The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) has extended the application deadlines for when currently Certified Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) must reapply for CDFI Certification using the revised version of the CDFI Certification Application.

In December 2023, the CDFI Fund released the final revised CDFI Certification Application. Noncertified organizations that wish to apply for CDFI Certification may do so at any time using the revised application. However, organizations that are currently certified CDFIs must reapply for certification by the updated deadlines established by the CDFI Fund.

“This should come as welcome news to credit union CDFIs because it allows them to incorporate 2024 lending numbers,” CU Strategic Planning President Stacy Augustine said. “This means CDFIs will have the rest of this year to make any strategic changes needed to meet the CDFI Fund’s Target Market lending requirements. With this news, one important takeaway is the importance of understanding your current Target Market lending numbers to determine whether any changes are needed.” For more than 15 years, CU Strategic Planning has provided credit unions with CDFI certification and grant application assistance.

Specifically, the CDFI Fund will now be instituting a staggered submission schedule for when currently Certified CDFIs will be required to reapply for CDFI Certification using the revised version of the Application. Instead of one reapplication deadline for all Certified CDFIs, the due date for submission of the revised CDFI Certification Application will be determined by the specific date of each organization’s fiscal year-end.

There will still be an early submission window for those Certified CDFIs that notified the CDFI Fund by Feb. 1, 2024, indicating they wished to voluntarily submit their application before the general submission deadline.

What does this mean for currently certified CDFIs?

All currently Certified CDFIs must reapply for CDFI Certification following the submission schedule provided below. Organizations that do not submit an Application by 11:59 pm Eastern Time (ET) on their appointed deadline will lose their CDFI Certification.

Timeline for CDFI Recertifications

The early reapplication window is now from Sept. 16 through Nov. 18, 2024. This applies to groups that notified the CDFI Fund by February 1, 2024, they wished to apply before the general recertification application deadline. Early applicants whose applications are declined and, therefore, are not recertified will remain in a grace period and retain certification through Dec. 31, 2025, but must submit a new CDFI Certification Application before December 31, 2025, in order to remain certified. Early applicants that choose not to apply during the revised early reapplication window must submit their applications according to the general reapplication deadlines outlined below.

All other currently certified CDFIs must reapply for certification using the revised application in the Awards Management Information System (AMIS) by the general reapplication submission deadlines below. No additional grace period or extension will be provided to CDFIs that fail to submit their Application by the revised deadline.

General Reapplication Submission Deadlines, by FYE Date

Until their submission due date, currently certified CDFIs will:

• Retain their status as certified CDFIs

• Remain eligible to apply for all CDFI Fund programs where CDFI certification is an eligibility requirement—provided they abide by ACR reporting requirements and have no material event affecting their CDFI certification status.

After submitting their revised CDFI Certification Application, CDFIs will retain their certified status unless the CDFI Fund notifies them otherwise.

Why is the CDFI Fund Making this Change?

The revised CDFI Certification Application submission deadlines will address several common concerns that Applicants have raised with the CDFI Fund. For example, the revised deadlines extend the grace period for Certified CDFIs so that they can adjust their Financial Product and Financial Services activities to better meet the updated tests within the CDFI Certification Application. CDFIs now have an additional five months or more (depending on their revised submission deadline) to meet those requirements.

In addition, the CDFI Award Recipients Transaction Level Report (TLR) submission requirements will now coincide with applicants’ CDFI Certification Application submission deadlines, reducing the likelihood that Award Recipients will need to amend existing TLR submissions in order to complete their CDFI Certification Application.

The extended submission deadline schedule also provides CDFIs additional time to review the CDFI Certification Application guidance materials on the CDFI Fund’s website. A new Quick Facts guide for Certified CDFIs is now available and the CDFI Fund will soon publish updated CDFI Certification FAQs for applicants that address the common questions posed by applicants over the past few months. Links to the updated resources can be found below and on the CDFI Fund’s website.

The CDFI Fund encourages organizations interested in CDFI Certification to visit its website at www.cdfifund.gov/cdficert for updates to other guidance materials in the coming days.

Questions

Questions regarding the:

CDFI Certification Application should be directed to the Office of Certification Policy and Evaluation (OCPE) via an AMIS Service Request (preferred), or by email to ocpecert@cdfi.treas.gov.

ACR and TLR should be directed to the Office of Financial Strategies and Research (FS&R), via an AMIS Service Request (preferred), or by email to
CDFI-FinancialStrategiesandResearch@cdfi.treas.gov.

Related Materials

Quick Facts for Currently Certified CDFIs

All CDFI Certification Application guidance materials and resources can be found on the CDFI Fund’s website at www.cdfifund.gov/cdficert under ‘Step 2:Application Process’.