The Nonprofit FAQ
| Cultural and Nonprofit Facilities Funds |
Philadelphia's Cultural Facilities Fund Investigates ExpansionThe Cultural Facilities Fund in Philadelphia, which makes loans to local art and cultural nonprofit organizations for capital improvements, may soon expand its mission to include all nonprofits. (NOTE: This change was made. See http://www.nonprofitfinancefund.org/details.php?autoID=46 — Ed.) With funding from the William Penn Foundation, the organization has been working on a needs study since February, surveying 700 local nonprofits, and will also consult banks, foundations, and other grantmakers. The fund will decide what action to take based on the results of the study, which should be completed by the end of 1998. "It might mean we become the Nonprofit Facilities Fund in Philadelphia, encompassing all of the nonprofit community," said Nancy Burd, the fund's manager. "With the government relying more...on nonprofits to provide services...the stress and strain on those buildings is increasing." — Philanthropy News Digest, September 2, 1998 (Volume 4, Issue 35). If the fund does expand its mission, it would become a Philadelphia version of its New York-based parent organization, the Nonprofit Facilities Fund, which makes capital-improvement loans to all types of nonprofits. In addition to Philadelphia, that fund has branches in Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco, which also only lend money to cultural nonprofit groups. Both the Cultural Facilities Fund and the Nonprofit Facilities Fund are community development financial institutions that make loans from a revolving fund to nonprofits that need to improve or replace their buildings. In addition to the loans, which typically are made to nonprofits that do not have the collateral to borrow from traditional lenders, the funds provide the groups with assistance, to ensure that the projects for which they borrow money get done smoothly; that the buildings will be taken care of once they're built; and that the organizations develop to the point that they can get bank loans. This ultimately will make it easier for the groups to obtain funding from foundations and other grantmakers. — Key, Peter. "Cultural Fund May Expand." Philadelphia Business Journal Online 8/24/98. To search the complete PND archive (180+ issues dating to January 1995), visit Philanthropy News Digest on the World Wide Web http://fdncenter.org/phil/philmain.html Posted September 10, 1998 -- PB |