Federal Funding Fridays

3/7/25 – Green Banks, CDFIs and Friendlies, Oh My!

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Today our weekly Federal Funding Friday call featured special guest, Alex Crowley, Executive Director of the Indiana Energy Independence Fund (IEIF), Indiana’s green bank. In addition to sharing the basics about what a green bank is, Alex shared creative financing strategies to continue working on clean energy and climate related projects in the absence of federal funding. His slide deck and discussion notes are below today’s announcements.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

  • LAST DAY FOR EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION! Save money and register for the Summit TODAY! When: April 30 – May 2, 2025 in Madison, WI. Members receive 2 free tickets! We are also inviting state environment and sustainability agencies to exhibit this year in lieu of federal agencies due to the existing limitations in place. If you have any recommendations on who we should invite, please let us know! Make the most of your time at the Summit and consider attending one of two FREE grant training workshops the MCC in partnership with Southern Illinois University is hosting! You can learn more about that here!
  • Registration is open for the MCC/SIUE Virtual Grant Management Module Training! More information here (scroll down and click the Grant Management tab)
  • ICYMI: At the end of February, The Sustainable Cities Fund (SCF), Atlas Public Policy, the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN), Climate Mayors, and C40 Cities are collaborating alongside Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG), World Resources Institute (WRI), and the Lighthouse Cohort hosted a webinar providing an update on the current status of Direct Pay in today’s federal landscape, including the impact of the federal funding freeze, the status of payments, the legal standing of Direct Pay, and potential future risks to the program.
  • If you are a Direct Pay project recipient and would like to have your project added to their Direct Pay tracker, please fill out this survey. (Note: you can still respond to this survey if you have filed and are still awaiting payment.)

SPECIAL GUEST, ALEX CROWLEY!

  • See here for the slides (and links!) Alex shared during his talk
  • Additional discussion notes:
    • Green Banks have a higher risk tolerance because they are mission driven–if you have a bank for example that is interested in clean energy financing but said bank is worried about the perceived risk of doing it because the market has a higher risk profile or its simply not comfortable in this space, Green Banks can partner with a more traditional bank to take on some of that risk.
    • Within the clean energy financing ecosystem green banks are probably the most engaged. However, there are plenty of other players interested and willing to provide financing options for clean energy and other climate related projects including credit unions, CDFIs, utilities, public sector, and traditional banks.
    • Again green banks can also help partner with traditional banks if you’re not sure where to start.
    • Another great resource is CDFI Friendly. A ‘friendly’ is a small, local group that knows their community well. They figure out what people need and connect them with the right CDFI (Community Development Financial Institution) that can help. Friendlies are looking for ways to reach more people, so if you are in need, don’t hesitate to reach out to them!
    • If you are involved in any new affordable housing builds which naturally have clean energy components–green banks and CDFIs can collaborate together to help navigate that environment.
    • When building a “capital stack” start with any grants and rebates first!
    • (Note that the following example works for the years listed but may change in the future) If you are building a new project in 2025 and it comes online in 2025 and you plan to file in 2026 for green banks can help provide “bridge financing ” to help fill the gap between the time you need to get the project started, to file and when you get the direct pay check.
    • If you are interested in learning more about how to get involved in the climate finance space, there are a number of universities across the country that have climate finance programs!

RESOURCES