Awards for Community Lenders

The Green Bank for Rural America will make capitalization and technical assistance awards to community lenders serving priority communities in Appalachia, energy communities, rural communities of color, and Native communities. Our first initiative features a competitive application process for community lenders to access awards from our $500 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. This page provides all details related to this opportunity. Applications are open on a rolling basis beginning December 4, 2024, and we will announce the award recipients quarterly. We anticipate announcing the initial awards in the first quarter of 2025 and awarding all funding by January 2027.

About the Awards

Community Lenders may receive two types of awards: Capitalization Awards and Technical Assistance (TA) grants.

Capitalization Awards

Capitalization awards range from $1 million to $10 million.
We will make a small number of awards of up to $35 million.
Community lenders may apply for the greater of 100% of their net assets or the cumulative total of loans they originated during the past three years.
For emerging community lenders with limited track records, we may determine the maximum award by weighing additional factors such as organizational capacity, project pipeline, community needs, and the community lender’s coverage.

Technical Assistance (TA) Grants

TA grants are available only to community lenders that have been selected for a capitalization award.
The amount of a TA grant will be 10% of the capitalization award received.
There is not a separate application process for TA grants. We evaluate capitalization award applications and TA grant applications together.

Note: In our award application, community lenders are required to disclose whether they have applied for or have received funding from other U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Clean Communities Investment Accelerator or National Clean Investment Fund awardees.

Eligible Community Lenders

Several types of community lenders are eligible to apply for awards from the Green Bank. These include:

Community development financial institutions (CDFIs), including Native CDFIs, certified by the U.S. Department of the Treasury
Public-sector lenders, including state, municipal, and Tribal governments, and federal agency affiliated lenders, such as U.S. Economic Development Agency (EDA) Revolving Loan Funds and U.S. Department of Agriculture Intermediary Lending Fund Program lenders
Not-for-profit entities that are legally eligible to make loans.

Entities that do not fit these descriptions are not eligible to apply for funding. This includes for-profit organizations, except for those that have a for-profit structure but also meet the criteria above, such as certified CDFIs.

Download Application Materials

Application Guidebook
The Application Guidebook covers information about the funding opportunity, application process, eligible uses of funds, reporting and compliance, and more. It is an essential tool.

Application Form
The application form is available as a Microsoft Word document (.DOCX) to make it easy to fill out and upload. For convenience, we are also providing a PDF version for review.

Application Workbook
The Application Workbook is available as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet (.XLSX) to make it easy to fill out and upload. For convenience, we are also providing a PDF version for review.

Application Checklist

Please include the appropriate attachments to support your application. These lists of required and optional attachments are also available in both the Application Form and the Application Guidebook.

Required Attachments:

☐ Governing Board

☐ Organizational Chart, Staffing Chart

☐ 3 years of audited or CPA-compiled financial statements (including management letters)

☐ Tax Filings (e.g. 990)

☐ Application Workbook

☐ TA Budget

☐ Board Letter of Support/Board Resolution indicating organizational support for applying for this funding

☐ IRS Letter of Determination

☐ Certificate of Good Standing or equivalent from state certifying agency

☐ CDFI Fund Certification letter (if applicable)

Optional Attachments:

☐ Workforce Development Plan

☐ Community Engagement Plan

☐ Letters of Support and Case Studies pertaining to workforce development and/or community engagement

How to Apply

Our secure submission portal features a simple, one-page form for uploading application materials.

Fill in the intake fields
Upload the Application Form in Microsoft Word format. Be sure that all of your responses fit within the maximum word count limit. If they do not, we will return your application for you to revise and resubmit.
Upload the Application Workbook in Microsoft Excel format.
Upload the Attachments as single documents in Word, Excel, or pdf format.

Application Support Services and Resources

Green Bank for Rural America offers a variety of additional resources to help you complete your application:

This document covers a wide range of issues such as community lender eligibility, project eligibility, technical assistance, reporting, compliance, and leverage. It captures our current understanding of program details. As new guidance becomes available, we will update the document promptly to keep you informed.

Download the FAQs →

Email us your questions and the Green Bank team will respond promptly.

Access the Help Desk →

You may schedule a one-to-one meeting with the Green Bank team to discuss your questions.

Schedule a Meeting →

Our team will host regular information webinars about the funding opportunity and application process. Sign up to receive updates from the Green Bank to be notified of upcoming events.

Sign up for Updates →

Project Examples

View a list of projects that show the different ways our funds can be used.

All projects and businesses financed must meet Low Income Disadvantaged Community (LIDAC) requirements and the project type must be eligible for financing. For more information on project eligibility and LIDAC mapping, please visit our TA Resources page.