Community Development Funding

This isn’t charity - it’s shared infrastructure. The CDFI Fund isn’t a handout. It’s a proven system that keeps capital flowing into communities - and fuels real returns for banks, investors, and the economy. When we protect the pipeline that connects capital to community, we protect one of the best ROI stories in banking. When we talk about protecting the CDFI Fund, we’re not just talking about community impact - we’re talking about return on investment for the entire financial system. For decades, Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) have helped banks expand access to capital in markets that traditional lending alone can’t always reach. These partnerships are not just good for communities - they’re good for business. Every dollar invested through a CDFI has historically leveraged up to twelve dollars in additional private capital, according to Treasury reports. That’s a multiplier effect that most asset classes would envy. The ROI is clear: For banks, CDFI partnerships enhance CRA performance, strengthen brand reputation, and deepen customer relationships in emerging and underserved markets. For communities, these investments fund small businesses, affordable housing, childcare centers, and health clinics - assets that build local economic resilience. For the economy, this flow of capital creates jobs, stabilizes neighborhoods, and fosters innovation at the local level. If the CDFI Fund were dismantled, this ecosystem - this pipeline of capital and trust - could be severely disrupted. The infrastructure that connects banks, investors, and communities is not easily rebuilt. I’ve seen firsthand how this works in practice. A regional bank partners with a CDFI to finance a small business expansion in a rural area. The CDFI absorbs some of the early risk, supported by federal funding, leveraged by private sector funding and philanthropic grants, and the bank provides senior debt. That small business grows, hires ten new employees, and deposits its earnings right back into the bank that believed in it. That’s not just social ROI - that’s economic ROI in motion. Eliminating the CDFI Fund isn’t about cutting bureaucracy; it’s about cutting a proven engine of growth. The New Markets Tax Credit Program, also administered through the CDFI Fund, has generated billions in private investment and created or retained hundreds of thousands of jobs nationwide. These are tangible outcomes - measurable, reportable, and repeatable. The CDFI Fund represents more than programs and partnerships - it represents possibility. It’s proof that when capital connects with purpose, growth becomes shared, sustainable, and real. Protecting this pipeline means believing in a financial system that works for everyone - and that’s an investment worth defending. #ProtectThePipeline #CRA #CDFI #AccessToCapital #CommunityDevelopment #NMTC

In case you missed it, National Lottery Community Fund have finally unveiled their new guidance and application questions for Reaching Communities. I've written lots of (often successful!) Reaching Communities applications over the years, so here's a fundraiser's perspective on the changes ⬇️ 💡 The revised priorities and four new "missions" place more emphasis on several highly topical areas of need - e.g. poverty, health inequalities, young people - while overall (largely thanks to the "come together" mission) still acting as a catch-all for a very broad range of cause areas and activities. 💡 There are still four main written questions but the word count for each has increased from 500 to 750 words. Funnily enough this should actually help to speed up applications, given the breadth of the questions and how much time I previously spent editing down 700/800 word draft answers. 💡 There's a new question about who will benefit, giving you space to describe extensively the people/community you work with and how you reach them. Previously, this felt like a bizarrely minor element given the overall community focus - you had to squeeze in a description of the community into other, very tightly-limited questions. 💡 This replaces a question specifically focused on how your idea fits in with other local activities. I always took this question as an opportunity to demonstrate how you were part of the community ecosystem and not duplicating existing local work. This feels like a surprising change, given the general emphasis on avoiding duplication in a climate of funding scarcity. If there's any risk at all your work might be perceived as duplicating something that already exists, I'd recommend still finding a space to explain this clearly. 💡 It's now worded differently, but there's still a question about community involvement/consultation which is absolutely crucial to answer well. The challenge, as always, is to quantify and ensure you get credit for what you do if you're a small charity that shapes your work through very organic conversations with your community, as opposed to structured focus groups and surveys. I'll share some specific tips in a more detailed post soon, but check out a recent post by Alex Evans, PhD for lots of good ideas on this. What do you think of the changes, and how are you planning to write applications differently as a result?

