The Loan Fund’s impact began immediately: 1990 saw the organization make its first six loans to local projects and small businesses. The very first loan, a $3,000 microloan to the Tierra Madre Organic Garden in rural Ojo Caliente, enabled a group of nuns and community members to start an organic farming venture. Other early borrowers included an Albuquerque fair-trade shop (Peacecraft), a youth arts program (Working Classroom), and several nonprofit housing groups in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Remarkably, despite New Mexico’s difficult late-80s economy, four of those first six client organizations survived and continued serving their communities decades later. By the end of 1990, The Loan Fund’s lending capital had grown to $350,000 – a small but significant start, proving that formerly “unbankable” borrowers could succeed when given a chance.