Allocation from U.S. Treasury Will Help Low-Income Areas Realize Benefits of Economic Recovery Efforts

New York — November 16, 2009 — Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) has been awarded $60 Million in New Markets Tax Credits to support community development projects in low–income areas. NFF will use the allocation to help nonprofit organizations finance facility projects – one of the most challenging undertakings in today's economic climate.

"For many nonprofits – particularly those providing critical social services–demand has risen sharply and shows no signs of slowing,"said Norah McVeigh, Managing Director of Financial Services at NFF. "The tax credits will help attract investments in the infrastructure needed to support nonprofits' work in communities hard–hit by economic turmoil."

The New Markets Tax Credits program, named one of the Top 50 Government Innovations by the Harvard Kennedy School, provides significant incentives for investments in traditionally hard–to–finance projects. The program rewards investors with tax credits totaling 39% of the total financing costs for select projects, over a period of seven years.

NFF has been awarded a total of $130 Million in New Markets Tax Credits over the past three years to help finance high–impact investments that strengthen nonprofit organizations. PROCEED, an organization that provides education, health and training services to the people of Elizabeth, New Jersey, recently cut the ribbon on a new building made possible through a partnership with JPMorgan Chase that leveraged NFF's tax credits.

"We have served our community for 40 years, and were faced with tough financial decisions when we urgently needed to expand our facilities and programs," said Teresa Soto–Vega, MPA, Executive Director of PROCEED. "A building can be a nonprofit organization's greatest asset, or the albatross around its neck. The New Markets Tax Credits program allowed us to build in a fiscally responsible and sustainable way – a win for PROCEED, for our neighborhood, and for the more than 12,000 people each year who use our programs."

"The New Markets Tax Credit program encourages strategic investments that have long-term impacts on low–income communities," said Kevin Goldsmith, Vice President of JPMorgan Chase, an investor in the PROCEED project. "We focus our NMTC investments to projects that will generate positive community impacts, such as the PROCEED transaction."

In total, more than $21 billion in New Markets Tax Credits have been awarded since 2000. For more information, please visit: New Market Tax Credit Program.

About Nonprofit Finance Fund
Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) is a national leader in nonprofit, philanthropic and social enterprise finance. Founded in 1980, NFF (www.nonprofitfinancefund.org) provides loan financing, access to capital, and consulting services that build the capacity and the financial health of nonprofits. A leading community development financial institution with over $80 million in assets, NFF has provided over $197 million in loans and access to additional financing via grants, tax credits and capital in support of over $1 billion in projects for nonprofit clients nationwide. NFF has a staff of more than 75 serving nonprofits nationally from offices in New York City, Philadelphia, Newark, Boston, Detroit, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.

Media contact:
Tricia McKenna or Crystal Noble
Louder Than Words for Nonprofit Finance Fund
781-487-0002
nff@louderthanwords.com