The Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) is tentatively planning to publish the Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA) and application for the FY 2019 Capital Magnet Fund round in the summer of 2019. Up to $130.8 million is expected to be available for awards through the FY 2019 round.
Through the Capital Magnet Fund, the CDFI Fund provides competitively awarded grants to CDFIs and qualified non-profit housing organizations. These grants can be used to support affordable housing activities, as well as related economic development and community service facilities such as day care centers, workforce development centers, and health care clinics. For last year's application round, 38 organizations received $142.9 million in awards, and the awards ranged in size from $562,500 to $7.5 million.
Eligible applicants for the Capital Magnet Fund must be either a certified CDFI or a non-profit organization operating with a principle purpose of developing or managing affordable housing. Successful applicants can use the funds to create financing tools such as loan loss reserves, revolving loan funds, risk-sharing loans, and loan guarantees.
To learn more about the Capital Magnet Fund program, we suggest that you review the following information currently available on the CDFI Fund's website:
- The Capital Magnet Fund Outreach Presentation for FY 2019. This presentation provides a general overview of the program and its key requirements, but does not specifically discuss the application process.
- The Capital Magnet Fund Interim Rule (12 C.F.R. Part 1807).
- The previous round (FY 2018) application materials, which will give a general sense of the level of effort involved in applying for a Capital Magnet Fund Award.
The CDFI Fund will provide further information about the NOFA, application, and how to apply in the coming weeks. However, to successfully submit a Capital Magnet Fund application, your organization will need to have key information on hand and account access for several different federal government websites. You can act now to speed things up for your organization when the application period opens for the FY 2019 Capital Magnet Fund round.
Getting Ready to Apply: Required Account Information
Completing the following will ensure that you will be able to access required forms and information in SAM.gov, Grants.gov, and the CDFI Fund's Awards Management Information System (AMIS). Please note that while we have done our best to compile useful links to help you, the CDFI Fund is not responsible for maintaining links or the accuracy of the information on other organizations' websites.
Step 1: Obtain your DUNS and EIN Numbers
Each applicant must provide, as part of its application submission, a Dun and Bradstreet Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number. applicants without a DUNS number will not be able to register in SAM.gov and Grants.gov, nor submit a Standard Form (SF)-424 Mandatory in the Grants.gov system. Further, the DUNS number in your SAM.gov, Grants.gov, and AMIS accounts must all match and must be the correct DUNS number of the Applicant.
- Please allow sufficient time for Dun and Bradstreet to respond to inquiries and/or requests for DUNS numbers.
- Learn more about how to obtain a DUNS number here.
applicants must also have an Employer Identification Number (EIN) to register in SAM.gov, which is a prerequisite to submit a SF-424 Mandatory via Grants.gov. Applicants that do not have an EIN number must apply to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to obtain the number. Further, the EIN number in your SAM.gov, Grants.gov, and AMIS accounts must all match and must be the correct EIN number of the applicant.
- Please allow sufficient time to obtain your organization's EIN.
- To obtain an EIN, please visit the IRS.gov page here.
Step 2: Create or Update Your SAM.gov Account
SAM is an official website of the U.S. government that collects, validates, stores, and disseminates business information about the federal government's trading partners in support of the contract awards, grants, and electronic payment processes. You must have an active registration in SAM.gov to do business with the federal government.
Registration in SAM is required as part of the Grants.gov registration process and for all applications submitted for the Capital Magnet fund.
applicants that have previously registered with SAM must verify their accounts are current and active, as they need to be renewed annually. Even if your organization has registered with SAM previously, you should not assume that your account is still active. Also, the process to reactivate your SAM account may take longer than you anticipate. If your SAM.gov account is not active, you will be unable to submit the Grants.gov portion of your application. Additionally, if your organization is selected to receive a FY 2019 Capital Magnet Fund award, the funds from your award will be paid to the bank account you have on file with SAM.gov. Therefore, it is important to have accurate bank information in the system.
SAM.gov requires the submission of an Entity Administrator notarized letter as part of the registration process. Please review the instructions carefully.
- Due to recent procedural changes, found here, this process may take three weeks or longer for both new applicants and applicants that need to re-activate an existing SAM.gov account.*
- Here's a useful link on how to register a new entity with SAM.gov.
Step 3: Create or Update Your Grants.gov Account
applicants must have a Grants.gov account and submit the appropriate SF-424 Mandatory by the deadline listed in the applicable program Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) published in the Federal Register.
The appropriate SF-424 Mandatory must be completed and submitted electronically via Grants.gov before the application materials are due in your AMIS account. You will not be able to submit the SF-424 to the CDFI Fund directly. If you upload the SF-424 Mandatory to your AMIS account, it will not be reviewed. An SF-424 Mandatory must be submitted separately for each program applied to on an annual basis, in accordance with each program's NOFA.
- Please allow sufficient time to register for a Grants.gov account.
- Here's a useful link on how to register for a Grants.gov account.
Step 4: Create or Update Your AMIS Account
Make sure your AMIS account is up-to-date: verify the contacts for your organization are current and assign them the proper permissions. Only a user designated as an Authorized Representative in AMIS can sign the FY 2019 Capital Magnet Fund application. Make sure that the person signing the application as the "Authorized Representative" has authority to sign legal documents on behalf of your organization. Consultants working on behalf of your organization cannot be designated as Authorized Representatives. Be sure to include e-mail addresses and phone numbers for each contact. Also, make sure that your organization's mailing address is correct.
In addition, your organization must have an EIN/Tax ID and DUNs number recorded in AMIS in order to submit your application when the applicable funding round is opened. These numbers should reflect those recorded in the SF-424 Mandatory.
- Please allow 1-2 business days to create or update an AMIS account.*
- Learn how to establish an AMIS account here.
Please note:
Applicants are advised that the stated durations are estimates only and represent minimum timeframes. Actual timeframes may take longer.
