Support for NEXT Awards for Opportunity Finance encourages strong community-based lenders to expand in low- and moderate-income communities.
TROY, Mich. – The Kresge Foundation will provide $10 million to a loan fund that makes financing available to small businesses and nonprofit organizations in low- and moderate-income communities.

The largest in Kresge’s history, the loan represents a milestone in the foundation’s move to augment its grantmaking with a more aggressive use of program related investments, loan guarantees, and other forms of social investments.

The Troy, Mich.-based Kresge joins Wells Fargo Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundationto fund as many as five community development financial institutions per year through the NEXT Awards for Opportunity Finance. Those awards are administered by Opportunity Finance Network, the leading...