Opportunity Finance Network and the MassMutual Foundation Announce $25 Million Innovation Partnership to Scale the CDFI Industry

Visionary collaboration will drive innovation, build infrastructure for scale, and transform the community development finance industry for the future

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Opportunity Finance Network, the nation's leading network and intermediary focused on community development investment, announced a strategic, five-year partnership with the MassMutual Foundation to launch the CDFI Innovation Initiative, a new effort designed to drive innovation, scale impact, and build new infrastructure for the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) industry. The initiative will be funded by a $25 million grant from the MassMutual Foundation. The announcement came at OFN's 40^th annual conference (OFN40) in Los Angeles, California. 

"Community development finance began with an idea – that the conditions in our communities can be better," said OFN President and CEO Harold Pettigrew. "With proven impact and gathered strength, that idea and the industry it founded have been called to address generational challenges. Meeting the moment ahead requires investing in innovation and infrastructure, accessible to small and large CDFIs alike. The MassMutual Foundation gets it, and they share our commitment to opportunity. We are thrilled to co-create systems, structures, and solutions with them, and invite other partners to join us in this work."

CDFIs work to expand economic opportunities in low-income communities by providing access to financial services and products for local businesses and residents. 

"The MassMutual Foundation is honored to support this critically important work particularly at this pivotal moment for the CDFI industry," said Dennis Duquette, MassMutual's Head of Community Responsibility and President & CEO of the MassMutual Foundation. "Partnering with OFN to launch the CDFI Innovation Initiative reflects our shared commitment to further advance financial opportunity where it is truly needed through the proven, positive impact that CDFIs present to communities across the United States." 

The years ahead will include unprecedented opportunities and unthinkable challenges for the CDFI industry. The CDFI Innovation Initiative is structured to help CDFIs meet the moment ahead with three core pillars designed to drive new strategies: 

• The creation of an Innovation Advisory Council, with investments in thought leadership and data-driven insights into scalable innovations.
• The establishment of an Innovation Center, an action tank that will take insights and promising solutions and seed them with capital and support.
• The launch of an Innovation Fund, a blended capital pool that will help take innovative and promising solutions to scale.

The CDFI Innovation Initiative will be at the center of OFN's strategic direction, and these programs will reinforce the industry's ability to foster financial health and resilience in low-income communities, expand entrepreneurship and affordable housing, and accelerate a just, green economy.

The MassMutual Foundation partnership and innovation initiative will enable OFN to realize its strategic goals by helping CDFIs and mission-driven lenders build infrastructure that allows the industry to eagerly meet the present moment and opportunities ahead. 

OFN's members are core to this innovation initiative. Conversations with members and partners have uncovered fundamental challenges which the initiative aims to resolve. Key focus areas include removing technological barriers, enhancing operational efficiencies, and expanding CDFIs' capitalization structures and financing products. Addressing these challenges will equip CDFI leaders to sustain growth while delivering affordable capital to underserved communities, paving the way for a more equitable and resilient future.

About Opportunity Finance Network 

Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) is the nation's leading network and intermediary focused on community development investment, managing over $1 billion in total assets and a membership of 450 community development financial institutions (CDFIs), which includes community development loan funds, credit unions, green banks, banks, minority depository institutions, and venture capital funds. Our network of CDFIs works to ensure communities underserved by mainstream finance have access to affordable, responsible financial products and services, with a deep focus on serving rural, urban, and Native communities across the United States. OFN is a trusted investment partner to the public, private, and philanthropic sectors – foundations, corporations, banks, government agencies, and others – and, for 40 years, has helped partners invest in communities to catalyze change and create economic opportunities for all.

Since its founding in 1986, OFN members have originated over $110 billion in financing, helping to create or maintain more than 3 million jobs, start or expand more than 850,000 businesses and microenterprises, and support the development or rehabilitation of nearly 2.4 million housing units and more than 14,000 community facility projects. 

About the MassMutual Foundation 
The MassMutual Foundation, Inc. is a dedicated corporate foundation established by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual). The MassMutual Foundation fuels initiatives that increase financial resilience within communities served by the company and fosters a culture of community engagement for MassMutual's employees as well as affiliated financial professionals. In support of this mission, the Foundation invests in programs that help people access resources needed to earn, protect, and help build their financial capability and thrive. The Foundation also supports community vitality efforts where MassMutual operates. To learn more about the MassMutual Foundation, please visit www.massmutual.com/foundation.

SOURCE Opportunity Finance Network