Once Certified, to maintain Certification, Certified CDFIs must demonstrate compliance with the Target Market percentage benchmarks each fiscal year.

The revised Application no longer requires Applicants to submit a map for a pre-qualified Investment Area consisting only of individual census tracts that the CDFI Fund has determined meet one or more of the statutory economic distress criteria, or for a pre-qualified Targeted Population (either Low-Income Targeted Population or Other Targeted Population).

CDFIs must dedicate 60% of their financing activities to eligible Target Markets. For Applicants wishing to use a customized Investment Area or a non-Metro county or parish Investment Area, activity in individually non-qualifying census tracts may be counted toward the 60% threshold if certain additional conditions are met.

Prior to October 1, 2027, an Applicant that serves a Metro customized Investment Area and also serves a non-Metro customized Investment Area (or a non-Metro county or parish Investment Area) must:

Yes, an Applicant may be certified to serve both a pre-qualified Investment Area and a customized Investment Area and/or a non-Metro county-wide or parish-wide Investment Area. In such cases an Applicant must submit a map of any Customized Investment Areas and/or non-Metro county-wide or parish-wide Investment Areas in CIMS and meet the accountability requirements for each Investment Area type.

If a CDFI fails to deliver at least 85% of its financing activity within the individually qualified census tracts of a Metro customized Investment Area or, prior to October 1, 2027, at least 75% (and at least 85% beginning October 1, 2027) within the individually qualified census tracts of a non-Metro customized Investment Area or county-wide or parish-wide Investment Area, it will still be able to treat the activity within the individually qualified census tracts of the respective geography as Investment Area Target Market activity, but will not be able to recognize the activity within non

If an entity acquires another entity, the financing activity of the acquired entity may count toward the Target Market requirements of the acquiring entity only if that activity is included in the non-consolidated financial statements of the acquiring entity at the end of the acquiring entity’s fiscal year. Generally, such activity may not count toward the Target Market requirements of the acquiring entity if the acquired entity remains a separate legal entity, even if its financing activity is included in the consolidated financial statements of the acquiring entity.

TM07 asks Applicants to attest “that only a CDFI Fund-approved Target Market assessment methodology(ies) was and will continue to be used to determine whether or not Financial Product transactions and/or depository accounts have been directed to an eligible Target Market,” while TM08 asks Applicants to identify the Target Market assessment methodology(ies) used by the Applicant.

Yes, a wholesale lender that purchases loan participations (i.e. a portion of a loan originated by a retail lender) from other Certified CDFIs may be designated as serving an OTP-Certified CDFIs Target Market.

Yes, it does matter. Part of the TLR’s Target Market Calculator’s logic is based on the names given to a Target Market in AMIS and CIMS. For AMIS, the relevant data field is the “Market Name” data field on the “CDFI Certification Market” object. For CIMS, the relevant data field is the “Map Name” data field for each Target Market map created.