CDFEye

Monthly News from FUND Consulting

February 2026

PLEASE TAKE OUR SURVEY!

FUND Community Institute (FCI) is conducting a survey to understand the current landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) usage and adoption within the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) industry. FUND CI would like to learn more about your experience as a valued member of our community. To do so, we ask you to please fill out the a brief survey (link above). Thank you in advance for your participation.

All the survey information collected will be anonymized and is strictly confidential. No identifying information or individual responses will be shared. The results will be publicly available at no cost.

Thank you for your time and contribution to research on the CDFI industry!

Client Spotlight:

BOM Bank

FUND is excited to announce that BOM Bank will serve as the FUND Client Spotlight for March! Join us on March 19 at 3:30pm CST to hear from BOM Bank as our featured webinar guest. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn more about their experience and insights as a valued client.

During the session, BOM Bank President and CEO Ken Hale will have the opportunity to share—including their experience partnering with FUND, thoughts on recent survey results, and other topics such as innovative projects, lessons learned, industry trends, and community initiatives. We look forward to an open and engaging conversation!

Celebrating 25 Years!

To mark our 25th anniversary, the FUND Consulting team began the year with a shared commitment to service, pledging a total of 25 volunteer hours.

Team members selected organizations connected to causes they care about personally, supporting a diverse range of sectors and missions including Impact Grants Chicago, Jung Center of Evanston, Armand Bayou Nature Center (TX), Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church - City of Little Rock, City of Little Rock Commissioner - The Little Rock Racial and Cultural Diversity Commission (RCDC), Galveston Bay Foundation (TX), Greater Chicago Food Depository.

Mark Your Calendars

March 19, 2026

3:30pm CT

FUND Consulting Webinar:

Client Spotlight on BOM Bank

PLEASE NOTE THAT OUR WEBINAR TIME HAS BEEN MOVED TO 3:30 BY POPULAR REQUEST.

Legislative Update

A bipartisan coalition of 30 senators, led by Sens. Steve Daines (R‑Montana) and Mark Warner (D‑Virginia), has introduced the Access to Fair Financing for Opportunity and Resilient Development (AFFORD) Act — a bill aimed at strengthening and modernizing the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund. This proposal represents a significant step forward for the community development finance sector and has the potential to deliver meaningful benefits to communities nationwide.

The legislation consolidates several measures that were included in the Senate version of last year’s National Defense Authorization Act but were ultimately removed from the final bill. These include updates to the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program, expanded resources for Native CDFIs, stronger oversight and transparency provisions, and enhanced liquidity for community lenders through elements originally proposed in the Scaling Community Lenders Act. Importantly, the bill would reduce the minimum bond guarantee loan size from $100 million to $25 million and eliminate the annual guarantee cap, making the program more accessible to smaller CDFIs.

The introduction of the AFFORD Act comes as Congress continues broader debates on housing, community development.

Read the press release from Sens. Daines and Warner here

Read the full bill text here