IFF’s Continuum in Practice: Supporting Community-Driven Revitalization in Southeast Grand Rapids
This is the second article that explores in depth how IFF’s continuum of services are deployed to strengthen Midwest communities. Click here for the first article, which focuses on the North Lawndale neighborhood in Chicago. As IFF CEO Joe Neri has outlined previously, capital is an essential element of successful community development efforts, but simply […]
Read MoreA New Tribal Facility in Rural Wisconsin Leverages New Markets Tax Credits to Transform Health and Wellness Services
Near the intersection of County Highways B and K in Sawyer County, WI, a gleaming new facility is rapidly taking shape, representing a $48.7 million investment in the future that will drastically improve access to quality health care in the rural community (population: 18,074). Being developed by the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior […]
Read MoreIFF Announces Second Round of Funding, Additional $3 Million Awarded to Chicago’s Cultural Treasures Grantees
CHICAGO (June 26, 2024) — Administered by IFF, Chicago’s Cultural Treasures (ChiTreasures) announced today a second round of grant funding, totaling $3 million, to be distributed to the 40 current ChiTreasures grantees. Launched in 2021 as a regional component of the Ford Foundation’s America’s Cultural Treasures, and co-created with the Chicago arts community, ChiTreasures is […]
Read MoreMay 2024 Loan Round-up
In May, IFF closed loans totaling approximately $8.7 million for community-driven projects in the Midwest. We’ve included information below about several of the loans and what the organizations that received them are doing with the capital. To learn more about IFF’s lending, visit our Capital Solutions page. African People’s Education and Defense Fund IFF closed […]
Read MoreQuality Facilities for All Initiative supports early childhood education facilities in East St. Louis, IL
IFF’s Quality Facilities for All Initiative (QFA) recently wrapped up the second cohort of its Grant Program, renovating center-based early childhood education (ECE) facilities in East St. Louis, IL. Across the East St. Louis metro area, QFA granted seven ECE providers approximately $50,000 each for projects enhancing infant and toddler facilities, including repainting, replacing flooring […]
Read More“This is where you start a straight A student”: Quality Facilities for All Supports Early Childhood Education in Illinois
For Jacqueline Hopgood-German, director of The Babies Club early childhood education (ECE) center, everything is a teaching opportunity for her children. Playtime cleanup isn’t a chore; it’s a fun opportunity to sort toys into the right box. “I make everything a life lesson learned: ‘This is how we’re gonna clean up our room,’” says Jacqueline, […]
Read MoreThe Aux: Leveraging the Power of Connection to Help Black-owned Businesses Thrive
Located on the northern border of Chicago, along the shore of Lake Michigan, and home to Northwestern University – one of the country’s leading academic institutions – Evanston, IL, is a vibrant city with no shortage of options for work, housing, education, recreation, and more. In recognition of these assets, Evanston is routinely acknowledged as […]
Read MorePress Release: IFF Promotes Donna Sink to Director of Real Estate Solutions for the Indiana Region
Indianapolis, IN (January 18, 2024) – IFF, a nationally recognized mission-driven lender, developer, and real-estate consultant for Midwest nonprofits, has promoted Donna Sink to Director of Real Estate Solutions for Indiana. In her new role, Donna will work alongside nonprofit organizations across the state to support them in making decisions on their real estate needs, […]
Read MoreQuality Facilities for All (QFA) Initiative Completes First Cohort of ECE Facility Renovations in Chicago
This past October, Quality Facilities for All (QFA), an initiative under the Social Impact Accelerator’s Strategic Response function, completed work for its Grant Program’s first cohort, renovating early childhood education (ECE) facilities in Chicago’s South and West Sides. QFA granted 14 ECE providers in South Lawndale, Englewood, and Roseland approximately $50,000 each for projects enhancing […]
Read MoreMacArthur Arts and Culture Loan Fund Reflections
Arts and culture play an integral role in supporting communities. For many arts organizations, however, access to the funding, financing, and financial management resources necessary to sustain programming can be difficult to secure. That’s why, since 2009, the MacArthur Arts and Culture Loan Fund (ACLF) has helped small- and medium-sized arts and culture organizations in […]
Read MoreOrganizational Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Must Begin with Intentionality
