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When Brad Heppner heard his hometown of Hesston, Kansas, was in need of a grocery store, he decided to do something about it.
Heppner is the founder of Ben, a Dallas-based financial institution that was recently granted the authority to operate as a regulated fiduciary under Kansas' Technology-Enabled Financial Institutions (TEFFI) Act.
As part of the act, which went into effect in January, TEFFI customers who finance their alternative assets through Ben are required to pay a 2.5% fee.
That fee is used to fund the TEFFI Economic Growth Trust, which is managed by the Kansas Department of Commerce, local community private foundations such as the Foundation, and charitable organizations serving the purposes outlined in the TEFFI legislation.
The Beneficient Company Group, which was founded by Heppner, announced Tuesday that it will be giving $6.9 million to the TEFFI Economic Growth Trust.
The projects that will receive funding under the foundation's umbrella include job and income growth, educational facility improvements, construction and development, healthcare facility enhancements, and senior facility improvements, per a press release.
Heppner says that when he first heard about the TEFFI Act, he thought it was a "great idea" and that the money
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