Mandatory Annual Report will Replace Three-Year Recertification Requirement for all CDFIs
The Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) launched today a new mandatory Annual Certification Report for all certified Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). The Annual Certification Report, which must be completed in the CDFI Fund’s Awards Management Information System (AMIS), will allow the CDFI Fund to annually assess certified CDFIs’ compliance with certification rules.
How Does this Affect My Organization?
All certified CDFIs must comply with the annual reporting compliant to maintain their certification. Reporting deadlines will be based upon the CDFI’s fiscal year end. Beginning with organizations with fiscal years that end in April through September, the CDFI Fund will issue replacement CDFI certification letters that outline the new requirement and reporting deadlines. The new certification letter replaces the previously-implemented three year term for certification.
Failure to file an Annual Certification Report will result in a loss of certification status and can lead to additional sanctions.
How Do I Complete the Report?
The CDFI Fund will send new certification letters and reporting requirements to CDFIs on a rolling basis, beginning with CDFIs with fiscal years ending in April through September. CDFIs will use data from their last complete fiscal year to complete the report for most organizational financial information (fiscal year (FY) 2015 in most cases).
The reporting deadlines for the first annual report is as follows:
- Fiscal Year End from April 1, 2015 to September 30, 2015 – Report Due April 30, 2016
- Fiscal Year End October 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016 – Report Due July 31, 2016
The CDFI Fund will provide additional information and guidance about deadlines for the report in future years after the completion of the FY 2016 reporting requirement.
Guidance and Instructions
The CDFI Fund has posted to its website’s Certification page instructions for completing the Annual Certification Report, along with a helpful glossary of terms. These guidance documents can be found on www.cdfifund.gov/cdficert, under How to Apply Step 2: Reporting.
Webinars
The CDFI Fund will host training webinars on Tuesday, March 15, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. ET and Thursday, March 17, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. ET to provide training for CDFIs that must report in April. Access information for the webinars can be found on the CDFI Fund’s Certification website under How to Apply Step 2: Reporting. Additional webinars will also be scheduled to assist CDFIs with later reporting dates. The CDFI Fund will release information about additional webinars when available.
Questions
For questions about the Annual Certification Report, please contact the Certification, Compliance Monitoring and Evaluation Help Desk at ccme@cdfi.treas.gov or (202) 653-0421. The CDFI Fund encourages technical questions about AMIS to be submitted through AMIS Service Requests or by e-mailing AMIS@cdfi.treas.gov. For more information about the CDFI Fund, please visit www.cdfifund.gov.