Flummoxed by last week’s Executive Order on the CDFI Fund? Here’s one action to support community lending: Deposit your cash with a CDFI bank or credit union. First, some context: 👉 What’s the CDFI Fund? The Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) is a 30-year-old agency of the US Treasury that primarily: ✅ Certifies banks, credit unions, loan funds, and VC funds (~1,400 certified CDFIs with ~$500B in assets) ✅ Awards grants and tax credits annually to support lending in underserved communities and for affordable housing. Its budget this year is ~$30MM for operations, ~$300MM for grants, and a plan to allocate ~$10BN in New Markets Tax Credits. 👉 Why does it enjoy bipartisan support? Mainstream lenders tend to lend in relatively wealthy places to profitable, larger businesses with track records of success serving relatively well-off customers. Not because they're jerks. But because it's easier to maximize profits that way. Everywhere else it's hard and getting harder to get a loan as bank consolidations leaves many more places without local banks (there are ~4k banks in the US down from 14k ~40 years ago). CDFIs step into that breach because they intentionally target underserved markets. Who represents "everywhere else"? Lots of elected officials from both parties. So, the CDFI Fund has always received real bipartisan support. The Senate CDFI Caucus, co-chaired by a D from Virginia and an R from Idaho, spans a broad spectrum of places and ideologies. 👉 What happened last week? The President signed two directives: ✅Ordered the CDFI Fund to end non-statutory operations ✅Approved a federal budget resolution that, among many other things, funds the CDFI Fund's operations and grant programs through September. 👉 What does this mean for community lending? No one knows how the contradictory Presidential signatures last week will play out. There is A LOT going on these days! If the Fund ceases to make new grants, it will make it harder on the margins for people working in underserved communities to get a loan. Larger, established CDFIs will manage. (CDFI Fund awards are typically capped <$2MM/institution/year). Small, young CDFIs will be hit hardest. But CDFIs are not going away. They operated for more than a decade prior to the Fund's creation. Beyond grants, if the Fund's administrative capacities are gutted, then the industry will need to create a self-regulated certification process. 👉 What can you do to make a difference? If that's confusing, here's one thing that's not: deposit your cash with a CDFI bank or credit union or other committed community lender. (There are ~200 CDFI banks and ~500 CDFI credit unions). You can get federal insurance up to $300MM. Deposits cannot replace grants (they serve different functions), but the right organization will put them to work in the community. And not being able to solve the problem fully is no reason not to do something helpful.

A lot of development organizations today expect professionals to be familiar with concepts like blended finance and impact investing. But did you know there are other innovative funding mechanisms transforming how resources are distributed? In India, where poverty, inequality, and rapid urbanization intersect, these tools are being applied with immense potential for driving inclusive and sustainable development. Participatory budgeting (PB) has been a game-changer in Kerala and cities like Pune. By empowering communities to decide how public funds are spent—on projects like schools or water access—it strengthens grassroots democracy and supports marginalized groups. Delhi’s Mohalla Sabhas have also experimented with PB, though challenges like elite capture remain. Chit funds, India’s version of rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs), serve as financial lifelines for rural communities excluded from formal banking systems. Fintech innovations are now scaling these traditional models to bridge the $300 billion MSME credit gap. Social impact bonds (SIBs), piloted in Punjab for girls’ education, tie investor returns to measurable outcomes, shifting financial risks from governments while ensuring accountability. This model could expand to healthcare or rural infrastructure, where outcome-driven financing is critical. Quadratic funding (QF), powered by Web3 technologies, could revolutionize corporate social responsibility (CSR) spending by amplifying community preferences. Projects like rural solar grids or health clinics could be funded based on local votes, aligning with India’s inclusive growth goals. India’s Islamic finance tools like Waqf and Zakat also offer lessons in equitable resource distribution. Pakistan’s Zakat system supports millions annually—a model India could adapt to complement welfare programs. While promising, these mechanisms face challenges such as corruption and inefficiencies. Emerging technologies like blockchain audits and impact tracking systems offer hope for improving transparency. Hybrid approaches—combining PB with QF or integrating SIBs with Zakat—could unlock innovative solutions tailored to India’s scale and diversity. As India balances economic growth with social equity, these allocative innovations provide a roadmap for addressing unemployment, poverty, and regional disparities while offering lessons for global development strategies. 📚 Explore more tools like Harberger Taxes and Impact Certificates at https://lnkd.in/gmRZ3SjU. Which of these mechanisms do you think could make the biggest difference in India? Let’s discuss!

