To meet the Accountability test through an Applicant's governing board, an Applicant must demonstrate that at least one governing board member is accountable to each proposed Target Market, and at least 33% of the governing board is accountable to the overall proposed Target Market(s).
For example, a CDFI with a Target Market of Pre-qualified Investment Areas, LITP, and OTP-Hispanic, and a governing board consisting of fifteen members would have to have:
- at least five board members (i.e., 33% of the board) who meet at least one of the
accountability criteria for each of the three different Target Markets – one accountable to an Investment Area, one accountable to an LITP, one accountable to an OTP-Hispanic; and - two additional members accountable to any of the Target Markets.
If one of the board members meets the accountability criteria for more than one Target Market, the board would still need at least five members who meet the accountability criteria—such as a board member accountable to both an Investment Area and an LITP, another member accountable to an OTP-Hispanic, and three additional members accountable to any of the Target Markets.
If the Applicant has a governing board but seeks to meet the Accountability test in combination with an advisory board, the Applicant must demonstrate that at least one advisory board member is accountable to each proposed Target Market; at least 60% of the advisory board is accountable to the overall proposed Target Market(s); at least 20% of the governing board members are accountable to at least one proposed Target Market; and at least one governing board member has a seat on the advisory board.
For example, the same CDFI with a Target Market of Pre-qualified Investment Areas, LITP, and OTP-Hispanic, and a governing board consisting of fifteen members and an advisory board consisting of ten members would have to have:
- at least six advisory board members (i.e., 60% of the advisory board) who meet at least one of the accountability criteria for each of the three different Target Markets – one accountable to an Investment Area, one accountable to an LITP, and one accountable to an OTP-Hispanic;
- three additional advisory board members accountable to any of the Target Markets;
- at least one advisory board member who was also a member of the governing board; and
- at least three governing board members (i.e., 20% of the governing board) who meet at least one of the accountability criteria for any of the three different Target Markets.