Aspen Institute and Economic Opportunities Program's (EOP) current scale and sustainability research focuses on the community development finance industry and is exploring the critical stages through which individual organizations and a field must move to reach scale, and the obstacles/challenges at each stage. The work also seeks to find a better understanding of interventions, intermediaries, systems and infrastructures that can facilitate and/or accelerate the process of moving to scale, as well as the funding needed at each stage and who the broader universe of partners/participants/stakeholders might be.

Aspen/EOP's earlier work resulted in a paper on trends in CDFI sustainability. In 2007, EOP was awarded a $100,000 grant from the CDFI Fund's Research Initiative to examine trends in CDFI sustainability. Past research into the issue of how community development financial institutions can scale up to reach underserved markets has found that it is closely related to another critical issue: sustainability. This research project attempted to look at sustainability within the context of increasing industry scale and the use of subsidy. Through quantitative analysis, a survey of industry practitioners, and a series of case studies, the state of sustainability in the field was examined, and findings were used to develop a framework for understanding sustainability.

Please access the paper here. (PDF Download)

CDFI Scale and Sustainability

CDFIs and Job Creation

CDFI Bond Guarantee Program

CDP Project

Keynote Address by CDFI Fund Director Donna Gambrell

2010 Conference Summary

2009 Conference Summary

January 2010 Newsletter

Keynote Addresses from Annual Development Banking Conference

2009 CDFI Fund FA Awards