$12.6B Signal Everyone's Missing in Disadvantaged Communities 🏗️ Think clean energy only benefits wealthy neighborhoods? California just revealed a groundbreaking approach that's flipping the script on who wins in the energy transition. Let's decode this overlooked opportunity: 1. The Historical Challenge • Disadvantaged communities bear most pollution burden • Heavy transport routes concentrated in poor areas • Clean tech jobs often bypass these neighborhoods • Previous transitions left these communities behind 2. The Market Signal • $12.6B hydrogen infrastructure program launched • 40% of benefits required to go to disadvantaged areas • Federal funding already secured ($1.2B) • Focus on high-impact sectors like ports and transport 3. The Hidden Opportunity • Technical colleges developing hydrogen job training • High-paying careers without 4-year degrees • Manufacturing and maintenance jobs incoming • Community support already building Here's the key insight: While most see disadvantaged communities as challenging markets for clean tech, smart companies are discovering they're actually ideal launch points - combining critical infrastructure, eager workforce, and now significant federal support. Question for energy leaders: Are we thinking too narrowly about where to deploy clean energy solutions? What opportunities are we missing by overlooking these communities? #CleanEnergy #EnergyEquity #CommunityDevelopment

For decades, Washington covered much of the cost of resilience projects. Now, communities are being forced to figure it out alone. While long-term funding solutions exist, most take years to implement. The challenge? Cities need money today. I work with communities to identify risks, prioritize resilience strategies, and turn data into action. But too often, great plans stall because funding is uncertain. The good news? There are ways to fund resilience now—without waiting on Washington. Five ways cities can fund resilience today: - Leverage Civic Crowdfunding – Platforms like ioby and local resilience funds can jumpstart community-driven projects with immediate impact. - Microfinance for Climate Resilience – Small-scale resilience loans help individual homeowners, small businesses, and farmers make affordable flood and heat adaptations. - Resilience Impact Bonds & Pay-for-Success Models: Private investors are ready to fund resilience projects—cities just need to structure deals that deliver measurable risk reduction. - Direct-to-Community Resilience Grants: Some cities are skipping the bureaucracy and setting up small-scale grant funds that get money into neighborhoods quickly. - Regional Cost-Sharing Agreements: Local governments can pool their resources for resilience projects, reducing costs and increasing impact. These aren’t just ideas—they’re real-world funding strategies that cities and counties have used to move projects forward. I’ll be sharing a deeper dive into resilience funding later this week—so stay tuned! I help communities make resilience planning actionable—mapping risks, prioritizing solutions, and creating strategies that don’t sit on a shelf. If your city needs a simple, clear, data-driven resilience plan that’s built for action, let’s talk. #Resilience #ClimateFunding #LocalGovernment #CommunityResilience #ClimateFinance #FundingSolutions