In April 2023, IFF spoke with Restart Consulting and Experimental Sound Studio to hear their perspectives on operationalizing diversity, equity, and inclusion practices within the arts sector. Over the past several years, the arts and culture sector has seen increased public calls for change in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices due to an intensified […]
Read MoreCommentary: Hope Starts Here Marks Progress in Detroit, Kellogg and Kresge recommit their support
Hope Starts Here is an initiative that connects and mobilizes resources to strengthen Detroit’s early childhood education system. It is facilitated by IFF. By: Wendy Lewis Jackson, managing director, Detroit Program, Kresge Foundation and Faye Alexander Nelson, Michigan director, W.K. Kellogg Foundation A recent Harvard report found that investing in early childhood education programs provides […]
Read MoreReimagining What a Modern Museum Can Be: A Conversation with ACLF Participant Debra Kerr, President and CEO of Intuit
“Museums absolutely can — and absolutely should — play a role in advancing social justice and change,” says Debra Kerr, president and CEO of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art. “They are trusted sources of information. They’re also places where people with disparate perspectives and backgrounds can come together to dialogue.” Kerr has […]
Read MorePRE4CLE Initiative Invests in Cleveland’s Youngest Learners with Funding for Facilities Upgrades and Other Supports
New floors, ceiling tiles, countertops, lighting, bathroom fixtures, and more. These are just a few of the building upgrades completed recently in three classrooms at Murtis Taylor’s Kathryn R. Tyler Child Enrichment Center in Cleveland’s Glenville neighborhood, providing the nonprofit human services agency with an inspiring space optimized to support the development of 65 of […]
Read MorePress Release: IFF Opens New Cleveland Office
NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED NONPROFIT-FOCUSED LENDER OPENS CLEVELAND OFFICE IFF is Ohio’s first nonprofit real estate consultant focusing exclusively on under-resourced nonprofit industry, helping finance and advise the agencies making social impact CLEVELAND – May 18, 2023 – Area nonprofits working every day to uplift their communities and bolster the economy often are unable to access traditional […]
Read MoreSupporting a Broad Range of Chicago’s Dance Artists: A Conversation with ACLF Program Participant Joanna Furnans, Executive Director of Chicago Dancemakers Forum
Traditional ballet and modern dance companies have long been a mainstay of Chicago’s arts and culture landscape. But according to Joanna Furnans, executive director of Chicago Dancemakers Forum (CDF), the city’s dance scene includes much more. “Most people don’t know the full range of what’s out there,” she says. “I don’t even know the full […]
Read MoreA Rural Kansas Community Bands Together to Open a Locally Owned, Full-Service Grocery Store
In rural communities across the United States, grocery stores aren’t just purveyors of fresh, affordable food, but anchors upon which public health and the local economy rely. When a local grocery store closes and the nearest alternative is many miles away, residents have little choice but to rely primarily on less nutritious, more expensive food […]
Read MoreNavigating ‘an Incredible Time of Transition’: A Conversation with ACLF Program Participant Jeannie Lukow, Executive Director of Porchlight Music Theatre
Jeannie Lukow, a founding board member and current executive director of Porchlight Music Theatre, has led the organization through many critical phases, but none as significant as rebounding from the global pandemic and navigating the return to year-round productions, education, and neighborhood programs. She developed her love of theatre doing community and school productions as […]
Read MoreCommentary: State initiative is a leap forward for early childhood facilities and those they serve
Commentary by IFF CEO Joe Neri and Wendy Lewis Jackson, managing director of the Kresge Foundation Detroit Program, which first appeared on The Kresge Foundation website The rooms are airy and bright. Multicolored carpeted areas are coordinated with walls painted in soothing shades. Cubbies and tot-proportioned features are everywhere. The radiant smiles of the small […]
Read MoreArts and Culture Community Celebrates Chicago’s Cultural Treasures as Initiative Embarks on Its Next Phase
“Here’s to you. The culture keepers. The dream weavers. The history protectors. The destructors. Co-conspirators, colleagues, friends, families, heroes, revolutionaries. You, the warriors that create sacred spaces to create, to show up, to show out, to show how,” began a toast by poet, activist, author, and CEO of Urban Gateways, Leslé Honoré at a Chicago’s […]
