Many community development financial institutions are planning to expand in the near future despite resource challenges and uncertainty about government policy, according to preliminary results from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s CDFI survey.
Earlier this year, the Richmond Fed surveyed roughly 30% of CDFIs in the country to see how they are faring as they work to close gaps in credit and capital access. While the Richmond Fed plans to release full results in September, it recently shared an early look at some of the responses. It found that 95% of respondents indicated that they sought to grow their customer base over the next five years. More than half of respondents also indicated that they wanted to increase the level of financing and development services they offered (87% and 69%, respectively) as well as expand their geographic reach (57%).
Plans for growth came despite respondents’ uncertainty about future government policy on CDFI grants. At the same time, the Richmond Fed survey found respondents reported strong demand for their services and products, but struggled to find the resources needed to meet that demand. Most respondents (72%) said that inadequate staffing was most likely to impede their ability to meet demand, with lending capital also a major challenge (63%).
