Hanover, Maryland
22 Beacon is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation and Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that has served as the largest financial intermediary and credit enhancement provider to charter schools nationally for over 25 years. 22 Beacon provides a critical service for charter schools which, unlike traditional public schools, lack both a ready source of capital for facilities and the taxing or bonding authority to address capital funding requirements. Because charter schools face significant facilities financing challenges and are often rejected by traditional lenders, many must divert operational funding—money that otherwise would support classroom instruction—to cover facility costs. 22 Beacon helps charter schools with the dual challenge of finding and financing facilities so they can maintain focus on their educational mission and student achievement. 22 Beacon specializes in working with new and early-stage charter schools, which comprise 75% of its portfolio, with a priority on schools serving predominantly low-income students, rural schools, and communities with underperforming traditional schools, and has leveraged over $1 billion in financing to serve more than 100,000 students across 30 states.
Chicago, Illinois
IFF is another 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation and CDFI we partner with. IFF’s mission is to strengthen nonprofits and the communities they serve by providing leadership, capital, and real estate solutions. IFF provides a critical service for nonprofits across multiple sectors—including human service agencies, health centers, schools, housing developers, and community facilities—which often lack access to traditional financing sources. IFF’s standard loans can pay for 95% of total project costs, range from $10,000 to $2 million, and be for up to 15 years, and can provide leasehold mortgages to borrowers who don’t own their buildings or lack collateral. Since 1988, IFF has been working at the intersection of facilities and finance by bringing together a powerful combination of financial solutions, real estate and development expertise, sector knowledge, and research and evaluation capacity to accelerate positive social impact. IFF has become the largest nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution in the Midwest, with regional offices in Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, and St. Louis serving nonprofits and communities throughout the Midwest, and has deployed more than $1.8 billion in capital since 1988
Washington, D.C.
Partners for the Common Good is a loan fund certified by the U.S. Department of Treasury as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). Founded in 2000, Partners for the Common Good’s mission is to promote economic justice and opportunity for low-income people and communities. Partners for the Common Good provides a critical service by operating as a wholesale participation lender—partnering with other CDFIs and mission-focused community lenders across the country to support people and projects that traditional lenders overlook. As a wholesale lender, Partners combines impact capital with local expertise in structuring financing that delivers flexible capital to mission-focused borrowers including nonprofits, affordable-housing developers, educational institutions, community-based health care providers, and community enterprises. Partners’ lending work creates new tools for mission-based lenders to manage liquidity, loan limits, and other balance sheet challenges that stymie the growth and impact capacity of the CDFI industry, bringing more capital to communities that need it most. Partners operates the CDFI industry’s first wholesale loan participation network that has partnered with over 50 CDFIs across 37 states and Washington, D.C., currently originates $18-20 million in participation transactions annually, and maintains an outstanding portfolio of nearly $40 million.
Jackson, Mississippi
Formerly Enterprise Corporation of the Delta, HOPE Enterprise Corporation is a private, nonprofit community development financial institution (CDFI), that provides commercial financing, mortgage loans and technical assistance to support businesses, entrepreneurs, home buyers and community development projects. HOPE’s mission is to strengthen communities, build assets and improve lives of people in economically distressed areas of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Memphis, Tennessee. HOPE also sponsors Hope Credit Union, which provides a range of financial products and services that meet the needs of low- and moderate-income residents in its four-state service area.
New Plan Learning (NPL) is a non-profit organization that specializes in collaborative project management & construction, innovative financial solutions and turnkey development. With over 20 years of experience transforming communities, NPL has developed and constructed over 1,000,000 SF of school space, totaling more than $100 million in projects. NPL supports the charter school movement and believes that all children deserve access to a high-quality free and public education within their community. NPL understands the challenges charter school leaders face when securing school facilities that provide a safe and secure learning environment. NPL provides charter school leaders with the market research and financial solutions necessary to make property development and construction difficult decisions. NPL creates facilities with unique layout design elements aligned with each charter school’s mission and vision.