Beyond the Scramble: Funding Community Solutions at the Idea Stage 🚀 Tired of feeling like you're in a constant battle for survival as a #nonprofit or #startup? 😥 The endless hunt for funding can drain your team, make you risk-averse, and ultimately hurt the very communities you serve. It doesn't have to be this way. 💡 #TheProblem: It's Not Just About the Money 💰 Too often, funding feels #transactional: we chase grants for specific projects, proving our worth over and over. Meanwhile, the magic ingredients for lasting change get overlooked – the #relationships, #trust, and deep understanding of community #needs, things local nonprofits have in abundance. 🤝 The #DreamingPhase Solution ✨ Imagine if funders saw themselves as #catalysts, not just check-writers. What if they invested in the early stages - the dreaming, connecting, and co-creating with nonprofits and #communities? Here's the power shift: 🌱 From #IdeasToImpact: "Dreaming Phase" grants support initial exploration and relationship building, laying the groundwork for truly impactful solutions. 🤝 Funders as #Partners: Funders' active participation brings resources, networks, and a fresh perspective to the collaborative process. 🔎 #Tech for Good: Tools like Generative AI can streamline the search for innovative local organizations, saving funders valuable time. The #Value of #Community Roots 🌳 Say a funder wants to address youth #mentalhealth in a particular town. A "Dreaming Phase" grant could allow a trusted local #nonprofit to: 🗣️ Engage #Youth: Facilitate honest conversations with young people themselves to understand the real issues they face. 🤝 Build #Trust: Tap into existing relationships with parents, schools, and other community organizations for a holistic perspective. 🔍 #Local Expertise: Understand what might be culturally appropriate, identify barriers to existing resources, and spot innovative ideas. #CollectiveImpact Potential: 💪 This early investment could organically lead to a Collective Impact initiative, with the nonprofit perhaps even becoming the backbone organization thanks to the trust and connections built. #CallToAction 📣 📣Funders, are you ready to embrace this model? Could you set aside even a small portion of your #funding for "Dreaming Phase" grants? 📣 #Nonprofits, let's highlight the value we bring– not just what we do, but how we're uniquely positioned to drive #change 📣Intermediaries, how can you help? Can you connect funders and nonprofits, facilitate #collaboration, and advise on this process? Let's move beyond the scramble and embrace a new era of collaborative funding! Join the conversation – share your experiences, questions, and ideas for making the "Dreaming Phase" a reality. Tomorrow, we'll dive deeper into creating actionable roadmaps to turn this vision into a tangible impact in your community. 🚀

I propose that the Qatar Development Bank and Qatar Research, Development and Innovation (QRDI) Council establish a new fund in Qatar named “Entrepreneurship Partners Fund,” dedicated to supporting community-oriented projects with a grant-based system. The fund aims to enhance the entrepreneurship ecosystem and startup landscape in Qatar by providing financial and strategic support to initiatives that contribute to building and strengthening entrepreneurial communities. 1. Objectives of the Fund: • Support community-driven projects that aim to improve and develop the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Qatar. • Stimulate innovation and initiatives that contribute to the infrastructure and growth of entrepreneurial communities, such as co-working spaces, accelerators, and incubators. • Empower social entrepreneurs and startups that address societal challenges and promote sustainable development. 2. Project Criteria: • Projects should have a clear social impact and align with the objectives of enhancing the entrepreneurial ecosystem. • Preference will be given to initiatives that foster integrated entrepreneurial communities and provide essential resources and services to facilitate the launch and growth of startups. • Priority will be given to projects that empower young entrepreneurs and social innovators, aligning with Qatar National Vision 2030 in the areas of sustainable development and innovation. 3. Support Mechanisms: • The fund will offer non-repayable grants to eligible community-oriented projects, along with mentoring and training programs to help entrepreneurs develop their projects and maximize their impact. • The fund will establish partnerships with institutions and support centers for entrepreneurship to ensure beneficiaries have access to essential resources and expertise. • The fund will provide access to accelerators and incubators to help projects become market-ready and achieve sustainable growth. Expected Benefits: • Strengthening Entrepreneurial Communities in Qatar: By supporting initiatives that build strong connections among entrepreneurs, startups, and supporting organizations. • Promoting Sustainable Social and Economic Development: By empowering projects that offer solutions to social challenges and improve the quality of life. • Creating an Environment Conducive to Innovation and Startups: By providing the necessary resources and support Your thought are welcome on this idea 💡

