Our Work
CIF is home to respected thought leaders in the community and economic development field and has a successful record of accomplishment of working with practitioners to develop actionable policy and finance solutions to address economic, societal, and environmental challenges. Since 2009, CIF has conducted applied research and evaluation to build a knowledge base about what works in community and economic development and how innovative financing strategies can increase access to capital in underserved communities.
CDFI Capacity Building
CIF strengthens CDFIs through field-wide capacity building, training, financial analysis and modeling, strategic advising, and research and evaluation, to help community lenders increase organizational resilience and maximize their impact. CIF helps community lenders act strategically, sharpen their organizational resilience, and maximize their impact, in turn strengthening support for underserved communities.
Clean Energy & Climate Resilience
CIF provides clean energy finance training, applied research, technical assistance and convening activities which support an ecosystem of community-based organizations and lenders, mission-driven project developers, and impact-focused investors and funders working in collaboration to deliver impactful projects that help low-income communities access clean, affordable energy and improve their resilience and health.
Financial Innovations Roundtable
Since 2014, CIF has partnered with the Federal Reserve Board of Governors to host the Financial Innovations Roundtable (FIR), an annual “think-do” event focused on a critical gap in financial markets and intended to develop new tools, policies, and practices, and foster cross-sector partnerships. The Roundtable gathers leaders from a diverse range of financial institutions, public agencies, and nonprofit organizations to develop practical, concrete, innovations that provide low-income communities with increased access to capital and financial services. Ideas developed at the FIR have resulted in millions of dollars being directed into investments in affordable housing, public health, small and minority-owned businesses, community facilities, and other community development efforts.
The 2025 Roundtable focused on innovative financial strategies to finance naturally occurring affordable housing. The 2026 Roundtable will explore “CDFI Consolidation, Collaboration, and Integration: Designing the Next Generation of Community Finance Platforms.”