CBO Financial

Helping transform vision into reality.

Situation:

CBO Financial, Inc. (CBO) specializes in assisting agencies plan and finance projects that help revitalize economically distressed areas, often utilizing federal subsidies such as New Markets and Historic Tax Credits, among others. PerformXcellence first met Craig Stanley, Founder and CEO of CBO Financial, at the benefit dinner for World Hunger Year. When Craig started working with us in August of 2007, he was already an innovative social entrepreneur who had created a business idea that would also improve communities.

Craig realized that there were many for-profit and non-profit companies in lower-income communities that desperately needed capital to grow, but did not have the credit history or cash flow to get traditional lending. He was able to get lenders to invest in these lower-income communities by offering the lenders tax credits which he applied for from the government’s New Market Tax Program. By brokering these tax credits, he could make money by making the world a better place.

Solution:

Despite having an extraordinary concept, Craig needed to expand and structure a passionate and committed team to grow CBO to the next level. PerformXcellence worked with him to define the current and future needs of his organization. At the heart of this approach was assembling a team that included people with excellent business skills with a passion for making the world a better place. PerformXcellence worked with Craig to define CBO’s staffing needs to help create an organization that could live up to its mission of “helping nonprofits transform vision into reality.”

Results:

Within two months of working with PerformXcellence, CBO was able to build its team by attracting two new employees. We helped CBO develop and document an inspiring company vision and mission statement around which a passionate and committed team could be built. Lastly, we helped CBO develop a practical, step by step, and simple strategic action plan that would transform their inspiring vision into reality. In May 2009 CBO’s subsidiary Community Development Funding, Inc. (CDF) was awarded a $20 million allocation of New Markets Tax Credits by the Community Development Financial Institution Division of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, bringing CDF’s total allocations to $120 million in four rounds of awards.

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