Financial Services - Civic Builders

Charter schools often lack access to affordable financing solutions for their school building projects.

In order to address this need and bring affordable, accessible capital to schools, Civic Builders launched its first financial product offering in 2013. Over the past 10 years, we have developed specialized financing solutions that are tailored to suit the needs of schools that are historically under-served by other lenders. Civic Builders has creatively combined government subsidies, philanthropic funding and commercial bank capital to provide high quality schools with access to affordable capital.

Schools Supported

30,635

Students Given Access to a
High-Quality Education

$621.4M+

Invested

New FIF Predevelopment Fund

In our commitment to supporting high-potential, early-stage charter schools with essential, innovative capital, FIF is offering a new product for predevelopment expenses associated with a charter school facility project. Eligible applicants include authorized schools, with a focus on schools in their first charter term, including Year 0 schools. More mature schools will be considered pending availability of funds.

Key Product Details:

Available to all authorized charter schools
Up to 36-month loan term
Below-market interest rates
Capitalized for first 24 months
Eligible costs include but not limited to appraisals, market studies, legal costs, project management, fees, etc.

Facilities Investment Fund

The Facilities Investment Fund (FIF), a partnership between the Walton Family Foundation and Civic Builders, is a groundbreaking loan fund founded in 2017 that has introduced $300 million in affordable capital to finance facilities for high-performing charter schools and networks across the country. FIF offers public charter schools five-year fixed-rate loans for new construction, acquisition and, facility renovation. FIF loans feature low, fixed interest rates, size up to $25MM and can fund up to 90% of project costs. Need a loan? Click here for more information.

Learn More About the Facilities Investment Fund →

New Markets Tax Credits

New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) are a federally funded program through the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Each year, NMTCs are allocated to top applicants called Community Development Entities (CDEs). Civic Builders has been actively involved in the NMTC program and has been awarded $228 million in NMTC allocation authority since 2013. The team has utilized its NMTC allocation to provide flexible and below-market financing to 18 high-performing charter schools nationwide creating more than 9,700 student seats.