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About Us
The mission of Forward Community Investments is to serve as an intermediary between socially motivated investors and local projects designed to meet the needs of lower income populations and neighborhoods. The Fund strives to accomplish the following goals:
In August 1999, the U.S. Department of Treasury certified The Dane Fund as an official Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), one of only seven in the state of Wisconsin. CDFIs are specialized financial institutions that work in specialized market niches. Their purpose is to bridge the gap between the economic mainstream and the economically disadvantaged. Since its inception, The Dane Fund has disbursed and/or committed $3.9 million in loans to a diverse group of non-profit borrowers. The Dane Fund's loans have helped to either create or sustain more than 300 units of affordable housing for low-income families and individuals, the homeless and other at-risk populations. In addition, The Fund has helped two small business incubators create 125 new jobs for neighborhood residents. Over 18,000 low-income individuals have benefited by the loans The Dane Fund has provided to community-based organizations. Projects funded by The Dane Fund must have a significant, positive impact in serving the needs of low-income people and communities. New initiatives as well as established projects are funded and typical loan terms range from one- to five-years. Priority is given to projects targeted toward low-income individuals, minorities, female-headed households, individuals with physical disabilities, the homeless and the elderly. The goal of The Fund is not to compete with conventional lending but rather to complement it. Without The Fund's participation, the projects that we fund would not move forward, as community-based organizations often struggle to obtain financing from traditional lending sources at rates low enough to make their project feasible. With the decrease in public funding sources and the increase in community needs, the Fund has become a critical collaborator and financing source for housing and community development projects in Dane County. Marianne Morton, Executive Director of Commonwealth Development said, "Without The Dane Fund's financing we would never been able to purchase and hold the land to develop the Yahara River View Apartments." Virtually every loan extended by The Dane Fund has helped to leverage additional funding from traditional lending and public funding programs. For example, the Uplands, developed by the Wisconsin Partnership for Housing Development, required the assistance of 22 other financial sources in addition to The Dane Fund. It is a lot of pieces but every single one played a critical part in making the Uplands a reality. There are not any competing CDFIs operating in Madison or Dane County. Local financial institutions and community development organizations rely on the Dane Fund's ability to provide flexible financing to fill the funding gaps and provide the financing - from pre-development to construction to loans - that ensures the affordability of projects to the population at need. Impact In 2004 our lending goals are to finance:
The Dane Fund is in a wonderful position of leveraging its funds whenever a loan is made to a nonprofit. At the time of our last survey in 2000, we estimated that we had indirectly helped more than 12,000 low-wealth and disenfranchised people through the loans we made to nonprofits. When we included the loans made in 2001, 2002 and 2003, we estimate that those people exceeded 18,000 - an increase of 6,000 individuals over a three-year period. |
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