Membership Eligibility

• Has a primary mission of community development and strives to have a positive impact on low-income, low-wealth, and other underserved people and communities.
  • If the organization is part of or controlled by another corporation(s), that corporation also has a primary mission of community development.
• Is primarily a financing institution that provides affordable, responsible financial products and financial services.
• Has an active lending and/or investing history of two or more years.
• Serves primarily low-income, low-wealth, or other disadvantaged people or communities. Has an active lending and/or investing history of two or more years.
• Has completed at least one annual financial audit. (For credit unions without audited financials, the NCUA 5300 report is acceptable.)
• Pro-actively manages the risks in its portfolio and has appropriate loan and risk management policies and procedures in place to effectively manage the risks of its financing activities.
• Has positive net assets (equity) and, for nonprofit loan funds, positive unrestricted net assets.
• Is a non-governmental entity. (Board of Directors may not be majority (>50%) government controlled. Exceptions are made for organizations under Tribal governance.)
• Commits to participating in OFN’s required member data collection initiatives and making a good faith effort to actively participate in OFN peer learning activities.
• Affirms its support for OFN’s mission to lead CDFIs and their partners to ensure that low-income, low-wealth, and other underserved people and communities have access to affordable, responsible financial products and services.

OFN will request the following documents from all applicants:

• IRS exemption letter, if applicable.
• Articles of Incorporation
• Bylaws
• Board List with Affiliations
• Staff List (with titles, emails, and phone numbers) – optional
• Sample Impact Tracking Report (or a list of impact indicators the organization uses)
• Loan Policies (including risk management policies)

In addition, Loan Funds and Venture Capital Funds will be asked to provide:

• Audited financial statements for the most recent three (3) years. If the organization has fewer than three years of financial statements, submit all available audits (minimum of one).
• Most recent interim financial statement
• Most Recent Audit Management Letter
• (Only Venture Capital Funds) Most recent quarterly investor report