Helping co-ops succeed:
Cooperative Fund of New England
Our clients were early investors in the Cooperative Fund of New England (CFNE), a community development loan fund founded in 1975 to provide loans and technical assistance to cooperatives, community-oriented nonprofits, and worker-owned businesses. Today, CFNE serves enterprises, from small manufacturers and farmers to food co-ops and cooperative housing developments.
CFNE has enabled cooperatives to create and retain more than 12,000 jobs and nearly 6,000 units of affordable housing. Recently, CFNE has expanded its ability to finance minority-controlled co-ops, helping to ensure that people of color and of other marginalized backgrounds can participate fully in a democratic economy.
Unlike conventional small and medium businesses that often fail within the first five years, more than 75% of CFNE’s cooperatively owned borrowers are still in business today.