The Lending Lab: Financial solutions built on real-time intelligence.

Building Hope's Lending Lab builds on our pioneering Microschool Loan Program, launched with support from Stand Together Trust and the Beth and Ravenel Curry Foundation. It provides flexible capital solutions for microschools at every stage. From bridge loans that smooth ESA payment timing to partial lease guarantees that help you secure your first space, we offer the right product for your challenge today.

Our pilot Microschool Loan Program taught us that founders need more than one-size-fits-all capital.

They need financial products that match the specific challenges of running a small school, from timing gaps in ESA payments to securing a lease without years of credit history.

The Lending Lab is our answer: a suite of products designed for how microschools actually work. And as we deploy capital, we're learning what predicts success, building toward more innovative, data-informed ways to serve schools that traditional financing overlooks.

The Lending Lab serves microschools and small schools (up to 100 students) at every stage — from founders securing their first facility to established operators expanding to new sites. If you're building a small, innovative school and traditional financing doesn't fit your needs, we want to talk.

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Our Products

The Lending Lab is our evolved approach: a suite of financial products designed around the specific challenges founders actually face, with the goal of building a smarter underwriting engine over time that we can share with other lenders to unlock catalytic capital.
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Lines of Credit

Flexible working capital that grows with your school. Draw what you need for seasonal cash flow gaps, unexpected expenses, or growth opportunities, and only pay interest on what you use. Ideal for established schools with predictable revenue patterns or new schools managing the summer cash crunch.
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ESA Bridge Loans

Education Savings Account payments don't always arrive when tuition is due. Our bridge loans cover the gap between when families enroll and when ESA funds hit your account, so cash flow timing doesn't limit your enrollment capacity.
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Minor Tenant Improvement Loans

TI loans help you fund minor buildouts, renovations, and facility improvements up to $50,000 that landlords won't cover, turning raw commercial space into learning environments without depleting your operating reserves.
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Partial Lease Guarantees

Landlords often hesitate to lease to early-stage schools without extensive credit history. Our partial lease guarantees reduce their risk, helping you secure the space you need to launch or expand before your track record is established.

Building Toward Smarter Underwriting

Every loan we make teaches us something about what predicts microschool success. We're using payback behaviors and school outcomes to build a proprietary understanding of financial health in small schools, to develop tools that help us serve more founders, faster, with better-fit products.This isn't just about deploying capital. It's about learning what works so we can expand access to the schools that deserve it.
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