About Us
We are a team of optimists who love to create opportunities for our neighbors to succeed.
Our Goals
Our Mission:
To provide systematically excluded people and communities, in New Hampshire and beyond, with the financial, human, and civic resources they need to be economically secure.
Our Vision:
We envision a future where all people have access to the resources they need to live secure and prosperous lives.
Community Impact Investing
We receive funds from local impact investors and donors along with other funders.
Lend to Neighbors and Community Projects
We then make loans to people for manufactured-home purchases, repairs, and upgrades; loan to manufactured-home owners to purchase their parks; loan to small business owners and nonprofits for expansion; loan to affordable housing developers; loan to energy efficiency projects; and help small towns and municipalities access and manage grants.
The Outcome
Every dollar we lend generates $2.19 in economic impact. Over the years, the simple idea of neighbors investing in neighbors to create stronger communities has resulted in more than $1 billion in impact.
Why Our Work Matters
The loans we make and the associated services we provide have a broader impact than housing security and business growth. Let’s explore how our lending creates additional community benefits.
A History of Support
From the beginning, we placed people and community first. And ever since, our dedication to provide opportunities to systematically excluded people and communities has remained strong.
1983 - 1984: Our Founding & First Loan
We launched in late September with a vision of lending to land trusts and similar projects that other lenders considered high risk but benefitted and empowered communities. We quickly attracted impact investors. Our first loan was to Meredith Center Cooperative. The 13-unit manufactured-home park faced closure. Through our first investors, we helped its homeowners organize and become New Hampshire’s first resident-owned community (ROC), paving the way to today’s ROC-NH and ROC USA® programs.
1986: Established Ourselves as Sector Leaders
Joining with partners from other states, we created the National Association of Community Development Loan Funds. Today, that organization has evolved to become the nearly-400-member Opportunity Finance Network.
1995: Million Dollar Betty
Betty Johnson, a former board chair who had great relationships with bankers and realtors, joined our staff. She brought in over $1 million in investments for the first time. Since then "Million Dollar Betty" has inspired us to top that mark every year.
1996-1997: Business & Childcare Initiatives
MicroCredit-NH, has since been absorbed into our Business Finance program, became our first foray into business lending. It provided training to self-employed and small-business entrepreneurs and connected them with nearby peer groups that offered support, advice, and loans from $500 to $10,000. Shortly following was our Childcare initiative in late 1996 early 1997.
Guiding Philosophy
We are grounded in a core belief of opportunity for all. This is an ideal rooted in a philosophy that guides our work every day. We invite you to dig down into our guiding principles to understand why we show up to do the work that helps provide opportunities to our neighbors every day.
Celebrating Success
We experience success through the success of our borrowers. Their stories bring us joy and drive us every day to work to provide more opportunities for our fellow New Hampshirite’s to shine.
Financial Strength
We credit our spotless record of 100% repayment to our investors, in part, to the great care we take to maintain reserves that protect investors’ money.
Our financial strength and performance, along with our impact management are evaluated annually by Aeris®, whose financial ratings assess capitalization, asset quality, management, earnings, and liquidity.
We post our annual financial audit and federal tax form 990 online as soon as they are available. Our governing documents, conflict-of-interest policy, and financial statements are available to the public upon request.
If you wish to see a document that is not posted here, please call us at (603) 224-6669, or email us.
What Our Borrowers Say
We can toot our own horn all we like, but it’s the kind words of our borrowers that truly matter.
I didn’t know that they had that type of creativity and flexibility.
The Community Loan Fund’s values are just so spot-on.
Thanks for doing it so well and for constantly pushing the boundaries.
An important mission, strong management team, and solid track record.
Partner With Us
If you’re an affordable housing nonprofit or developer, government agency, or community development funder, please contact us to discuss working together.
Government Funds
You may have noticed that we sometimes receive government funds and wondered why we need investments and donations if we’re getting those funds.
Federal, state, and local governments offer many grant programs that fund ideas and projects that provide public services and stimulate the economy. The government funds we receive come in the form of grants and loans, these directly go directly to pay for projects and low-interest loans to borrowers and other people — on behalf of the government.
These grants and loans don’t fund our programs outside of their designated purpose. Those funds come from our investors and donors.
Instead, government grants and loans are passed on through us and disbursed into the community. We’re allowed to keep a small amount to help cover some (but not all) of our costs.
So, receiving federal grants or loans doesn’t mean we no longer need donations or investments. It usually means the government is disbursing funds through a trusted partner — us. To get funds to your neighbors and support the programs that we offer, we need neighbors to invest in neighbors more than ever.
Get the details about the government grants and loans we administer and disburse.
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