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Leveraging Corporations to Support Community Impact
CNote is proud to share a new case study with Optus Bank: Leveraging Corporations to Support Community Impact. Since 2017, Optus has seen the notoriety for their work skyrocket with a seven-fold growth. These investments allowed Optus to add staff and update its digital presence — allowing them to scale operations to serve more under-resourced…
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Meet Chung H Lee, The Small Business Owner Helping New York Metro’s Graying Residents Age In Place
It was 2014, and Chung was tired of traveling for work. The business consultant’s job required him to travel around the globe, but Chung was tired of sitting in airports and sleeping in hotels. He wanted to work closer to home and be able to spend more time with his kids. Armed with years of…
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Innovating pathways to wealth creation for women of color entrepreneurs: a Wisdom Fund update
Co-authored by CNote’s VP of Business Development, Danielle Burns and CNote’s Director of Impact Evaluation, Tamra Thetford. Women of color (WOC) entrepreneurs continue to face intersectional and systemic barriers — such as discrimination, bias, and a lack of networks — that limit their access to capital. Business ownership is a powerful wealth-building tool, and supporting…
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How Opportunities Credit Union Is Setting Up Itself—And Its Community—For Financial Success
From a young age, Kate Laud dreamed about someday being a CEO. At Dartmouth, Kate was an English major who liked numbers, and her father encouraged her to aspire to “run something interesting” one day. Although that advice didn’t narrow down Kate’s list of possible career trajectories, over the years, her ambition to eventually lead…
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Revolutionizing sustainable growth: Black-led financial institutions unleash potential with capital access and financial resources
Authored by CNote’s Director of Due Diligence, Julia Phipps In the U.S. much of how we define success can only be achieved with access to sufficient capital. Pursuing an education, providing security and food for your family, and even employment mobility is often limited by an individual’s capital. Inadequate access to capital continues to be…
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CNote’s Q4 2022 Impact Report
CNote is excited to share our Q4 2022 Impact Report. Our Q4 report features CNote’s exciting firm growth, the impact our mission-driven partners have had in communities, and a deeper look at the Wisdom Fund. Additionally, CNote shares details around some of the events our Director of Impact Evaluation, Tamra Thetford, and our Community Development…
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CNote Has Been Re-certified as a B Corporation™
We’re excited to share that CNote has been re-certified as a B Corporation™, a company that uses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. This certification shows that CNote meets high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency across various areas including employee benefits, charitable giving, supply chain practices, and input materials.…
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A Bright Future Ahead: Why Impact Investing Matters in 2023
What is Impact Investing? Before we dive into why impact investing is so important for the coming year and beyond, let’s quickly define what it actually means. Impact investing is an investment strategy that focuses on generating measurable social or environmental impact alongside financial returns. This could mean anything from investing in renewable energy projects…
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How First Southwest Bank Is Helping Community Banks Become Better Banks
In 2013, Kent Curtis had a question to answer. As the president and CEO of First Southwest Bank, he wanted to know which direction to steer the financial institution, which has served the San Luis Valley for more than 100 years. Colorado has three persistent poverty counties, and First Southwest Bank is located in the…
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How One Detroit Credit Union is Giving its Members a Second Chance
Catherine Dorsey had always dreamed of becoming a nurse. In 2016, the Detroit resident took a step closer to fulfilling her dream by beginning medical school in Ohio. And while she worked through the demanding courses, another difficulty materialized: her rapidly accumulating bills. In order to pay for her medical school loans, car loans, and…
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Where finance meets impact.