Madison Preparatory Academy - School Information System

D. Organizations Financing Charter Schools
The following organizations provide technical assistance and financing to Wisconsin charter schools:
Building Hope (Washington, DC) is a nonprofit multi-services partnership firm that supports high quality
public charter schools in multiple U.S. cities by providing technical and financial assistance for capital
projects. They support schools at start-up and through their growth span providing real estate technical
assistance (site selection, design, lease/purchase negotiations, constructing affordable loans, and subleasing),
facilities financing (lending, guaranteeing/insuring debt from $250K to $1M, facilitating financing and
issuance of bonds), and back office professional business services (facilities maintenance and repairs, finance
and accounting, payroll and employee benefits, and information technology).
Charter School Development Center (Hanover, MD) provides facilities solutions for charter schools
nationally through real estate development, financing, and credit enhancement services. Through its Building
Block Fund, CSDC provides loan guarantees, first-loss debt service reserves, substitute equity and additional
collateral for leasehold improvements, acquisition, renovation, and construction loans, as well as lease
guarantees. BBF has helped more than 50 charter schools leverage nearly $150M in financing since 2001.
IFF (Chicago, Milwaukee) is a nonprofit corporation and an award-winning community development
financial institution certified by the U.S. Department of the Treasury in 1996. In 2008, IFF received the
Wachovia NEXT Award for Opportunity Finance and Fast Company’s Social Capitalist Award for its
innovative lending model. Founded in 1988, IFF is a nonprofit community development financial institution
(CDFI) committed to strengthening nonprofits in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin through
affordable financing, real estate consulting, research, and public policy. IFF opened a Wisconsin office to
serve nonprofits throughout the state in 2009. IFF has provided over 35 below-market rate loans in
Wisconsin for a total principal of nearly $19 million. Today, IFF supports child care centers, community
development facilities, affordable housing developments, health care clinics, and schools in the state. It is the
only one-stop shop in the Midwest offering affordable financing and real estate services at every stage of
school development.
IFF provides loans for projects ranging from $10,000 to $1.5M for pre-development and start-up costs with
terms of up to 15 years. They also provide credit enhancement of bonds and investor pools for projects over
$1.5M, including low tax-exempt interest rates and up to 100% financing and 30-year terms on leased or
owned facilities. Schools in certain markets can rely on IFF for help with the full spectrum of their real estate
needs, including project feasibility analysis, pre-development, and project management. To date, IFF has
supported 80 educational facilities, including 46 charter schools in four states that have leveraged $202M in
facilities financing.
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (New York, NY) established the Educational Facilities Financing
Center (EFFC) in 2003 to support the development of quality public charter and alternative schools in lowincome
neighborhoods by providing short-term acquisition and construction loans, with an interest-only
period, and permanent financing with a seven-year term and 12-year amortization period. To date, the EFFC
has closed $52 million in loan and guaranty investments in 15 local funds, together with $1.2 million in
companion grants that have helped leverage $367 million in financing for 66 schools. LISC has also
employed $30 million of its NMTC allocation on behalf of charter schools and served as leveraged lender on
other NMTC transactions. In June 2009, LISC received an additional $8.3M from the U.S. Department of
Education to bolster its financing initiatives for charter schools.
NCB Capital Impact (Arlington, VA), a non-profit affiliate of National Cooperative Bank (also a
nonprofit), has provided more than $100M in facilities financing to public charter schools nationally,
including schools in Wisconsin. The company offers construction, renovation and leasehold improvement
loans, real estate acquisition and term loans, equipment loans, and in an exceptionally few cases, revolving
lines of credit. The range of funding provided is between $1M to $10M. NCB generally funds schools that are
at least three years old and have an enrollment and academic performance history, but they have funded
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