New Initiatives Fund
Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation’s New Initiatives Fund (NIF) provides flexible financing that serves the needs of low-income and marginalized communities within the United States. NIF fuels the community development projects and ambitions of a new generation of social entrepreneurs who are defining market solutions to meet a range of human needs.
The New Initiatives Fund (NIF) was established in 1997 by Deutsche Bank in response to a growing demand for capital that neither fit the usual terms of a charitable grant from Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation nor a loan/investment from the Bank. NIF was developed as financing that could be deployed at a larger scale than a typical philanthropic grant. To date, the fund has provided capital to a wide variety of initiatives, including developing affordable housing throughout the United States, supporting underserved entrepreneurs through access to capital, and financing workforce development solutions that create generational wealth and upward mobility.
The New Initiatives Fund fills the capital gap for projects that have often relied on philanthropic grants for early start-up expenses and are working their way towards mainstream commercial bank financing. All commitments from NIF qualify as Program Related Investments (PRIs) under IRS regulations, allowing the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation to further its philanthropic mission by providing catalytic capital to test and scale innovative efforts aimed at building thriving communities. NIF prioritizes community development projects that bring an innovation to scale, have the potential to be replicated, and have realistic plans to graduate from subsidized financing sources to access conventional capital markets.
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