The first recipients of the Wachovia NEXT Awards will be named in December 2007 in Miami.
A distinguished national committee will choose two premier CDFI organizations to receive
$8.25 million in grants and investments. Financing provided by community-based CDFIs allows nonprofits and entrepreneurs to build and preserve affordable housing, help small businesses grow, and develop new community facilities, such as schools, health clinics and
centers for child care, recreation and culture.
"The goal of the Wachovia NEXT Awards is to propel high-potential CDFIs to a next
level of growth, success, and staying power with major one-time infusions of
capital,” explained Mark Pinsky, president and CEO of the Philadelphia-based Opportunity
Finance Network.
The Wachovia Foundation, MacArthur and the Opportunity Finance Network created the awards program to spotlight and reinforce the growing but underappreciated role of CDFIs in the U.S.
economy. Ultimately, the three partners hope
more investors, policymakers, and talented young leaders will discover the innovative
field of opportunity finance and help raise its scale and impact significantly.
“We
expect these unprecedented awards to result in more jobs, affordable housing, assets,
and vital community services and facilities for low-income and low-wealth
communities across the nation,” said Pinsky.
“Nothing of this magnitude has been tried before in our field. The major investments that The Wachovia
Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation are making will bring together capital
market leaders and opportunity finance institutions to help many more people join
America’s
economic mainstream.”
The
Wachovia Foundation is making a $16.75 million grant and the MacArthur
Foundation is making a $25 million low-cost, long-term loan called a
program-related investment to fund the Wachovia NEXT Awards.
"At the Wachovia Foundation, we're committed to strengthening
communities and bringing together financial support and relationships with
community partners,” said Ken Thompson, chairman and CEO of Wachovia Corp. and
board chairman for The Wachovia Foundation.
“We're proud to continue our long-standing support for the opportunity
finance industry with our investment in these awards, which will help
innovative, up-and-coming CDFIs grow and create even more economic opportunity
for families and communities."
“These awards celebrate the
impressive achievements of CDFIs and the creative way they use capital, business
acumen, and community-oriented solutions to bring greater economic security and
opportunity to people of modest means,” said Jonathan Fanton, president of the
MacArthur Foundation. “Our $25-million commitment to these new awards
marks a turning point. It is a capstone investment to help launch
the next era of achievement, growth and impact for the entire opportunity
finance industry. We are delighted to join forces with Wachovia in this
effort. Their robust support truly signals that CDFIs have become valued,
enduring partners for our country’s largest financial
institutions.”
ABOUT CDFIs
Over
700 mission-driven banks, loan funds and venture funds currently serve
low-income and low-wealth people and communities that some mainstream investors
consider too risky or difficult to reach.
CDFI financing allows entrepreneurs and nonprofits to build and preserve
affordable housing, to help small businesses grow, and to develop new sites for
recreation, cultural programs, schools, health clinics, child care centers and
more. Many CDFIs provide mortgages,
banking accounts, car loans, money transfers, and other services that help
customers gain financial literacy, build savings and avoid expensive or
predatory financial products.
During 2005 alone, CDFIs provided $4.3 billion in new
financing which yielded: 39,151 jobs in 9,074 businesses; 55,242 units of
affordable housing; 613 community facilities such as charter schools, child
care and health care centers; and 138,045 low-income people opening their first
bank accounts, according to the CDFI Data Project.
ABOUT THE AWARDS
Each
year the Wachovia NEXT Awards will include:
• A
$5.5 million program-related investment and unrestricted grant award to an outstanding,
high-potential CDFI with over $50 million in assets dedicated to lending or
investing;
• A
$2.75 million program-related investment and unrestricted grant award to an outstanding,
high-potential CDFI with $10- $50 million in assets dedicated to lending or
investing; and
• Four
$25,000 unrestricted grant awards to CDFIs of any size that have demonstrated
excellence in Innovation, Advocacy, Financing, and Community Impact.
CDFIs
seeking to apply for a Wachovia NEXT Award must meet all of the eligibility
requirements detailed at the Wachovia NEXT Awards Web site: http://www.nextawards.org.
These include:
•
A
primary mission of community development;
• Demonstrated
financial discipline and programmatic performance; and
• An
increasing volume of lending or investing activity and positive net revenue.
Successful
candidates will be 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 use and leverage a
large, flexible investment.
Applications for the
2007 Wachovia NEXT Awards must be submitted by 5:00 PM EDT on Monday, August
20, 2007. For complete details, rules
and restrictions, please consult the Application Guide for the 2007 awards at http://www.nextawards.org.
All applications must be submitted electronically through the Wachovia NEXT Awards
Web site.
ABOUT THE GROUPS
The Wachovia Foundation is a private
foundation that is funded by Wachovia Corporation. The Foundation provides
grants to eligible 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations in two primary focus
areas (education and community development) and two secondary areas (health and
human services, arts and culture). The
Foundation’s mission is to build strong and vibrant communities, improve the
quality of life, and make a positive difference where Wachovia lives and works.
Wachovia
Corporation (NYSE:WB) is one of the nation’s largest diversified financial
services companies, providing a broad range of retail banking and brokerage,
asset and wealth management, and corporate and investment banking products and
services. Wachovia has retail and commercial banking operations in 21 states
with 3,400 retail banking offices from Connecticut
to Florida and west to Texas
and California.
In addition, two core businesses operate under the Wachovia Securities brand
name: retail brokerage with 768 offices in 48 states and service affiliate
offices in Latin America, and corporate and
investment banking serving clients in selected corporate and institutional
sectors globally. Other nationwide businesses include mortgage lending in all
50 states and auto finance covering 46 states. Globally, Wachovia serves
clients through more than 40 international offices. At March 31, 2007, Wachovia had assets of
$706.4 billion and market capitalization of $105.3 billion.
The
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private, independent
grantmaking institution dedicated to helping groups and individuals foster
lasting improvement in the human condition. Through the support it provides,
the Foundation fosters the development of knowledge, nurtures individual
creativity, strengthens institutions, helps improve public policy and provides
information to the public, primarily through support for public interest media.
The MacArthur Foundation has been a leading supporter of the opportunity
finance field since the early 1980s, investing almost a quarter of a billion
dollars in approximately 100 groups nationwide. With assets of over $6 billion
and grants totaling $225 million annually, MacArthur is one of the nation’s
largest private philanthropic foundations. For more information, please visit
http://www.macfound.org.
Opportunity Finance Network is the leading network
of private financial intermediaries identifying and investing in opportunities
to benefit low-income and low-wealth people in the U.S. The network’s financing
delivers both sound financial returns and real changes for people and
communities. CDFIs in the Opportunity Finance Network
originated more than $11 billion in financing in unconventional urban, rural,
and reservation-based markets through 2005. This has generated or maintained
171,146 jobs; 35,451 businesses; 484,943 housing units; and, 5,153 community
facility projects. With cumulative net charge-off rates of less than 1%, these
CDFIs have demonstrated that it is possible to lend prudently and productively
in unconventional markets often overlooked by conventional financial
institutions. More information about Opportunity
Finance Network can be found online at
http://www.opportunityfinance.net.
EDITOR’S NOTE: A streaming audio
replay of a related news event will be available on the Web at
http://www.nextawards.org as of 7 p.m.
EDT/6 p.m. CDT on
June 27, 2007.
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