Any BDSCom is privately financed by a kind of community-supported endowment called a Community Investment Trust (CIT). A CIT is the dedicated arm for early-stage private equity finance of the CSAL Program. A CIT builds and owns a professionally-managed fund designed to provide "patient capital" including private equity (PE) for early-stage financing of Community Supported Enterprises (CSEs). This innovative financing instrument brings many advantages to the Program's youthful entrepreneurs and to their schools.

Raising the capital of the CIT is an integral part of the process of forming any BDSCom and of establishing its foundation in education. By the time the BDSCom is ready to launch, schools, businesses, and other groups (private and public) that are interested in the planned CSAL Program have become aware of their potential stake in it. This education is key to the process of raising capital for the CIT, which requires a pipeline of projects that should become qualified to be CSEs financed by the CIT. Evidence of opportunity for entrepreneurial leaders to make profits by commercializing innovative ideas is fundamental to motivating local contributions to the Community Investment Trust. This process is not just for the start-up: it continues as long as science, engineering, and education continue to feed the investment pipeline.