Fifth Star Funds is a Chicago nonprofit fund investing in overlooked tech founders at the critical Friends & Family funding stage, where access to early capital often determines a startup's success. Before angel investors or venture funds invest, a founder needs capital to build a first version and find early customers. That capital comes from personal savings and, when they can, from friends and family. Founders with great ideas come from every background, but not all of them have family wealth or a network to draw on at the start. Our innovative evergreen model turns tax-deductible contributions into $25,000 investments in promising founders who face barriers to traditional funding, chosen on grit and execution rather than pedigree. Returns from successful investments are reinvested into the fund, creating a self-sustaining ecosystem that supports future generations of entrepreneurs. We're a nonprofit because capitalism breaks down at the Friends & Family round. The companies are too early and too risky for any fund that has to return money to investors. A family writes the check anyway, because the return comes back to the family. We built a fund that works the same way for a