Deadline: November 5, 2024
Applications are open for the Citi Bank Foundation Community Finance Innovation Fund 2024. The Citi Foundation has launched the Community Finance Innovation Fund (CFIF), a new initiative aimed at supporting financial inclusion and financial health solutions in the United States.
For more than three decades, the Citi Foundation has invested in the growth of the nonprofit community finance sector, with a particular focus on Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) that work to increase access to credit and other asset-building financial services in low-income communities across the U.S. These efforts, together with others in the philanthropic, public and private sectors, have helped establish CDFIs as a critical component of the financial services ecosystem and a catalyst for economic opportunity, mobility and growth in low-income and underserved communities.
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Most recently, in 2022 the Citi Foundation established the Community Finance Innovation Fund (CFIF) to enable CDFIs to meet increased demands for capital and address economic challenges brought by the COVID 19 pandemic. The Citi Foundation is continuing its support for the CDFI sector by issuing a $25 million Request for Ideas (RFI) to fund a new cohort of community finance innovators advancing financial inclusion and financial health in low-income communities.
Eligibility
- Organizations must be tax-exempt public charities as per Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Note that projects that require the use of fiscal sponsorship are not eligible for this funding opportunity.
- Organizations must be able to submit externally audited financial statements. If your organization’s idea advances to the application stage, you will be required to submit audited financial statements covering some part of calendar year 2023 or a subsequent year.
- Organizations must be able to demonstrate that their mission and strategic priorities have a specific focus on serving low-income communities.
- Project ideas must impact one or more of the Citi Foundation’s target geographies.
Selection Criteria
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- Organizations should be able to demonstrate a successful track record of advancing financial health as a CDFI or in conjunction with CDFIs.
- Organizations should be able to define the financial health challenge that their project idea seeks to address and the anticipated impact on individuals and/or broader field of community finance using reliable data.
- Organizations should be able to demonstrate that their project idea offers an innovative solution in one of the following three categories:
- Human Capital and Talent Development, such as efforts to advance the talent pipeline and career advancement possibilities within the fields of financial health and community finance.
- Products and Services, such as the development of new products or services, or intentional efforts to extend the delivery of financial services, products and practices to low-income communities to advance financial health.
- Technology and Operational Efficiencies, such as efforts to improve CDFI performance and impact through the use of technology, data collection and impact analysis and operational advancements to promote greater financial inclusion and/or financial health.
- Organizations should be able to detail a plan for project feasibility, in terms of the efficacy of the project idea, implementation partnerships (if applicable), planned funding, timeframe and expected outcomes.
- Organizations should be able to propose a viable methodology to measure impact and demonstrate the capacity to collect, analyze and share data, results and learnings.
Application
Interested organisations must submit their applications by November 5, 2024, at 12pm (noon) New York Time (ET).
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For more information, see FAQ and visit Citi Bank Foundation.
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