Read MoreClosing the Affordable Housing Gap: Q&A with Illinois Housing Development Authority Executive Director Kristin Faust
For Kristin Faust, the “aha moment” that would define her professional life occurred in a Harvard University classroom while pursuing a master’s degree in city and regional planning. Having grown up in a racially and economically diverse community in northern California where there was no shortage of quality affordable homes, Faust was drawn to the […]
Read MorePress Release: 40 BIPOC-led Arts & Culture Organizations from Across Chicago Come Together as Chicago’s Cultural Treasures Grantees
Chicago, IL (November 11, 2022) – The 40 BIPOC-led and -focused arts and culture organizations, who have been named Chicago’s Cultural Treasures, came together Thursday, November 10 at Zhou B Art Center alongside the funding partners, the participatory grant committee, and members and lovers of Chicago’s arts and culture landscape, to officially celebrate this recognition […]
Read MoreNew IFF Loan Program Reduces Barriers to Capital for BIPOC-Led Nonprofits on Chicago’s South and West Sides
For almost 50 years, community development financial institutions (CDFIs) have worked to align capital with justice, bridging gaps in the financial system where mainstream lenders can’t or won’t reach by increasing access to capital, technical assistance, and other specialized supports in under-resourced communities. As IFF CEO Joe Neri wrote in a 2019 blog post, however, […]
Read More$2 Million IFF Loan Provides New CDFI in Akron with Flexible Capital to Accelerate Impact
Across the United States, more than 1,300 certified Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) are working each day to strengthen under-resourced communities by deploying capital to create jobs; bolster small businesses; support nonprofits; catalyze the development of affordable housing, community health clinics, early childhood education facilities; and more. For every dollar in public funding deployed, CDFIs […]
Read MoreMeeting the Moment: 3 Nonprofit Leaders Reflect on Serving More, Serving More Effectively, and Serving More Equitably
When IFF was founded in 1988, our purpose was simple: to put flexible capital in the hands of nonprofits for facilities projects so that they’d have the quality spaces they needed to achieve their missions and strengthen their communities. What became apparent after several years, though, was that access to capital didn’t mean every nonprofit […]
Read MorePatient Capital and “CDFI Plus” Support Provide Indianapolis Charter School with On-ramp to Achieve Growth Goals
IFF helps nonprofits access the capital they need to do the meaningful work their communities require, but access to capital is only part of the equation for successful community development. Equally important is a willingness to provide borrowers with the flexibility needed to ensure the intended social impact – especially when things don’t go according […]
Read MoreGrand Avenue Market: A 20-Year Quest to Re-establish a Local Grocery Store in Rural Kansas
Rural farming communities across the Midwest fuel the United States’ agricultural engine, but there’s an underlying contradiction in America’s breadbasket. Despite being surrounded by vast swaths of land filled with wheat, corn, soybeans, and other crops that feed the rest of the country, an estimated five million Americans in rural areas must travel more than […]
Read MoreHome-based early childhood education providers deserve to be included in funding, supports
By Ashanti Bryant, IFF Director of Early Childhood Education Services When most people think of childcare within their communities, they generally envision a brick-and-mortar storefront – maybe something with a parking lot, outdoor play area, and multiple classrooms for children of different ages. There’s probably a large, bright sign in front featuring the name […]
Read MoreQ&A with BDO FMA Managing Director Dana Britto: Building Financial Capacity Post-Pandemic
Dana Britto is a Managing Director for BDO FMA (formerly Fiscal Management Associates), a national nonprofit advisory practice of BDO FMA that helps foundations and nonprofits of all kinds strengthen their fiscal operations and financial management capacity. Britto leads BDO FMA’s Midwest team, manages key initiatives in the region, and leads both coaching and in-depth client engagements. Over […]
Read MoreCDFI Friendly Bloomington a Prototype for Successful Community Development in Small Markets
Since March, IFF’s real estate team has been engaged in a project in Bloomington, IN, to assess the energy efficiency of nonprofit facilities and to provide the organizations operating in the facilities with a roadmap to make their spaces more environmentally friendly. The fact that the project is taking place in Bloomington represents a significant […]
Read More