When the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund announced its combined FY 2023 and 2024 Financial Assistance (FA) Awards and Native American CDFI Assistance (NACA) Awards today, 81 credit unions working with the CU Strategic Planning were awarded more than $72 million. This accounts for 60% of FA awards granted to credit unions in this round and pushes CU Strategic Planning’s award results for credit unions to more than $1 billion. Founded in 2008, CU Strategic Planning has been a defining influence on the credit union CDFI sector.
This award announcement comes on the same week as the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Riegle Act that created the CDFI Fund.
“We’re thrilled by the success of our CDFI credit unions with these awards,” CU Strategic Planning President Stacy Augustine said. “Our team worked hard to submit two years of applications in one submission. Their work was worth it with 81 of our client credit unions winning awards to implement the strategies and products our teams designed to make an even greater impact on their communities. We’re honored to work with so many CDFI credit unions and congratulate the CDFI Fund on three decades of fueling economic development and bringing financial inclusion to the underserved.”
Earlier this year, CU Strategic Planning became a Callahan & Associates Company, expanding its resources, capacity and breadth of services. In 2025, it will roll out a CDFI CEO Roundtable and cutting-edge technology to help CEOs increase their credit unions' effectiveness and ability to serve their communities as CDFIs. The Roundtable will foster reflective, structured, and strategic dialogue about the challenges and opportunities uniquely experienced by CEOs of CDFI-certified credit unions.
In response to CU Strategic Planning achieving $1 billion in total awards for credit unions, Jon Jeffreys, CEO of Callahan and Associates, said, “the alliance between CU Strategic Planning and Callahan & Associates was created to magnify our shared impact on credit unions and their communities. With results like these, the sky is the limit on where our teams can take the movement.”
CU Strategic Planning is the leading facilitator of credit union CDFI certification, with 203 successful certifications and more than $1 billion in financial awards. Its FA Awards averaged $133,000 higher than peer credit union grants, allowing maximum investment in the communities the CDFI credit unions serve. [Editor's note: When comparing just CDFI Program-FA awards, CU Strategic Planning's credit unions averaged over $148,000 higher than other credit union recipients.]