SB Friedman provides a comprehensive suite of NMTC services to Community Development Entities (CDEs) around the country, ranging from successfully navigating the competitive NMTC application process to intake/structuring closing of high impact project financings, to ongoing asset management and compliance. Key services include the following:

Obtaining NMTC Allocation for Community Development Entities

We have consistently written successful NMTC applications to obtain allocation for CDE clients. We take a highly customized approach to NMTC applications, where we work to present a CDE’s mission, strategy and track record in the most competitive light. In drafting NMTC applications, we tap our firm’s in-house capabilities, datasets and software to analyze such factors as economic impact, spatial/demographic indicia of distress, retail leakage/demand, and other factors to create compelling support for NMTC strategy and impact narratives.

Developing and Evaluating Pipeline

With extensive relationships across the NMTC industry, we have access to many high-impact projects across the country. Beyond identifying potential projects, we help CDEs assess projects for their alignment with geographic priorities, business types and community impact outcomes. In addition to evaluating projects for mission alignment, we also help CDEs evaluate the feasibility of projects—from both a capital stack and construction readiness perspectives—and set realistic closing timelines.

Structuring Financing and Deal Closing Support

We take a hands-on approach to helping our CDE clients close on financing. This often involves leading the financial structuring to combine NMTC with other pieces of the capital stack. We have extensive experience with an array of public and private funding tools and understand how they integrate with NMTC transactions. Additionally, we help CDEs navigate the closing process and provide technical assistance to project borrowers to maximize the efficiency of the NMTC. This support often helps our CDE clients achieve faster closings that drive more benefit to the borrower than would otherwise have been possible. In some cases, it also helps NMTC financing reach borrowers that might otherwise have struggled to access the program.

Performing Asset Management and Compliance Functions

We provide clients with ongoing servicing, asset management and compliance support. These functions include: construction monitoring; borrower reporting/monitoring; loan servicing and flow of funds; Allocation Agreement and IRS compliance; CDFI Fund TLR and ILR reporting; transaction/borrower performance monitoring; CDE-level LIC accountability; NMTC investor reporting; and other related functions. We also routinely coordinate with our clients’ audit teams to provide them the information required to complete CDE audits. We help our CDE clients plan for and executed “unwinds” at the end of the NMTC compliance period. Finally, we work directly with our clients’ NMTC borrowers to ensure that they have a full understanding of their obligations during the NMTC compliance period and are providing all required information in a timely fashion.

Measuring and Analyzing Community Impacts

We assist our clients with assessment, documentation, analysis and community impact reporting tasks related to NMTC transactions. We work closely with NMTC project sponsors to fully understand the breadth of impacts that projects have on their community through customized survey and reporting tools, community benefits agreements, and on-site interviews. We then supplement this primary data with a full suite of economic and demographic analysis tools and additional research to contextualize project impacts. Finally, we work with our clients to help present this information to various audiences through reports to the CDE staff and board members, CDFI Fund reporting, and impact narratives included in NMTC allocation applications.