How to Apply to CCIA Nascent Climate Lender Training
Overview
OFN’s Clean Communities Investment Accelerator (CCIA), a program of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, has opened applications for its Nascent Climate Lender Training Pilot Program, a concentrated, six-month course designed to accelerate your organization’s journey toward becoming an emerging climate lender.
Organizations that complete the training program and operationalize its lessons and practices will be positioned to apply for Capitalization Funding and Technical Assistance subawards from OFN’s CCIA program in the fall of 2025.
Participation in this training program does not guarantee access to CCIA funding but is a valuable step on the learning journey.
CCIA Nascent Climate Lender Training Eligibility
This training program is open to OFN members in good standing. To be a member in good standing, you must be current on your membership dues and have completed the latest Annual Member Survey (AMS). Your organization must have become a member by Sept. 30, 2024 to be eligible for the pilot program.
What You Will Learn
During this six-month training program, participants from your organization will do the following:
- Assess your organization’s readiness to engage in climate lending.
- Explore climate-related needs and priorities of the communities you serve, the policy and market context for climate lending in your communities, and the array of potential partners available to you.
- Identify connections between your community development mission and climate issues to integrate climate lending into your organizational strategy.
- Identify one or more specific climate lending lines of business for organizational focus aligned with your existing financing sector expertise.
- Describe the specific types of projects you will be financing, how they work, and how they benefit the borrowers.
- Complete an initial, high-level business plan for a specific climate lending line of business, including identification of loan products, marketing and customer service strategies, and operational and financial strategies.
- Begin to explore collecting and reporting on climate impact measurements.
- Prepare to build a pipeline for the deployment of climate loans.
- Understand the commitment needed to apply for CCIA Capitalization Funding and TA subawards from OFN.
Program Details
Dates: January 2025 through June 2025
Format: Virtual
Cohort Size: Approximately 35 organizations, two senior-level representatives per organization.
Time Commitment: Approximately 80-120 hours over six months and an average of 13-20 hours per month. This estimate includes training sessions, office hours, and time to complete assignments. OFN will issue stipends on a sliding scale based on number of FTEs to help offset employee time allocated to this program.
After the initial pilot, OFN will offer Nascent Climate Lender Training two times per year from 2025 through 2028.
Applications are due November 7, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern.
Get Help
If you have any questions about the application or the Nascent Climate Lender Training Pilot Program, please contact OFN’s Development Services team at [email protected]
If the recent hurricanes impact your organization’s ability to meet the application deadline, please reach out to us.
Accessibility Statement
If you require assistance at any stage of the application due to an accessibility issue, including translation services, please contact OFN’s disability coordinator, Vanessa Toure (202.869.1261 or email). Read about our commitment to fairness and equity.