Monthly Archives

September 2022

Love0
By CNote, Migration V2

CNote Closes Series A Investment, Cementing the Women-Led Impact Platform’s Leadership in Closing the U.S. Wealth Gap Through Financial Innovation

CNote Closes Series A Investment, Cementing the Women–Led Impact Platform’s Leadership
in Closing the U.S. Wealth Gap Through Financial Innovation

September 19, 2022 // Oakland, CA // Building on the momentum of its impact platform—already adopted by corporate leaders including Apple, Mastercard, Netflix and PayPal as a scalable way to address wealth inequality in the U.S.—CNote announced today that it raised $7.25 million in an oversubscribed Series A investment round.

American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact led the round, joined by Astia Fund, BankTech Ventures, Commerce Ventures, CityRock Venture Partners and other investors.

CNote gives corporate treasurers a powerful ESG tool, driving high growth

“We’re addressing a massive systemic problem with a market-friendly platform that has already been adopted by forward-thinking corporations and other institutions,” said Catherine Berman, CEO and co-founder of CNote, which deploys investor funds into community financial institutions that advance economic equality, racial justice, gender equity and climate change adaptation. “By pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into undercapitalized communities, CNote is activating corporate dollars for systemic change while minimizing risk.”

CNote’s technology platform gives corporations a simple, safe way to deploy ESG cash and fixed income in underserved communities at scale. CNote places investor funds into deposit and loan products through a network of over 2,000 impact-driven community financial institutions that serve low- to moderate-income communities, support women and people of color entrepreneurs, fund affordable housing and provide other forms of economic inclusion.

CNote is deploying about $300 million in cash and fixed-income investments via its platform—reflecting over 370% growth since 2020. The platform has 1,900 corporate, foundation and individual investors, including AMD, Patagonia and Xylem, as well as the companies listed above.

Noted Berman, “For CEOs, CFOs and large institutional investors, CNote has the network, the community finance expertise and the technology to provide unparalleled access to ESG cash and fixed-income opportunities at scale alongside trackable impact. We’ve reduced the friction points so they can activate their balance sheets quickly and with minimal effort.”

The Series A investment will enable CNote to advance its technology, expand its sales team and deepen its network of community financial institutions.

Mission-aligned investors aim to advance equality and build strong communities

The Series A round reflects the women-led fintech’s insight that assembling a diverse stakeholder group is key to multiplying its successes. “We’re co-creating the future we want to see, and that requires bringing key stakeholders to the table, including these investors,” Berman said.

“CNote is leading the way in providing capital for CDFIs [community development financial institutions] and minority depository institutions, capitalizing on the exploding ESG market,” said Rob Kornblum, principal and portfolio manager for the American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact. “We know that capital access is one of the keys to producing generational wealth for underserved communities. We are thrilled to partner with Catherine and Yuliya [Tarasava, CNote co-founder] in leading the Series A round for CNote.”

H/L Ventures, a longtime advisor to CNote and a prior investor, manages a family of companies and funds that comprises a holistic company-building system.

“CNote is breaking new ground in impact investment, enabling some of the largest organizations in the world to make a difference with their treasury dollars,” said Oliver Libby, co-founding Managing Partner of leading New York venture firm CityRock Venture Partners, H/L Ventures’ opportunity fund. “Our firm seeks startups with high growth potential, positive impact and diverse leadership teams; under Catherine and Yuliya’s inspired management, CNote exemplifies the extraordinary, scalable business potential of investment for impact.”

Other investors in the round include return participants The Artemis Fund, BLD Ventures, Golden Seeds, Lateral Capital V LP, ManchesterStory Venture Fund, Oxford Angel Fund and Rebalance Capital.

About CNote
CNote, co-founded by Catherine Berman and Yuliya Tarasava, is a women-led impact platform on a mission to close the wealth gap through financial innovation. Using the power of technology and a community-first framework, CNote enables corporations, institutions and individuals to efficiently invest at scale in fixed-income and time deposit products that advance economic equality, racial justice, gender equity and climate change adaptation. CNote delivers regular reporting on the social impact of deposits and investments made through its platform. A Certified B Corporation, CNote was a B Lab “Best for the World” honoree in 2019 and was named “Best Women-Owned Business” by the U.N. Women’s Empowerment Principles program in 2020.

About The American Family Institute for Corporate and Social Impact
The American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact is a venture capital firm and partner of choice for exceptional entrepreneurs who are building scalable, sustainable businesses in a long-term effort to close equity gaps in America. It also recognizes that capacity building and supporting organizations and experts who have been working toward social causes are equally important in making a positive impact within our communities around the country.

