2017 FIR Summary

Over the past fifteen years, the Financial Innovations Roundtable (FIR), located at the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire and hosted by the Division of Consumer and Community Affairs at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, has worked with a range of community development and other types of financial institutions, government agencies, foundations and trade associations to address and solve problems related to access to capital for low-and moderate-income consumers and communities. The FIR does this by tapping the expertise of thought leaders from the institutional investment, banking, philanthropic, and community development industries.

The 2017 Financial Innovations Roundtable (FIR) focused on “Donor Advised Funds as Investors in US Community Development.” The FIR was hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and held at the Charlotte Branch. Historically, Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs),1 and other community development organizations have largely depended on government grants, bank debt driven by the Community Reinvestment Act, and (to a lesser extent) grants and program-related investments from foundations for their capital. Donor advised funds (DAFs) are an increasingly popular charitable giving vehicle in which donors can deposit a sum of money and receive a tax break on that deposit immediately, then make donations from that fund over time. There exists the opportunity for community development organizations both to receive donations from these funds and to seek investments from fund balances that have not yet been deployed to grants.

This year’s Roundtable brought together impact investors and community development practitioners to explore the barriers and opportunities to involving donor advised funds as investors in community development