FIDAP Success Stories

Emily Holty, who came into her role at Members First as a Grant Funding Manager without a deep background in CDFI reporting, describes what it used to feel like: “The reporting was always a nightmare, very unorganized. We’d have to stop everything.”

FIDAP was an essential tool to help Emily get oriented quickly and support Members First’s lending goals with their own real-world lending data. What makes their approach so effective is how data and business teams work together. 

“The dashboard really says it all. We’re able to develop campaigns that will really target more of the CDFI investment areas.”

Reporting used to be a one-time, manual effort that required outside support. Now, it’s a repeatable monthly process built into their internal workflow.

Elizabeth Seelbach, Director of Strategy, created her own reporting schedule in Outlook to remind her to take the data IT prepared and upload to FIDAP each month. She then exports FIDAP’s analysis to include in her internal grant progress reporting to Resource One’s executive team board of directors.

Once reporting season comes, Elizabeth is ready to export Resource One’s FIDAP data for upload into the CDFI Fund’s AMIS portals to complete the TLR schedules they need to re-certify. “Instead of compiling data all at once, the reporting process is far more manageable. We have reduced our reliance on third-party vendors to calculate our TLR,” which has saved them roughly $5000 annually, Elizabeth says.

Cindy Shogry-Raimer, Greylock’s Director of Community Development, recalls how before FIDAP, the credit union struggled to track its progress in hitting CDFI loan targets. It wasn't until receiving the annual report four months after the credit union's year end that they had the full picture of their lending.

With FIDAP, Greylock now benefits from direct access to their own data, without waiting on a consultant to prepare their reports. This lens into their program performance is especially important as Greylock works toward CDFI recertification. The team can now identify gaps early and take action before year-end. 

Cindy adds,“With FIDAP we get that full picture quarterly, so we can try to launch targeted marketing campaigns and look to see if there are any CDFI qualified loan participations and/or purchases that we want to pursue. The beauty of the FIDAP system is the access to data quicker and more frequently.”