Annual Report: Our Next Chapter
Building on 40 years of success, we move forward with an expansive and optimistic outlook for the future.
We’re thrilled to share our experiences working with investors, borrowers, and communities across N.H.
As we look back on Fiscal Year 2024, I can summarize my outlook with one simple word – grateful.
Grateful to our supporters who have been with us since the beginning and those who are new to our neighbors-helping-neighbors community. You have entrusted us with donations, grants, and investments, many of you when we had no record of accomplishment, when we had no proof of concept.
Grateful to all who stayed with us while other markets and investment opportunities could have afforded you more personal financial gain. Your donations, grants, and investments are the lifeblood of our work, the lifeblood of our communities.
Grateful to our staff and our borrowers, the people who show up for our mission and show up for each other every single day. The work they do together delivering life changing impact in our communities is humbling to witness.
In the last fiscal year, the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund reached the milestone of self-sufficiency. We achieved this crucial milestone at a time when funding sources from the federal government are uncertain. With your continued support we can and will solve local problems with local dollars.
We began our new five-year strategic plan in July, and we invite you to explore the full plan on our website. You’ll notice many of the Strategic Plan themes throughout this annual report; resilience for our borrowers, creative problem solving, and commitment to building capacity within our team and throughout our networks. Ask questions, push us to do more, join us in the work.
You chose community simply by receiving this publication, and you continue to choose community by staying with us as we embark on our next chapter. Supporting your neighbors, many of whom you may never know, is a powerful act.
We promise to continue stewarding your dollars responsibly, keeping them protected and fully deployed in the community.
This year we had the honor of making our region a better place for all by creating more opportunities for affordable and secure homeownership, small-business growth, stronger municipalities, and sustainable food systems.
We are proud to work with forward-looking investors, donors, and funders, and to collaborate with enthusiastic borrowers and other community members as they achieve their housing, energy, business, municipal, and nonprofit goals.
Explore the success that we’ve been honored to be a part of this year.
We got our start in 1983 with the belief that all people deserve access to opportunity, and that the more fortunate people in our communities would want to help support that idea. In the four decades since, we have expanded our initial neighbors-investing-in-neighbors philosophy to build beyond affordable housing to support holistic economic opportunity across our communities.
Discover more about what makes us unique today.
Our values drive the work we do every day. It’s because of our values that we emphasize the coaching and guidance that we provide to our borrowers. And our values drive our vision of a future where all people have access to the resources they need to live secure and prosperous lives.
See how we have acted on our values over this past year.
We’re not funded by either the state or federal government. Federal, state, and local governments offer many grant programs that fund ideas and projects that provide public services and stimulate the economy. We apply, or help our borrowers apply, for grants that provide a direct benefit to the people we serve. Example projects include water, sewer, and electrical infrastructure improvements at ROCs.
The majority of these funds don’t pay for our operations or programs. Instead, government departments and programs come to us because we have the expertise, network, and experience to administer and distribute these funds across New Hampshire.
In the future, when we receive one of these grants, it means we need additional help from impact investors and donors. As we take on new projects or programs that cost more to administer than we are given to cover those costs, it means that we — and your neighbors who can benefit from these grants — need your support more than ever. It’s the only way we can cover the costs required to effectively distribute these potentially life-changing grants.
Changes in interest rates have made it more challenging to provide investors with the combination of financial and social returns that make investing in us so attractive. Our goal is to attract more impact investors to shore up this disparity.
Review our Financials to better understand how today’s financial markets are affecting our ability to serve our neighbors.
A multitude of individual, institutional, business and other investors who enjoy earning both social and financial returns have found a home with us. It could be because they believe in our neighbors-investing-in-neighbors philosophy. It might be because of our 100% investor repayment rate. Maybe it’s because the combination of the two aligns with their values. Or perhaps for the members of the 100% Opportunity Club — investors who choose a 0%-interest option — it’s because the interest they would have earned offers extra assistance to borrowers who need it and makes loans even more affordable.
Whatever their reason, we celebrate our investors and the opportunities for all that they open up in communities across the state.
We love the people who take our neighbors-investing-in-neighbors strategy to heart. We have always respected those who find ways to make their communities the vital and vibrant places they want to live in.
Read MoreInvesting in our work is a great way for financial institutions to contribute more to the local economy.
Read MoreMission-aligned foundations are able to grow their impact and gain financial returns as well.
Read MoreThese organizations contribute to our impact within their communities, creating long-standing benefits.
Read MoreFaith-based organizations have been with us since our very first loan in 1984 and continue to support our work today.
Read MoreWe are grateful for the investment advisors and consultants who take a special interest in impact investing and recommend us to their clients who are responsibly investing their dollars for impact.
Read MoreThese individuals and institutions have chosen a 0%-interest option on their Opportunity NH Investments. This means 100% of the interest they would have earned offers extra assistance to borrowers who need it and makes loans even more affordable. Thank you, 100-percenters!
Read MoreGet the details on how to become an impact investor and put your funds to good use helping your neighbors and your community.
Donors have a special place in our hearts. The funds they provide pay for the coaching and guidance that we provide to our borrowers as well as our permanent pool of capital that we are able to lend over-and-over again. They allow us to help ROCs understand and form governance structures and access grants for infrastructure improvements. They allow us to work with businesses and nonprofits long after the ink on their loan documents is dry. They allow us to spend years helping families get their credit to a place where we can provide financing for a first home.
Here’s to our donors, a vital group who give to make communities better places for everyone.
The largest group of donors includes people who align with our mission and philosophy. Their contributions are vital to our lending programs.
Read MoreWe appreciate the support of organizations that give to support our work of helping our borrowers succeed in achieving their dreams.
Read MoreThese funds allow people to continue to contribute to improving people’s lives and to making New Hampshire a great place to live.
Read MoreYour donation helps fund our work as a resource for the lively communities and people we have the honor of serving.
Explore each chapter of the 2024 Annual Report by clicking on the card or button for each of the pages below.
Subscribe to our newsletter to get regular updates on projects, impact, and our latest insights.