Bank of America Small Biz grants

[From Philanthropy News Digest] Charlotte-based Bank of America has announced forty grants totaling more than $3.7 million to Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and other nonprofit lenders to help spur lending to small businesses and expand their lending programs into new communities.

The grants represent the first round of funding through a $10 million Bank of America initiative designed to provide nonprofit lenders with loan loss reserves, an initiative that could unlock as much as $100 million in low-cost, long-term capital for small businesses nationwide over the next year. In the six weeks the grants have been available, CDFIs have used the funds to access nearly $27.5 million in microloans and other lending capital from the Small Business Administration and U.S. Department of Agriculture. With the new capital, the CDFIs expect to make 2,000 new microloans to small businesses and start-ups and help retain or create nearly 4,000 jobs in local communities across the nation.

The grantees serve small businesses in urban and rural communities in seventeen states. Early results include $5.5 million in microloans and capital leveraged by six nonprofit lenders in New York using $900,000 in Bank of America grants and $5.6 million leveraged by nine nonprofit lenders in California that received $790,000 in grants.

“Bank of America Awards First Round of Grants to Nonprofit Community Lenders for Microloans to Small Businesses.” Bank of America Press Release 10/06/10.