University of New Hampshire Foundation

The University of New Hampshire Foundation’s Carsey Center for Impact Finance seeks to address the role that access to capital plays in turning the tide on widening income inequality and building a more sustainable future for our communities, the nation and the world. The Carsey Center, through funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, is engaging in both research and convenings to help raise visibility around the challenges of implementing sustainable solar power in low-income communities and communities of color, and to assess appropriate response strategies for community-based lenders. This grant will contribute to these efforts by: a) supporting primary research with experts on low-income solar and community-based lenders; b) a series of convenings, culminating in a virtual Financial Innovations Roundtable event hosted by the New York Federal Reserve Bank, to facilitate dialogue, problem-solving and systems-building around scaling financing for low-income solar projects; and c) disseminating widely the results from the research and convenings, with recommendations for how capital can reach low-income solar developers.

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire (Carsey School) is a resource for research and scholarship on public policy with a particular focus on applied research analysis of critical social, economic, and environmental issues facing families and communities. As part of this mission, the Carsey School manages the Financial Innovations Roundtable (FIR), a membership organization that creates cross-sector partnerships among conventional and non-traditional lenders and investors to provide low-income communities with increased access to capital and financial services. Most recently, the FIR held a convening with the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond focused on the ways in which Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) support community development. This award will pay for the Foundation’s membership in the Financial Innovations Roundtable, support for the recent convening and its work related to channeling DAF money into Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs).

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire (Carsey School) is a resource for research and scholarship on public policy with a particular focus on applied research analysis of critical social, economic, and environmental issues families and communities face. As part of this mission, the Carsey School manages the Financial Innovations Roundtable (FIR), a membership organization that creates cross-sector partnerships among conventional and nonntraditional lenders and investors to provide low-income communities with increased access to capital and financial services. This grant supports efforts by the Carsey School to (a) create new partnerships between Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and major nonprofit health systems to help them meet expanded community benefits as required under the Affordable Care Act (ACA); and (b) encourage new investment in CDFIs by health systems and their partners as a means to increase impact investing in CDFIs. The award also will pay for the Foundation's membership in the Financial Innovations Roundtable.