NC3 has been researching, supporting, and advocating for the development of community investment funds (CIFs) for years. In 2019, we developed an ebook, Community Investment Funds: A How-To Guide for Building Local Wealth, Equity, and Justice, and an accompanying Community Investment Fund Toolkit. In 2021, we brought a proposal to the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as the Senate Banking Committee for what we called a 21st Century Community Investment Fund.
Diversified Community Investment Fund (DCIF)
Meanwhile, as we continued to work with communities in our accelerator program who sought to incorporate community investment in their projects, they made it clear they were most interested in creating a local investment fund that could invest in a wide variety of assets. The Diversified Community Investment Fund (DCIF) was the solution, encompassing both real estate and business or project investments.
A DCIF is a type of community-scale fund that invests primarily in real estate but can also invest in any local business or project, and can do so with investment capital raised publicly from within the fund's own community, including community investors. A DCIF can distribute profits to its community investors, meaning it creates a wealth-building opportunity for everyone, while contributing to a more resilient local economy.
A DCIF is a type of community-scale fund that invests primarily in real estate but can also invest in any local business or project, and can do so with investment capital raised publicly from within the fund's own community, including community investors. A DCIF can distribute profits to its community investors, meaning it creates a wealth-building opportunity for everyone, while contributing to a more resilient local economy.
Aligned Community Investment Fund (ACIF)
Other projects may not have a direct tie to real estate. For these, a second fund structure allows any company that is primarily in a non-securities business to have an investment fund. An ACIF can be created by any community-based organization, such as an entrepreneurial support organization (ESO), to raise capital publicly from community members and deploy some of that capital via investments into its client businesses or other businesses in the community. Just like the DCIF, the profits generated by the ACIF's investments can be distributed back to its community investors, creating a wealth-building opportunity for all alongside a strong local economy.