Venture North Reports $1.78M in Loans Fueling Jobs in Grand Traverse County

Venture North Funding and Development reported issuing $1,778,572 in loans across Northern Michigan in 2025, and those loans leveraged an additional $4,369,729 in external financing to support projects that the group says contributed to job growth in Northern Michigan, including Grand Traverse County. The organization made the figures public as part of its 2025 disclosures and lists a 2025 Annual Report link on its website.

Venture North, a certified Community Development Financial Institution based at 414 E. Eighth St., Unit 201, Traverse City, positions itself as a local lender and business support organization. The site includes the line, “People tell the story, but data paints the picture, too,” and lists annual reports for 2020 through 2025, indicating the 2025 report is available to read online.

The agency highlights several program areas under navigation headings such as “AFFORDABLE LOANS” and “PROFESSIONAL BUSINESS CONSULTING.” On its site Venture North states, “We’ve helped over 1,200 businesses - logging over 8,000 hours - with everything from how to incorporate to upgrading their internal finances for growth and much more,” framing the 2025 loan activity as part of a longer track record of advising local businesses.

Venture North also documents a mini-grant history on its site, noting program titles like “Mini Grants for Growth” and “Urgent Needs Mini Grants.” The organization explicitly says, “Venture North has awarded mini-grants for urgent needs during the Covid pandemic (now discontinued) as well as mini-grants before and after Covid for business growth,” signaling a continuation of targeted small-grant support while ending pandemic emergency grants.

The public materials name Grand Traverse County as a place that benefited from the 2025 lending, but they do not provide a county-level dollar breakdown or a jobs-created or jobs-retained total tied to the $1,778,572 in loans. The original report copy supplied for this story contains a truncated clause — “supporting projects that t” — and the available excerpts do not include project-level loan recipients, sector detail, or the methodology for counting jobs.

For local business owners, community leaders and reporters seeking more detail, Venture North lists contact information in its site footer: phone (231) 995 - 7115 and email info@venturenorthfunding.org. The footer also shows site credit as “SITE BROUGHT TO YOU BY ANCHORLIGHT CREATIVE” and a © 2022 copyright notation. Review of the 2025 Annual Report and direct requests to Venture North can clarify which Traverse City and Grand Traverse County businesses received loans and how the $4.37M in external financing was sourced and applied.