Media Contacts

Thinkshift Communications for CNote

Sarah Grolnic-McClurg, sarah@thinkshiftcom.com

510-898-1837 (primary), 415-828-3143 (cell)

Love0
By CNote, Migration V2

CNote attends 24th Annual AACUC Conference

CNote attends the 24th Annual AACUC Conference in St. Pete Beach, Florida to connect with our credit union community

CNote was honored to attend The African American Credit Union Coalition’s (AACUC) 24th Annual AACUC Conference held in St. Pete Beach, FL in August. The conference was a weeklong event offering training, networking, and educational opportunities for current and future credit union professionals and was a celebration of Black excellence in the credit union industry.

This year’s theme was “Reunite and Reignite” and the event featured an array of panels and speakers covering topics like technology and DEI, helping credit union managers recognize best practices to help engage and retain talent, and how to navigate today’s complex financial and economic environment; the inaugural Small Credit Union Summit; and the African American Credit Union Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. The conference concluded with a gala-style Pete Crear Lifetime Achievement Award ceremony, dinner and after party.

AACUC is a non-profit organization made up of diverse and multicultural credit union industry professionals and volunteers. The organization was created to increase the strength of the global credit union community and is recognized for shaping diversity, equity, and inclusion in the credit union movement. AACUC supports programs that offer benefits for African American credit union professionals and volunteers, credit unions, and credit union vendor partners. Their goals and objectives include

  • expanding the interest and increasing the number of minorities in the credit union movement
  • increasing outreach of the credit union movement in African countries and in the United States through credit union mentoring
  • providing scholarship programs and educational opportunities to credit union professionals and volunteers toward professional development and advancement
  • enhancing internship and scholarship programs for African American college students in pursuit of financial services careers to introduce them to and encourage them to seek employment within the credit union movement.

Barāta Bey, CNote’s Director of Community Finance, speaking to a room full of credit union professionals at the AACUC conference

At the conference, CNote participated with more than 30 other industry partners, and presented on the work we do to support credit unions and minority deposit institutions by streamlining their process of accepting outside deposits, providing tools and resources to better share and highlight their community impact, and by bridging long-term relationships between corporate investors and credit unions for sustainable funding relationships. Additionally, CNote’s booth at AACUC’s vendor fair provided a  chance to connect personally with diverse credit unions from across the country on their needs and how we might partner to address them.

Barāta Bey, one of the CNote team members to attend the in-person event said, “We’re taking away from this event a lot of great conversations, a lot of great new relationships, and new tactics for supporting these financial institutions at the front lines of supporting under-resourced communities. I’m really excited to see where these new connections take us when it comes to innovating smarter for credit unions and serving more communities in the US overall.”

To learn more about AACUC and their annual conference, visit: https://www.aacuc.org/

Love0
By Borrower Stories, Low Income Designated Credit Union, Migration V1

How The Council On Alcoholism And Drug Abuse Of Northwest Louisiana Is Leveraging A Credit Union Partnership To Rebuild People’s Self-Worth

Bill Rose recently celebrated a big milestone: 34 years of sobriety. That also happens to be nearly how long Bill has been active in rehabilitation facilities. Six months into his recovery from drug and alcohol addiction, Bill began volunteering in drug treatment programs. At the time, he worked for a local oil company, but he also helped out at a hospital-based inpatient recovery program near where he lived in Louisiana. When Bill was laid off from his job in 1989, his life could have spiraled back to late nights out and high-risk activities; however, instead, Bill continued forward on his path of recovery. 

Bill Rose, Executive Director of CADA

That’s because Bill was connected with Dan Talley, the Executive Director of The Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse of Northwest Louisiana (CADA). Dan’s wife, Bonnie, worked at the hospital where Bill volunteered, and when she heard that Bill was out of work, she introduced the two to each other. One week later, Bill was a full-time CADA employee. “CADA embraced me and gave me a place to land,” said Bill. “They helped to mentor me, support my recovery, and keep me in a safe place, and my career kind of took off from there.”

CADA was established in 1958. Since then, the nonprofit private health organization has continuously provided substance abuse and addiction treatment services to Northwest Louisiana. Today, CADA offers 12 programs out of four facilities that serve Shreveport, Bossier, Many, and many rural areas across Louisiana, including at every horse racetrack in the state. The nonprofit prides itself on offering services to anyone, including adults and teens, regardless of their ability to pay. CADA is able to do this through a wide variety of payment options that include Medicaid, private insurance, and, in some cases, state funding.

According to Bill, CADA helped him get into counseling, and after five or six years, he left the nonprofit to pursue opportunities that he never would have had without Dan Talley’s guidance and CADA’s support. However, in 1998, when a management position opened up at CADA, Bill didn’t have to think twice about whether or not to apply. He got the job, returned to CADA, and Dan Talley became his boss. Bill’s been at CADA ever since.

