How have CDFIs leveraged various funding mechanisms? Federal Reserve survey aims to find out

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Community development financial institutions (CDFIs) play a critical role in providing financial products and services to socially and economically underserved consumers, businesses, and communities. In addition to addressing gaps in credit and capital access directly, they are conduits of funds provided by other community and economic development programs. That’s why the Federal Reserve seeks to better understand this industry through its biennial CDFI Survey.

The 2025 CDFI survey will be open April 10 – May 30, 2025
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“Our survey provides insights for Fed leaders on CDFI demand, opportunities, and broader industry trends,” explained Carrie Cook, vice president and community affairs officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. The Richmond Fed launched the CDFI Survey in 2009 and has worked with other Reserve Banks and industry partners since 2019 to capture data on CDFIs nationwide. When combined with insights from the Fed’s community outreach efforts, survey data paints a more complete picture of access to capital and CDFI trends in the United States.

The survey is a valuable resource for people who respond to it as well. Cook noted that aggregated survey data helps CDFI leaders learn from their colleagues’ innovations, challenges, and solutions. Leaders can also use the data to inform policymakers and stakeholders about their industry.

Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI)

CDFIs are mission-driven banks, credit unions, loan funds, and venture capital funds. They deliver a range of financial products and services to individuals and communities underserved by traditional lenders. CDFIs also provide an affordable alternative to nontraditional—sometimes predatory—lenders.

Diving deep with special questions

Special questions included in the survey enable the Federal Reserve to dive into specific topics or challenges in the CDFI landscape. For example, the 2023 survey gathered information from 453 respondents — nearly one-third of the CDFIs in the country — on how they measure their impact on communities. “We learned what percentage of our respondents were tracking different impact metrics, and what additional metrics they would track if they could,” said Surekha Carpenter, a research analyst at the Richmond Fed who coordinates the Bank’s administration of the CDFI Survey.

The 2023 survey also asked about how CDFIs innovated with their products and services, and used secondary markets as a funding mechanism. Secondary market transactions — in which a CDFI’s loans are sold to banks or other investors — free up a CDFI’s balance sheet for additional lending. 

Carpenter said the 2025 survey will ask the same questions about secondary markets, as well as seek more details on the challenges CDFIs may have encountered while trying to sell their loans. “Asking the same questions will allow us to compare between the two years and see if there has been any movement in the industry,” she explained, “keeping in mind that we won’t necessarily hear from the same respondents.”

The main objective, Carpenter stressed, is to get a good response rate. “The more participation we get, the more accurate our insights on the state of the industry will be.”

About the Federal Reserve CDFI Survey

This year’s CDFI Survey will be administered as a partnership between the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks and the following organizations: CDFI Fund, Opportunity Finance Network, Inclusiv, Community Bankers Association, African American Alliance of CDFI CEOs, Asset Funders Network, CDFI Friendly America, First Nations Oweesta Corporation, Native CDFI Network, and NeighborWorks America.

Key findings from the 2025 survey are scheduled to be released in August 2025 and follow-up reports on the survey results will be released in subsequent months. See the CDFI Survey website for the key findings report from the 2023 survey and past survey reports.