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The Biggest- Impact Financial Sector You’ve Never Heard Of 89<br />

two general partners who do all the work. This special fund<br />

then lends only to other funds. The other funds then actually<br />

make loans to real small businesses and charitable organizations.<br />

This seems like a fairly complex reinvention <strong>of</strong> an<br />

ancient wheel once known as banking. Remember institutions<br />

like Farmers Loan & Trust, Citizens Building & Loan,<br />

Bowery National Bank, Richmond Borough National Bank?<br />

They all sound like the bank manager was George Bailey<br />

from a It’s a Wonderful Life, don’t they. Bet these banks knew<br />

how to “make loans . . . rooted in local communities.” They<br />

have something else in common too, all these banks, by<br />

acquisition, merger, etc. are part <strong>of</strong> today’s Citi. 3<br />

But we digress.<br />

Foundations, the other major funding pillar for loan funds,<br />

have seen their asset values plummet, and many are focused on<br />

rebuilding their endowments rather than giving. The only true<br />

bright spot for loan funds and CDFIs in general has been an<br />

increased level <strong>of</strong> support by the Obama administration.<br />

Individual Investors Play a Bigger Role<br />

With CDFIs scrambling to keep pace with demand, many are reassessing<br />

the role <strong>of</strong> individual investors. Today, individuals make up a tiny<br />

slice <strong>of</strong> overall community development loan fund investment. It is<br />

easier to collect large investments rather than chase hundreds <strong>of</strong> individuals,<br />

so most loan funds don’t market themselves to the public.<br />

In fact, it can be downright hard to fi nd one in your area. “We<br />

are not well known and we know it,” says Donna Fabiani <strong>of</strong> the<br />

Opportunity Finance Network. “We need to do a much better job<br />

<strong>of</strong> getting the word out. Micro-enterprise is a household word, but<br />

people don’t know what community development fi nance is.”<br />

That’s one reason that so many individual investors have<br />

turned to the Calvert Foundation, a Bethesda, Maryland–based<br />

nonpr<strong>of</strong>i t that acts as an intermediary between CDFIs and individual<br />

investors. The foundation’s Community Investment Notes can<br />

be bought from most major brokers for a minimum investment

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