Over the years, Bill has served a number of roles at CADA. He’s been a program manager of the nonprofit’s drug court program, helping clients to avoid jail time by coaching them through an intensive, long-term recovery path. Additionally, Bill was a program director at one of CADA’s detox centers, during which time he was also responsible for a 71-bed care facility. More recently, since early 2012, Bill has served as CADA’s Executive Director, leading a team of roughly 100, which includes full-time, part-time, and contracted employees.

According to Bill, although it wasn’t easy to transition away from counseling and programming, he felt like stepping in to serve as executive director was something he needed to do. “Dan Talley left such an impression on me,” Bill said. “For whatever reason, he took an interest in my recovery and taught me how to be a counselor, and when he died, I said that I was going to commit myself to doing whatever CADA needed me to do.”

Bill Rose and Walter Abney, a Peer Support Specialist

Although these days Bill spends most of his time working with CADA’s accounting department, human resources staff members, and development team, he also gets to work closely with Susan Garcia, CADA’s Director of Client Relations and Engagement. Like Bill, and roughly half of CADA’s workforce, Susan is in recovery. However, when Susan first walked through CADA’s doors, she was wearing shackles. She completed CADA’s recovery program, applied for a cook job at the nonprofit, and steadily climbed the ranks to her current position. Susan played a vital role in CADA opening a location in Many, her rural hometown where she knew firsthand that there was a need for addiction recovery services. Today, Susan holds the honor of being Louisiana’s Peer Recovery Support Specialist of the Year.

“I still get chill bumps when I think about how Susan walked into our facility literally in shackles and now she’s in a position probably more than me to help people recover,” said Bill. “That story never gets old. That’s the cool part of being sober for 34 years: it’s to see the light come on in a person that’s broken, and their lives start progressing along in a manner that they didn’t even imagine.” 

The Financial Piece of Recovery

Two years ago, Susan happened to meet Cyndi Phillips at a fundraiser event with a CADA alumni group. Cyndi is the Director of Community Development at ANECA Federal Credit Union, a Louisiana-based credit union that first opened in 1939. CNote invests Impact CashTM dollars in mission-driven and FDIC- and NCUA-insured credit union partners like ANECA, generating returns on institutional investors’ cash allocations while supporting financially underserved communities across the country.

Cyndi and Susan met for lunch to discuss how they might work together, and ever since, ANECA has been one of CADA’s most supportive community partners. According to Susan, the credit union participates in just about every event that CADA hosts, and Cyndi is a regular fixture at CADA’s open houses and weekly Friday graduations, at which the credit union supplies the caps and gowns. “ANECA is a joy to work with,” Susan said, “and Cyndi supports everything we do.”

Susan Garcia and Tine Jolley, HR Manager at CADA

Importantly, ANECA also offers CADA clients financial literacy classes, which include training on how to detect and avoid predatory lending. Additionally, ANECA helps to get CADA clients on the path to opening up checking and savings accounts, as well as improving their credit scores. These are vital services, considering that many of CADA’s clients don’t have a state-issued identification card or driver’s license and would otherwise be unable to open a bank account. 

According to Bill, giving CADA’s clients the opportunity to take their cash and put it safely into an ANECA account is an important part of the recovery journey. “Money can be a trigger,” he said, “so for a big percentage of the folks that we treat, it’s not a good practice to keep money in your pocket. Bringing in a lending institution like ANECA has been beneficial for folks getting on their feet.” 

That was the case for Susan. According to her, before she was sober, and even early into her recovery, she thought that having a bank account was out of reach. However, thankfully, she was given the opportunity to open an account: a seemingly small accomplishment that helped to propel her forward in her recovery. That’s because, as she described it, having a bank account boosted her self-esteem and made her feel like a human again.

“Addiction has a significant impact in every area of a person’s life, including banking,” said Bill. “When we’re able to help someone get that first checking or savings account, do you know what it does for their self-esteem and self-worth? I can’t put a dollar value to it. The financial piece is a big part of the puzzle of trying to get some stability in life, and it’s amazing to see how ANECA’s work plays a part in people’s recovery.”

Learn More

  • The Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse of Northwest Louisiana (CADA)  is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, private health organization providing substance abuse services.
  • ANECA Federal Credit Union, a Louisiana-based credit union that first opened in 1939.
  • CNote –CNote is a women-led impact platform on a mission to close the wealth gap through financial innovation. Using the power of technology and a community-first framework, CNote enables corporations and individuals to efficiently invest at scale in fixed income and time deposit products that advance economic equality, racial justice, gender equity, and climate change initiatives.