FAQs

For a deeper understanding of CDFIs and to find answers to many general questions about the CDFI Friendly approach, please click through the helpful interactive presentation below.

General Questions

  • Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) are private financial institutions that exist to meet community financing needs for under-financed people and communities just outside the margins of conventional finance. CDFIs work in all 50 states in urban, rural, and Native communities. They specialize in financing people and communities that historically are under-resourced and under-valued.

    They provide customized, affordable financing and technical assistance (or development services) to help their borrowers succeed. CDFIs are sustainable because they are profitable but not profit-maximizing.

    CDFIs have provided more than $200 billion in community-centered lending over the past 40 years. But not every community has received its share of CDFI financing.

  • In the Fall of 2022, Evansville community, civic, and business leaders decided to work with CDFI Friendly America to assess the needs of individuals, businesses, housing and real estate developers, and nonprofits in the community. They identified a pressing need for more customized, affordable financing as well as additional development services in the Evansville region. The group identified CDFIs as key to addressing those needs.

    CDFIs have made loans and investments in the Evansville region over the past 15 years, but they can do more if we help them identify opportunities and expand their access in the community. Click here to see how CDFI lending in the Evansville Region compares to the state and national averages.

  • For CDFI Friendly, the Evansville region includes the Evansville Metro Area (Posey, Vanderburgh, and Warrick Counties in Indiana, and Henderson County in Kentucky), Gibson, Knox, Perry, Pike, and Spencer Counties in Indiana, plus Gallatin, Johnson, Saline, White, and Williamson Counties in Illinois.

About our Organization

  • CDFI Friendly Evansville Region is an emerging strategy to connect businesses, housing developers, community organizations, and others in the region with access to financing. Local residents, business owners, community leaders, public officials, and non-profit professionals volunteer to coordinate this strategy and make sure it is serving the people who need it most.

    Local community leaders asked CDFI Friendly America to work with the community to build out the CDFI Friendly Evansville Region strategy in 2023.

  • The CDFI Friendly Evansville Region effort was initiated by a group of local community, civic, and business leaders who decided to work with CDFI Friendly America to assess the needs of individuals, businesses, housing and real estate developers, and nonprofits in the community. In 2023, the CDFI Friendly Evansville Region initiative was operated by the staff of CDFI Friendly America under the oversight and guidance of a Working Group and Advisory Group, made up of Evansville Region residents committed to community development. A list of the Working and Advisory Group members can be found in the CFER Business Plan Executive Summary here.

    In December 2023, the Founding Board was formed. One of the Board’s first objectives was to hire an Executive Director for CDFI Friendly Evansville Region. CFER’s founding Executive Director was hired in February 2024. To view a list of Board members, click here.

  • CDFI Friendly Evansville Region connects local borrowers to CDFIs and other lenders that can help them achieve their goals. Finding local demand and increasing the total pool of available financing will help get funding for local entrepreneurs and others.

    Like a CDFI, CDFI Friendly Evansville Region will focus on community benefits, but it will not be a CDFI. It

    will work with community-based technical assistance and training providers, and it may provide financing in partnership with CDFIs. At the same time, CDFI Friendly Evansville Region will make it easier for CDFIs from our region and across the United States to finance some of the most pressing needs in our communities.

Borrowers

  • If you need financing or technical assistance and would like to be referred to CDFIs who might be able to work with you, please visit CDFIFriendlyEvansville.org/financing.

    The information you provide will help us match you to CDFIs that offer the type of lending you are seeking. If you have questions before submitting the form, please email us at info@CDFIFriendlyEvansville.org.

CDFIs

  • We are collecting inquiries from prospective borrowers in the region to be referred to CDFIs. If you’re interested in lending in the Evansville Region (Southern Indiana, SouthEast Illinois, or Henderson, KY), or want to learn more, please email us at info@cdfifriendlyevansville.org or fill out the form on our contact page.

    We look forward to hearing from you!