IFF, formerly known as the Illinois Facilities Fund, plans to open a new office in Milwaukee next year, the group said this week.
IFF is the leading nonprofit community development financial institution in the Midwest. It routinely lends funds to nonprofit entities that serve low income areas and special needs populations in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin. IFF, a nonprofit organization itself, helps fund the construction of health clinics, food pantries, affordable housing, charter schools and other real estate projects owned and operated by nonprofit entities.
IFF recently won a $5.5 million award in the Wachovia NEXT Award for Opportunity Finance, and will use a portion of the proceeds to open the Milwaukee office, said Trinita Logue, president and CEO of IFF.
“We have been traveling there a lot for more than two years and we know a lot of people there,” said Trinita Logue, president and CEO of IFF. “I think we will find a stellar person from Milwaukee to run our local office. We will interview people in January and start scouting for space.”
IFF’s Milwaukee office will begin as a single person, but could grow if demand for its below market rate loans increases, Logue said. IFF, which has 42 people on staff, currently has Milwaukee-area nonprofits such as the Modjeska Theater, Seeds of Health charter school and La Causa charter school as clients.
For more information, visit www.iff.org.