Supporters & Initiatives

NFF sees community-led organizations as drivers of economic resiliency, well-being, and financial equity. Financially secure nonprofits provide jobs for diverse residents, retain local ownership of critical community assets, and invest in neighborhood stability and wealth-building.   

Yet intentional disinvestment, economic exclusion, and systemic racism have created inequitable realities for nonprofits led by and serving communities of color. To address these challenges, NFF creates opportunities for philanthropic, corporate, and government partners to support nonprofits to become financially sound and have the resources needed to sustain their critical work. We do this by providing loans and financial consulting to community-centered nonprofits.

2022 highlights include:

  • Providing 280 organizations with over 15,000 hours of financial capacity building support, helping build organizational strength and developing sustainable financial strategies to achieve community aspirations 
  • Directing 68% of our lending dollars – over $23 million – to organizations led by people of color 
  • Gathering data from 1,100+ nonprofit leaders about how to build a better social sector

Below are examples of initiatives made possible by our generous supporters. 

Initiatives

NFF provided over $100 million in zero-interest flexible loans, paired with culturally responsive technical assistance and financial counseling for organizations led by and serving people of color in communities severely impacted by COVID-19 in New York, the Bay Area, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles.
NFF and Capital Impact Partners joined together to form the Catalyzing Finance for Racial Equity project to understand how nonprofits have experienced working with CDFIs, as well as how some local and national CDFIs have successfully taken steps to address inequity within their own lending practices. The goal of the project was to identify new ways that CDFIs can center communities of color in how they lend and invest. Findings are captured in a report highlighting five building blocks to increase racial equity in CDFI lending.
A project to support leaders of colors from three networks – BMe, Citizens Committee for New York City, and the Hispanic Federation – to adapt in the pandemic and beyond. NFF partnered with each network to co-design programs and pass-through unrestricted funding to boost their member nonprofits’ financial capacity and health.
The State of the Nonprofit Sector Survey collects data about US nonprofits’ health and challenges and transforms it into an accessible, evidence-based illustration of nonprofits’ ability to help the communities we all serve. Nonprofits regularly cite the survey to support funding requests and peers rely on it as a bellwether for nonprofit financial health. The 2022 survey, conducted in partnership with EVITARUS and Ambit 360, gathered responses from 1,100+ respondents across the US. The Bank of America Charitable Foundation has supported the State of the Nonprofit Sector Survey since 2010.

Our Supporters

NFF Enterprise Supporters

  • Mackenzie Scott
  • The Ford Foundation

Supporters for Equitable Deployment of Capital

  • The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation
  • Wells Fargo
  • Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
  • CDFI Fund
  • W.K. Kellogg Foundation

High Impact Programmatic Supporters

  • Mellon Foundation
  • The Colorado Health Foundation
  • The California Endowment
  • The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
  • The Prudential Foundation
  • Bank of America Charitable Foundation
  • California Community Foundation
  • The Vanguard Group Foundation
  • Morgan Stanley
  • New Jersey State Council on the Arts
  • Trinity Church Wall Street
  • Cedars-Sinai 

 

Education Story

Glowmundo

Helping Colorado youth "find their glow"

Client spotlights

Arts and Culture Story

Su Teatro: Meet Me at the Theater

A Story of Place and Belonging
Human Services / Nonprofit Sector Story

Making the Case for Flexible Funding

LifeWay Network’s approach
Nonprofit Sector Story

Seeing Our Adolescents Rise

A Colorado nonprofit spreads its wings

Join Us

A thriving nonprofit ecosystem relies on the strength of our philanthropic and investment partnerships. Following the lead of those closest to the work ensures our philanthropic partnerships actualize community aspirations, increase access to capital, and reimagine a more inclusive social sector.  

Contact us to learn more at [email protected].