As many of our readers know, CDFIs are set up to provide access to capital in underserved markets. One market segment that is getting increased attention are military families. Policies have been enacted to address the consumer credit needs of this population. The Military Lending Act was enacted by Congress in 2006 as part of the John Warner […]
Last week on the blog, we presented data on the size and composition of CDFI boards. This information can provide insight into board recruitment and retention. The data indicated that while boards across all CDFI types were most likely to contain representatives from banks and community organizations, CDFI banks and credit unions are more than […]
Over the course of 2014, FUND Consulting worked on seven strategic plans with CDFI loan funds and banks. All of the final strategic plans included a goal that was tied to fundraising and / or increasing Board involvement in fundraising efforts. This led FUND to speculate on the current role that CDFI Boards are playing […]
While it may be freezing outside in Chicago, things are heating up inside the FUND offices! Currently, the FUND team is busy kicking-off strategic projects with Annual Package clients. This year, in addition to strategic plans, market analyses and capitalization planning, many clients are focusing on an evaluation of their impact as a CDFI. For […]
As banks prepare for their CRA (Community Reinvestment Act) Examinations, many can take advantage of submitting a Performance Context to improve their CRA rating. The Performance Context is a written component of the CRA examination that offers quantitative and qualitative data on a bank’s assessment areas, including their community’s credit and lending needs, service opportunities, […]
As many kicked off the holiday season last week, here at FUND Consulting the end of November also marked the end of what our team has dubbed “FA Application Season”. The application round opened on September 29, 2014, and closed with an application submission deadline of November 24, 2014. During this time, the FUND team […]
On August 26, 2014 the CDFI Fund announced over $195 million in funding to CDFIs nationwide. FUND Consulting clients achieved a high level of success in this round! Highlights include: •82% of FUND Consulting loan fund clients received an award (as compared to 49% of the entire pool). •67% of all banks receiving FA awards […]
CDFI certification is a unique designation that provides organizations with opportunities to market themselves, which can be beneficial when seeking partnership opportunities, investments, grants and other funding opportunities. In particular, many government programs and private investors recognize CDFI certification as substantiation of an organization’s community development mission and products. As such, CDFI certification can be […]
Members of the FUND Consulting team attended the 2014 National Interagency Community Reinvestment Conference which took place in Chicago, where FUND’s offices are based. Sponsored by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Banks of Chicago and San Francisco, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s […]
Our year is off to quite a productive start with several of our strategic projects underway. This quarter, clients are working with us in the assessment phase of their engagements. This means that we are focusing on either strategic plans, market analysis, CDFI readiness assessments, or program evaluations. We start each of these projects by working with […]
