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Rt Hon Paul Boateng MP
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The CDFA was launched at HM Treasury on April 24th by the Rt Hon Paul
Boateng MP, the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and Sir Ronald Cohen, the
Chairman of Apax Partners Holdings Ltd and Chair of the Social Investment Task
Force. The Financial Secretary spoke of the government's commitment "to
supporting the CDF sector, which we think has the potential to make a valuable
contribution to our efforts to make opportunities for enterprise open to all."
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Sir Ronald Cohen
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Sir Ronald welcomed the creation of the CDFA, saying "The Social
Investment Task Force identified CDFIs as crucial to community development
because they provide finance and other services to those who are excluded from
the mainstream. Just as the British Venture Capital Association has greatly
aided the flow of information and experience across venture capital firms and
given greater weight to their calls for new policies, so the CDFA, by
informing, representing and supporting CDFI's, will help build a thriving
community development sector in this country. I therefore urge CDFIs and
leading financial institutions to join and otherwise support its efforts."
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Andrew Robinson
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Mark Pinsky, the Chief Executive of the National Community Capital
Association (the US trade association for CDFIs) also gave short speech, via
video, to congratulate the sector for establishing the association and
outlining the important role it would play in developing the sector.
Andrew Robinson, Chair of the UK Social Investment Forum, outlined the
process of developing the association, which involved considerable consultation
with key players in the sector, and thanked all of those involved with bringing
it to this point. Ros Boyle from the CDFA then outlined the services that the
CDFA will offer. These include capacity building, networking and information
exchange, the development of benchmarks for the sector, best practice
dissemination and advocacy with government and other stakeholders (see leaflet
below).
Community Development Finance
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Ros Boyle
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There have been a lot of developments in the community development
finance sector over the last few years, starting with the Social Investment
Task Force in 2000 - one of the recommendations of which was to set up a trade
association for CDFIs in the UK. The UK Social Investment Forum (UKSIF) has
since been working with a steering committee to oversee the development of the
association, ensuring consultation with as wide a group as possible to get the
shape and goals of the organisation just right.
CDFIs are sustainable independent organisations that provide capital in
under-invested communities and markets enabling enterprises to grow, adding
value and creating jobs. But investment has not been happening on anything like
the scale needed to make a sufficiently large impact. The CDFA's mission is to
grow and promote the sector, enabling CDFIs to reach further into marginalised
areas and fill the gaps left by mainstream finance providers. US experience
shows that a strong trade association is vital to the development of the sector
- helping to set performance standards and advocating on behalf of the sector.
Download:
Andrew Robinson, Ros Boyle,
Sir Ronald Cohen
at HM Treasury, after the launch
*This was automatically generated from MS PowerPoint, and uses
non-standard features which may only work with Microsoft products. However, it
has been tested and is usable with a number of others. [back]
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CDFA leaflet
[PDF 15kb]
