What is FUND CI thinking about this fall? People and Place-based strategies. Over the summer, FUND CI conducted an online survey of CDFIs and found that CDFIs are using the following strategies: 23% place based 22% people based 55% both place and people based The survey requested information on the reasons that CDFIs employed people […]
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 […]
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 […]
Many times when we meet with potential clients, we hear them describe their “mission people” vs. their “operations people”. I was reminded of this at a lunch meeting this week with a client, who as a mission person described how those in charge of operations did not understand what CDFI designation meant to the organization. This […]
On October 28, 2013 The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) released its fiscal year (FY) 2014 Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA) for the Community Development Financial Institutions Program (CDFI Program) and Native American CDFI Assistance Program (NACA Program). The Administration’s FY 2014 Budget for the CDFI Fund requests […]
This past spring, communities in several cities across the US had the unique opportunity to decide exactly how their tax dollars should be spent. From sidewalk and street repairs to technology upgrades at schools and libraries, the practice known as participatory budgeting is helping to give a voice to thousands of residents to improve the […]
Last week the CDFI Fund released the long-awaited Notice of Guarantee Availability (NOGA) and application documents for the inaugural round of the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program. Applications for the program will be accepted through 11:59 PM EDT on Wednesday, July 17, 2013. The CDFI Bond Guarantee Program was first enacted through the Small Business Jobs […]