16th
October

2025

Hearing from Field: How CDFIs Are Scaling Community Finance with the MassMutual Foundation

Amber Kuchar-Bell, EVP, Chief Program Officer, OFN; Sydney Schoeller, Senior Associate, Programs and Investment Services, OFN

October 16, 2025 –

As part of OFN’s CDFI Innovation Initiative, OFN hits the road to hear from members about what solutions are needed to build a future-ready CDFI industry.

Read time: 6 minutes

As part of OFN’s CDFI Innovation Initiative, OFN hits the road to hear from members about what solutions are needed to build a future-ready CDFI industry.

OFN’s CDFI Innovation Initiative is a sustained investment to institutionalize innovation, reimagine the structuring of community development finance, and develop new solutions to deepen impact nationwide. The Initiative comprises three core pillars: an Innovation Council, which guides the Initiative; an Innovation Center, which seeds solutions through technical assistance, accelerators, research, and convenings; and an Innovation Capital pillar, which provides funding to support the piloting and scaling of high-potential innovations.

As the initiative sponsor, the MassMutual Foundation serves as a catalytic partner in this work, helping to create and provide access to the capacity and resources CDFIs need to test bold ideas and reimagine community finance. Together, OFN and the MassMutual Foundation are laying the foundation for new solutions, driving forward tools and models that will strengthen the CDFI industry for years to come.

One of the key strategies in imaging and driving new solutions is listening to voices in the CDFI field.

Listening Tour Highlights & Key Takeaways

Over the past several months, OFN conducted a series of listening sessions at convenings, including the Native CDFI Network Midwest Convening, OFN’s Springfield Regional Meeting, and OFN’s Small Business Finance Forum. We also engaged OFN’s inaugural Innovation Council to hear their insights and expertise.

‘We can’t build the future of community finance with yesterday’s tools.’ This sentiment echoed through our conversations, which surfaced common challenges stemming from outdated systems and structures. More importantly, our discussions highlighted opportunities for solutions that our Innovation Initiative can carry forward. Below are some of the common themes and takeaways.

Expanding Capital Solutions for CDFIs

Across the listening tour, participants emphasized the need for more varied and flexible financing for CDFIs. Core focus areas included innovations around secondary market access, flexible partnerships with funders, and better access to mainstream financing, particularly for Native, rural, and small asset-size CDFIs.

Participants noted the need for greater collaboration and capital sharing across CDFIs to help smaller CDFIs scale, while minimizing traditional financing requirements that have restricted CDFIs’ access to capital.

OFN’s Innovation Council members spoke of the need to activate new capital sources and provide CDFIs with stability and predictability. They highlighted the need for solutions that access secondary markets and the potential presented by the tax-exempt bond market as a tool to enable liquidity, scale, and affordable financing for the industry.

Leveraging Technology Solutions to Strengthen the CDFI Industry

CDFI leaders consistently mentioned technology as both a barrier and an opportunity across the industry.

Key areas of identified need include enhanced loan-servicing platforms, AI-enabled underwriting tools, and integrated data systems — improvements that would increase efficiency by reducing duplicative and manual processes while supporting greater loan portfolio diversity and quality across CDFIs.

Our Council members emphasized that AI and other technology tools should be deployed not only to reduce operating costs and streamline loan underwriting and servicing but also to enable CDFIs to spend more time connecting with borrowers and less time on administrative work.

CDFIs and Council members alike mentioned shared service models and backend system consolidation as ways to create shared efficiencies across organizations, helping smaller CDFIs focus resources on impact. Members consistently cited improvements in technology as a central pathway to scaling CDFI impact, capacity, and financing options —helping to provide immediate improvements alongside industry-level change.

Building Community-Centered Practices and Partnerships

Stakeholders highlighted a need for more flexible and creative partnerships. Their ideas included collaborative partnership models, insurance industry partnerships, and region-specific partnerships as ways to improve the quality and diversity of partnerships available to the CDFI industry.

CDFIs underscored the importance of engaging funders throughout broader CDFI activities, helping to align expectations, establish mutually beneficial solutions, and build long-term relationships.

Additionally, Council members encouraged exploring the creation of state and regional CDFI funds to provide more partnership opportunities and funding options for smaller CDFIs. These leaders emphasized the need for consistent, data-driven storytelling to help funders better understand CDFIs’ risk profile and impact, ensuring more stable, long-term capital partnerships.

Looking Ahead

What OFN heard from CDFIs across the listening tour reinforced what we already know —that new solutions are essential to sustaining the industry’s impact. But our listening also surfaced new, urgent priorities and promising solutions.

The emphasis on technology, alternative capital sources, and efficiency improvements reflects an industry ready to adapt and reimagine how to build strength and long-term resilience.

We will use this feedback to move these concepts forward through the CDFI Innovation Initiative. OFN has designed a process of structured support — from early ideation to thoughtful development and, ultimately, to sustainable implementation.

Recognizing that expanding access to new funding sources is a critical and time-sensitive need for CDFIs, OFN launched our first Innovation Accelerator, the CDFI Capital Solutions Accelerator, in September to help propel solutions to many of the capitalization challenges we heard.

As the CDFI Innovation Initiative advances, OFN will continue to listen closely to our members at OFN41 and other industry convenings, such as OFN’s Western Regional Meeting in December 2025, to ensure that the lessons, ideas, and solutions shared across the field directly shape the tools and resources CDFIs need to grow and scale. We encourage partners and practitioners to stay engaged, share insights, and join us in learning from one another as we advance and build new solutions across the CDFI industry.

We are grateful to everyone who participated in these conversations and to our Innovation Council for generously sharing their insights. A special thank you, as well, to the Native CDFI Network for hosting and bringing together Native CDFIs to discuss innovations needed for CDFIs serving small, rural, and Native communities.

Learn More

Learn more about OFN’s CDFI Innovation Initiative and join us in celebrating the CDFIs and partners driving innovation across our industry. Visit our website and subscribe to OFN’s newsletter to stay connected and informed as we continue to highlight CDFIs and partners driving innovation across the industry.

For more updates, follow OFN on social media to join the conversation and see innovation in action.

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