Building Equitable Assets for Communities and Nonprofits (BEACoN)

BEACoN is NFF’s strategy to support nonprofits and mission-aligned developers creating community assets at all stages of development, whether planning, acquisition, construction, or renovation. NFF’s capital and technical assistance help institutions and other local groups invest in community-owned real estate – such as land, affordable housing, and facilities – to achieve community goals and build local wealth and power.

“Community-centered asset ownership narrows the wealth gap in communities of color. Financially secure nonprofits provide jobs for diverse residents, retain local ownership of critical community assets, and invest in neighborhood stability and wealth.”

Community control of assets can take many forms. Examples of BEACoN projects could include:

• Predevelopment and acquisition financing for a community development corporation to plan for and buy a property for an affordable housing or supportive housing project.
• A construction loan to a nonprofit health center whose physical presence in a community is critical to preserving accessible health services for local, low-income residents.
• Financing for a green energy project built by a tribal development authority on tribal land, keeping most of the profits in the community rather than in the hands of private investors and sustaining the tribe for generations to come.
• Working capital for a cooperatively owned and community-run grocery store that preserves or enhances a neighborhood’s access to healthy food.
• A renovation loan for a local group that is turning a vacant retail center into a charter school to serve the neighborhood.
• One-on-one technical assistance to support a nonprofit with their plans to purchase property for the first time.
• Sharing learnings to advocate for practices and capital access that support local ownership, resident wealth, and community well-being.

Communities shape who you know, where you go to school, and where you make and spend your money – and they have a profound effect on the life outcomes of their residents.

Across the United States, communities of color have been disinvested of wealth and property through public policy decisions and discriminatory lending practices – such as using the interstate highway system to destroy Black neighborhoods and isolate communities of color from city centers, and redlining that denied people of color access to credit and lowered the value of their homes for generations. These effects ripple into the present day in the form of wealth inequality, health disparities, and other inequities. And many communities of color are now under the threat of gentrification; institutional investors are inflating property values and rents beyond what long-time residents and local businesses can afford.

BEACoN attempts to address these challenges by putting land, facilities, and housing back under community control, stewarded by community-centered nonprofits. Communities that control these assets can leverage them to reduce speculative outside investment and keep long-time residents in place, invest in residents’ needs, and build long-term wealth and well-being.

• Retain assets in the community and build generational wealth.
• Prevent residents from being displaced by the forces of gentrification and speculative investment.
• Increase availability of affordable housing and other community facilities​.
• Sustain local workforces and preserve community services​.
• Responsibly grow nonprofit balance sheets and financial strength​.
• Build local networks and collective advocacy​.

When local nonprofits control community resources, they:

• Provide permanent jobs and services in their communities.
• Create and preserve affordable housing by taking property off the speculative market.
• Reduce systemic vacancy and promote vibrant communities by investing in buildings and other community spaces.
• Redevelop blighted or underutilized assets for housing or critical community services.
• Create public spaces for community events and programs.

• Leveraged a $5 million program-related investment (PRI) and $500,000 grant from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to provide predevelopment and acquisition loans at below-market interest rates for nonprofits and developers addressing New Jersey’s affordable housing shortage and critical social services.
• Offered training, capacity-building, resources, and connections to pro bono advisers to the South LA Innovation Collaborative for Homelessness as they develop community facilities and affordable housing.
• Provided a $200,000 predevelopment loan to Fideicomiso Comunitario Tierra Libre as part of our ongoing support for California community land trusts.

NFF provided Sierra House with $375,000 in loans to support affordable housing in Newark, New Jersey, with more to come. Learn about NFF’s work with Sierra House.

“Going to a finance agency that understands our needs, understands our budget, understands our financials, and that can provide a product that’s mission driven so that we can better serve our communities together, is absolutely amazing.”