This Toolkit has been designed to support CDFIs, green banks, and other community development lenders as they grow as a Resilient Community Development Lender (CDL), centering and operationalizing resilience in their lending, programs, and other endeavors.
The Strategic Planning and Impact Measurement Workbook will help you:
- Integrate equitable, holistic resilience into all facets of your work;
- Incorporating resilience building and protective measures wherever and whenever feasible;
- Clearly articulate specific, detailed goals, report on results, and answering to affected/influenced/leading stakeholders;
- Continually investigate needs and opportunities and how best to address them and build resilience.
The Model Due Diligence and Underwriting Toolkit for Resilient Community Development Finance will help you:
- Deepen your due diligence;
- Assess and mitigate chronic stresses and acute shock that could affect your project's success;
- Structure and optimize projects and loans;
- Communicate findings and recommendations to your decision-making body effectively.
Purpose: This Workbook is intended to help community development lenders to take stock, plan, and take action in terms of integrating resilience into their organization and lending practice. While some lenders may choose to adopt this workbook wholesale, many lenders will adapt this work to fit their needs or just use it as a model as they revise their existing materials. The template may need to be augmented or modified to for a particular asset type or lending sector.
User: This workbook can be used as part of an organization-wide strategic planning process or as part of an annual review. In addition, this Workbook can be used by an individual staff member or Board member to think about resilience and how the organization does and could invest in resilience building.
Download the Quick Start Guide to the Strategic Planning and Impact Measurement Workbook
Download the Strategic Planning and Impact Measurement Workbook
The Model Due Diligence and Underwriting Toolkit for Resilient Community Development Finance has three components:
- The Model Due Diligence Checklist is a recommended list of documents and information to be obtained and analyzed by the lender.
- The Model Credit Memo Template is the ultimate presentation of the lender's analysis and recommendations to its decision-making body.
- The Project Intake, Analysis, and Optimization Workbook bridges the Due Diligence Checklist and the Credit Memo, providing a repository for key information and serving as an analysis and structuring tool.
The Toolkit is intended as a model template for adoption or adaption and integration by the lender. Many lenders already have a process for gathering, collating, and analyzing much of the information listed in this workbook. Lenders may wish to modify their existing materials to reflect all or some of this Toolkit. Others may wish to adopt the Toolkit as a whole, substituting the Toolkit's components for their current materials.
More information and instructions for how best to use these tools, as well as best practices, data sources, and resilience-building strategies, and other information are available on the Resilient Community Development Finance Resource microsite.
Download the Quick Start Guide to the Model Due Diligence and Underwriting Toolkit
Model Due Diligence Checklist
Purpose: This template is intended to assist the lender in gathering all information necessary for a robust credit analysis. Further, this model due diligence checklist suggests that the lender gathers information that will allow the lender to identify opportunities to invest in "precover," measures that will reduce risk and increase positive outcomes. While some lenders may choose to adopt this template wholesale, many lenders will adapt this template to fit their needs or just use it as a model as they revise their existing materials. It is likely that this Checklist will need to be augmented to include materials specific to a particular asset type or lending sector.
User: This template is intended to be used by a lender as part of its underwriting and approval process. The Checklist is designed to be used internally by the lending team and could be sent to a potential borrower.
Instructions: Applicants should provide the following reports, documentation, and information to the extent available. If something is not applicable, write "NA." If an item is in process but not yet available, the applicant should provide the status and expected date.
Download the Model Due Diligence Checklist
Project Intake, Analysis, and Optimization Workbook
Purpose: This Workbook is intended to help a community development lender strengthen its due diligence and underwriting processes and communicate its findings and recommendations to its decision-making body. While some lenders may choose to adopt this workbook wholesale, many lenders will adapt this work to fit their needs or just use it as a model as they revise their existing materials. The template may need to be augmented or modified to for a particular asset type or lending sector.
User: This workbook is designed to be used by a community development lender as part of its due diligence and underwriting process.
Instructions: This lending team should use this workbook to track its due diligence and collect information, to analyze its findings, and to structure and optimize the project/deal. The template should be augmented or modified as needed for the lending sector, asset type, or specific loan/project.
Download the Project Intake, Analysis, and Optimization Workbook
Model Credit Memo Template
Purpose: This Template is intended to help a community development lender strengthen its underwriting process and communicate its findings and recommendations to its decision-making body. While some lenders may choose to adapt this wholesale, many lenders will adapt this template to fit their needs or just use it as a model as they revise their existing materials. The template may need to be augmented or modified to for a particular asset type or lending sector.
User: This template is designed to be used by a community development lender as part of its underwriting and approval process.
Instructions: The lending team should use this template as an outline for communicating findings and recommendations to its decision-making body. The template should be augmented or modified as needed for the lending sector, asset type, or specific loan/project.