Why Local Development Needs Local Capital Small developers are doing some of the most important work in our cities, bringing life back to vacant lots, rehabbing main streets, and creating new housing at a human scale. But while their projects are often the most responsive to community needs, they’re also the hardest to fund. Because the truth is: our capital systems aren’t built for small-scale development. The Funding Gap Traditional banks and investors like predictability and scale. They want projects that fit a formula, big enough to absorb risk, backed by deep equity, and secured by institutional guarantees. That might work for large developers with national portfolios. But for local builders trying to transform a single block, that system is a dead end. A duplex, a mixed-use corner building, or a 10-unit infill project might mean everything for a neighborhood, but it often can’t get financed under conventional terms. And without capital, even the best ideas never leave the sketchbook. What’s Missing Local developers don’t lack skill or vision. They lack patient capital, funding that understands context, timing, and community value. We need financial tools that see beyond spreadsheets: -CDFIs (Community Development Financial Institutions) that invest in people, not just projects. -Credit unions that know the neighborhoods they serve. -Local investment cooperatives that allow residents to become stakeholders in development. -Public-private funds that reduce barriers for emerging and BIPOC developers. These institutions create an ecosystem where capital works with community, not against it. The Power of Proximity When capital is local, it behaves differently. It’s more flexible because it’s invested in shared outcomes. It’s more forgiving because it understands the long game. It’s more equitable because it values who’s at the table, not just what’s on the pro forma. Local capital can bridge the trust gap between developers and neighborhoods, because it keeps wealth circulating close to where it’s created. Why It Matters Cities that want equitable development can’t rely solely on policy reform. They need to reimagine finance. Because without access to capital, local developers can’t build. And if they can’t build, communities lose the ability to shape their own future. Capital isn’t neutral. It decides what gets built, who builds it, and who benefits. If we want to see more neighborhood-rooted, community-driven projects, we have to fund them the same way, locally, patiently, and with purpose. What’s one example you’ve seen of local capital helping small-scale or community developers succeed?

I’ve worked in community development finance long enough to see a pattern — one that either accelerates or strangles access to capital in emerging market communities. Here it is: Municipal investment in CDFIs is the difference-maker. I’ve seen what happens when cities put real dollars behind local CDFIs. In places like Philadelphia, the city stepped up with capital during the pandemic, deploying funds through trusted CDFI partners. That decision kept small businesses alive, especially in Black and Brown neighborhoods where banking relationships were limited or non-existent. In Chicago, the city doubled down by using CDFIs to deploy grants and loans through the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund and Recovery Plan programs. Entire blocks began to come back to life — with community-owned businesses hiring locally and reinvesting into the very neighborhoods they grew up in. But I’ve also seen the flip side — where cities don’t invest in their CDFIs. And the results are painful. Business dreams delayed or abandoned. Local jobs never created. Disinvestment becomes generational. When municipalities don’t put resources behind local CDFIs, they send an unspoken message: “You’re on your own.” And in the communities we serve — that message can be the nail in the coffin for growth, ownership, and economic mobility. CDFIs are built for this work. We know the neighborhoods. We know the entrepreneurs. We take the calls at night, we sit down at kitchen tables, and we structure deals that traditional lenders won’t touch. But we can’t do it on vision alone. We need capital. If you’re a municipal leader or economic development stakeholder reading this — investing in your local CDFI isn’t a political favor. It’s economic infrastructure. It’s how you build a stronger, more inclusive city. Period. Let’s stop talking about equity…..and start funding it. #CDFI #MunicipalInvestment #CommunityDevelopment #EconomicJustice #AccessToCapital #EmergingMarkets #PublicPrivatePartnerships #BlackBusiness #LatinoEntrepreneurs #WealthBuilding #LocalFirst #CDFIPower