Community Reinvestment Fund

Community Reinvestment Fund

Community Reinvestment Fund launched in Minneapolis in 1988, conceived by Frank Altman to address the chronic capital scarcity in low-income neighborhoods. Rather than lend directly to small businesses or developers, CRF built a national secondary market for economic development loans — buying community loans from local CDFIs and packaging them for sale to banks seeking Community Reinvestment Act credit. This model transferred risk off the balance sheets of frontline lenders and recycled capital back into their communities. CRF operates across two main origination channels: small business lending, where it has been a top SBA 7(a) Community Advantage lender, and community facilities and affordable housing finance, including charter schools, health centers, and multifamily rental projects. The firm has historically deployed capital in all 50 states, with noticeable density in the Midwest and Southeast. Its New Markets Tax Credit allocations have exceeded $1 billion, enabling catalytic projects from a Procter & Gamble distribution center on a former brownfield site to rural grocery stores in food deserts. Unlike a private credit fund, CRF measures returns in both basis points and community impact metrics — job creation, housing units preserved, and services delivered in census tracts with poverty rates above 20 percent. Chris Perry succeeded Altman as CEO. The firm maintains its headquarters in Minneapolis and has operated with a lean team relative to its nationwide reach, relying on a network of hundreds of local lending partners. CRF also houses CRF Foundation and related vehicles, though the primary balance sheet remains its loan fund operations. In July 2023, CRF closed a $100 million investment-grade rated social bond issuance — the first such public offering backed entirely by community development loans, underwritten by Morgan Stanley and sold to institutional buyers. CRF’s structural distinction is its function as a secondary-market conduit in a sector filled with direct lenders. By warehousing, standardizing, and selling community loans, it functions much like Fannie Mae does for residential mortgages, but for economic development assets. This architecture allows it to scale impact without raising unlimited philanthropic equity. The succession from Frank Altman to Chris Perry, a former investment banker and community finance executive, reflects a governance transition toward deeper capital markets integration while preserving the nonprofit mission.