SCF began its operations in 2011. It was born out of a mission-centered economic development company, National New Markets Fund. SCF operates as a revolving investment fund to achieve our poverty alleviation mission. Primarily we support financial inclusion strategies that are seeking to build more equitable access to capital resources for underserved and low-income communities.
SCF offers “innovation capital” to ensure that the most promising new and unique approaches to reduce poverty can be launched and brought to scale.
In 2019, SCF was certified as a Community Development Finance Institution (CDFI), and remaining so ensures that our financial inclusion goals are a core foundational anchor point.
SCF seeks to activate as much of its usable assets to maximize the social impacts it can generate. To date, 100% of our investment activity consists of mission-aligned impact investments. SCF does not typically provide grants to its investees.
Innovation Capital Provider
SCF provides innovation capital to entities, such as CDFIs and other financial organizations, that are developing or implementing new models or approaches to address the root causes or contributors of poverty and inequality.
These initiatives:
Focus Areas
The entities and initiatives SCF invest in to benefit low-income, distressed and underserved communities and individuals target the following focal areas:
Supports CDFI Entities
As a certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), SCF is mandated to make at least 60% of its annual investments into other CDFI entities, though typically it achieves upwards of +80%. Thus, we prioritize investments into CDFI entities that are generating mission-aligned impacts for SCF’s targeted communities and beneficiaries.
Technical Assistance Provider
SCF not only provides our investees with the capital needed to fund their program activities, but we also offer strategic resources and technical assistance to help them achieve their organizational and programmatic goals. We seek to not only be a funder, but a partner in facilitating the success of our investees. We bring to bear our own internal knowledge base, as well as that of our broad relationship network across the fields of community and economic development, to help address our investees’ core challenges and goals. Some areas we have offered investees assistance in include funding strategies, partnering relationships, knowledge-area tutorials, research, etc.