Catalytic Capital | September 14, 2021

Opportunity Finance Network’s Finance Justice Fund secures $23 million

Roodgally Senatus
ImpactAlpha Editor

Roodgally Senatus

ImpactAlpha, September 14 — Opportunity Finance Network, a Washington, D.C.-based network of community development financial institutions, or CDFIs, is looking to raise $1 billion in debt capital and $150 million in grants to help finance Black, Latinx and Indigenous rural borrowers across the country.

“Investing in CDFIs is one of the most effective ways banks, corporations, and philanthropies can ensure their money reaches underserved communities,” said OFN’s Lisa Mensah (see, “Agent of Impact: Lisa Mensah).

The fund has raised $150 million, $110 million of which will be deployed as loans and the rest as grants to CDFIs in communities of color, small and mid-sized cities, rural markets, and areas of persistent poverty.

It has allocated $57 million in loans and grants to California FarmLink, Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership and Carolina Small Business Development Fund and more than a dozen other CDFIs. 

Catalytic capital

The Finance Justice Fund’s new commitments include $10 million in long-term and flexible debt from Truist, and $13 million in philanthropic contributions from MacArthur Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Focusing Philanthropy.

Wells Fargo committed $25 million in grant capital in June. The fund’s largest commitment to date came last November from Twitter.