Wachovia NEXT Awards for Opportunity Finance

Posted by on March 30, 2009

Entries Invited for Wachovia NEXT Awards for Opportunity Finance
Deadline: April 30, 2009

The aim of the Wachovia NEXT Awards for Opportunity Finance is to propel Community Development Financial Institutions to a higher level of growth, success, and sustainability. The awards are presented by the Opportunity Finance Network, with grant support from the Wachovia Foundation and a major program-related investment from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Opportunity Finance programs provide capital and financial services that benefit low-income and -wealth people, helping them to build homes, schools, small businesses, and community facilities. The Opportunity Finance industry includes more than twelve hundred mission-driven CDFIs.

Successful candidates for the Wachovia NEXT Awards will be premier CDFIs with a history of outstanding accomplishment; a bold and compelling vision; extraordinary future potential for growth, innovation, and impact; and a high degree of readiness to successfully accept, use, and leverage a large, flexible investment.

The awards program will provide two of the United States’ most promising CDFIs with a major one-time financial award that combines unrestricted grant dollars and flexible, long-term, unsecured below-market loans (program-related investments). One outstanding, high-potential CDFI with over $50 million in capital dedicated to lending or investing will receive a $5 million below-market loan and an unrestricted grant of $500,000. One outstanding, high-potential CDFI with $10 million to $50 million in capital dedicated to lending or investing will receive a $2.5 million below-market loan and an unrestricted grant of $250,000. In addition, four CDFIs will receive unrestricted grants of $25,000 each for their excellence in Advocacy, Community Impact, Financing, or Innovation.

Visit the NEXT Awards Web site for complete program guidelines.

Link to Complete RFP: http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/rfp/cat_sub_community_development.jhtml