FAQs

CDFI Friendly Bloomington is a newly formed 501(c)(3) organization that will implement a new strategy developed for the unique challenges of smaller communities to increase flexible and affordable financing to businesses, housing developers, nonprofits, and others in Bloomington, Indiana, and surrounding Monroe County.

We created CDFI Friendly Bloomington to increase flexible, affordable loans in Bloomington and Monroe County for projects and businesses that banks and other conventional financial institutions cannot finance.

CDFI Friendly Bloomington is the product of a collaboration among Bloomington entities including the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County, the Bloomington Urban Enterprise Association (BUEA), the City of Bloomington, and local business and civic leaders.

The community concluded, through a market assessment in 2017, that some small businesses, housing developers, and nonprofits need financing that is more flexible and affordable than local banks are able to offer.

That process also led to an understanding of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), which specialize in providing the types of financing that Bloomington needs.

CDFI Friendly Bloomington’s goals are to encourage and assist CDFIs to make new loans for projects and to businesses in and around Bloomington, IN and the Indiana Uplands. Our focus areas are affordable housing, child care, and small businesses.

A CDFI is a private financial institution that exists to meet community financing needs outside the margins of conventional finance. They work in all 50 states in urban, rural, and Native communities, providing billions of dollars of new financing each year. CDFIs provide financing with development services—technical assistance and training to help their borrowers succeed.

Yes! As of July 2025, we are a certified CDFI by the U.S. Treasury. While we do not do direct lending, this will lead to more integration with community development financing. We are still practicing the “friendly” model and connecting projects in our region to flexible, affordable lending. 

• Affordable & Workforce Housing, including supportive housing
• Small businesses, particularly early-stage companies and service companies for sale
• Community facilities and services

Most CDFIs are nonprofit companies, but they are economically sustainable and do not depend heavily upon charitable contributions. Over the past 30 years across the U.S, most CDFIs have grown while reducing their reliance on donations. Instead, they earn money from their lending. In fact, the CDFI business model is to be profitable but not profit maximizing.

Local banks are deeply invested in growing the local economy, supporting small businesses, ensuring good housing for all, and other goals related to CDFI Friendly Bloomington. Banks operate under regulations that emphasize “safety and soundness” that sometimes make it difficult, if not impossible, for the banks to provide financing for the types of mission-driven projects that CDFI Friendly Bloomington has been created to advance. That’s where CDFIs come in. Across the nation, CDFI and bank partnerships total billions of dollars.

View the Contact page. We’re looking forward to hearing from you.