How can CDFIs support diversity, equity, and inclusion in recruitment and hiring practices? FUND Community Institute’s recently released report, Advancing Equity: Diversity and Inclusion at CDFIs (available at www.fundci.org ) suggests that there is significant activity in the industry regarding these policies and best practices from which other CDFIs can learn. In reflecting on recruitment […]
On September 10, 2015 the CDFI Fund announced awards to 195 Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) totaling $202 million in grants and loans through the latest rounds of the Community Development Financial Institutions Program (CDFI Program), the Native American CDFI Assistance Program (NACA Program) and the Healthy Foods Financing Initiative ( HFFI). Those receiving assistance […]
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 […]
Ideally, a CDFI board helps govern the organization, attract resources, as well as maintain accountability to the target market. This poses extra challenges for board recruitment, as board members must have the ability to make management decisions while balancing the needs of the target market. In order to provide insight into board recruitment, FUND Consulting […]
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 […]
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 […]