2 minutes to read by  BlueBay Fixed Income team, R.Homer Jul 30, 2025

Over the past few years our impact investment team has steadily increased its efforts to work with Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and other mission-driven lenders focused on serving low- and moderate-income communities and individuals. We believe that these institutions are important intermediaries that can play a critical role in facilitating the flow of capital to underserved groups and areas.

Within this report, we detail a key partnership to serve as an example of our effort to encourage and enable CDFIs to utilize new and existing secondary market solutions to sustain and expand the capacity to serve their targeted communities.

In 2025, mission-driven lenders face increased challenges given the economic uncertainties surrounding interest rates, inflation, federal funding, and the possibility of an overall economic contraction. CDFIs and the communities they serve will most likely be the hardest hit if these uncertainties develop into realities with certain negative impacts.

Given this, we intend to redouble our efforts to work with CDFIs to implement collaborative strategies that will enable them to be resilient and effective in serving their constituencies through a difficult and uncertain time. We are hopeful that we will be joined by new and existing clients in this endeavor.

Key takeaways:

• Our impact investing team is increasing efforts to collaborate with CDFIs and mission-driven lenders to address economic challenges and support low- and moderate-income communities.

• Key partnerships help CDFIs access secondary market solutions, expanding their capacity to channel capital to underserved groups and promote economic stability.

• Clients, including institutions, family offices, and non-profits, are drawn to impact investing for its tangible societal benefits, such as funding housing, businesses, and healthcare in underserved areas.

• Looking ahead, the industry is expected to focus on impact measurement standardization, transparency, and inclusive opportunities while uncovering new investments to strengthen communities.

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