OFN Side by Side Data Cover of 25th edition

OFN’s Latest Member Data Now Available

Brent Howell, Vice President of Research, Opportunity Finance Network

Read time: 3 minutes

OFN has released its latest Side by Side chartbook and Inside the Membership fact sheet.

Now in its 25th edition, Side by Side provides data for industry practitioners, investors, and others interested in assessing the activity and performance of the community development financial institution (CDFI) industry. Side by Side presents data from OFN member CDFIs and includes peer group analyses by primary financing sector and asset size. 

New this year, OFN has restructured Side by Side as a chartbook. A forthcoming narrative brief or report will offer deeper trend analysis on member activity, performance, and activity over time and comparatively, highlighting key themes of interest. 

The latest edition of Side by Side presents data from OFN’s 2022 Annual Member Survey and includes information on as many as 368 CDFIs in OFN’s membership, depending on the data point. Of these, 278 are included in the peer analysis, which is split by primary financing sector and asset size. 

At a Glance

  • At fiscal year-end, OFN members held more than $40.1 billion in total assets and close to $26.4 billion in total financing outstanding.  
  • In 2022, OFN members provided nearly $10.7 billion in financing to people, markets, and communities underserved by mainstream finance. 
  • Cumulatively, member financing has helped to create or maintain over 3 million jobs, start or expand over 850,000 businesses and microenterprises, and support the development or rehabilitation of nearly 2.4 million housing units and over 14,000 community facility projects. 

How is the Guide Useful for CDFIs? 

CDFI staff can use this guide to compare their organization’s activities and performance to a peer group of similar organizations. This can help CDFIs make management and operational decisions to improve their performance. 

For CDFIs that are expanding financing into new sectors, this guide helps them understand the differences among sectors. Many CDFIs also use information in this chartbook to inform and educate their boards of directors, funders, and investors. 

How is the Guide Useful for Investors? 

This guide helps investors understand key aspects of the CDFI industry’s operations and key ratios they may want to consider when evaluating CDFIs for investment. It helps investors understand differences across sectors, institution sizes, and institution types. Finally, investors can use the guide to compare a CDFI under consideration for funding to a peer group of similar organizations.  

For questions about Side by Side, Inside the Membership, or other OFN research publications, please contact Brent Howell, OFN’s vice president of research, at bhowell@ofn.org or 202.868.6913


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