-profit management structure, and the insight that the success of the fund and the success of the communities are inextricably linked.

What happened — and what it became

We took the fund a long way: thesis, structure, impact model, an experienced founding team spanning serious contemplative practice and fund management. What we couldn't do, in that window, was close the capital or find the operator it deserved. So rather than force it, we let the idea evolve into something lighter: a platform — part publication, part matching point — connecting projects seeking capital with people who want to invest in these kinds of spaces. That became Teal Estate, and is now the Fund stream of Developmental Spaces, where we share project fundraising updates as this deal-flow emerges.

The fund itself remains, in our view, the right eventual answer. If you're an investor, funder, or potential operator who reads this and feels a pull: developmentalspaces [at] lifeitself [dot] org.

Adapted from the Conscious Community Capital fund summary (2021). The full materials — prospectus, SCQH, application questionnaire and more — are in the Fund Archive.