2024 OFN Forums Overview
The 2024 CONNECT+ and Small Business Finance Forums will feature expert-led sessions on a variety of topics, and we invite you to help us shape the curriculum!
OFN is now seeking session proposals from a diverse and inclusive group of organizations and presenters that offer a wide range of perspectives on topics to help mission lenders and their partners achieve the greatest impact.
Before submitting a proposal, please read the event descriptions and guidance below.
2024 CONNECT+ Forum: CDFI Capitalization
Virtual | March 19
OFN’s CONNECT+ Forum is a free, half-day virtual forum with plenaries and breakout sessions centered around topics that are trending in the industry and/or are of highest priority for CDFI practitioners. In previous years, the forum has covered issues such as Equitable Housing Finance; Resilience; and CDFI Operations & Human Capital.
In 2024, the CONNECT+ Forum will be focused on CDFI Capitalization.
Over the past year, CDFIs have encountered tightening capital markets as a result of increased inflation, rising interest rates, and continued economic challenges. Low-cost capital is crucial to the CDFI business model and as it becomes more difficult to access, the industry finds itself in an environment that requires continued agility to navigate.
However, industry history has demonstrated CDFIs always rise to the challenge, displaying their talent for innovation and creativity. Whether it’s building new partnerships, exploring solutions to optimize operations, or finding ways to stack, blend, and structure the capital available to them, CDFIs have a track record of finding a way — or making one — to deliver the capital and services needed to support the communities we care about most.
Join us at the CONNECT+ Forum on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 to dive deeper into strategies, opportunities, and innovations related to CDFI capitalization. We will consider ways CDFIs can optimize the nuts and bolts of capitalization to enhance efficiency; navigate the current capital landscape of public, private, and philanthropic sources; and forge new partnerships.
Learn more about the CONNECT+ Forum and view recordings from previous years here.
2024 Small Business Finance Forum
Chicago, IL | June 13-14
Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile
After selling out in 2023, OFN's Small Business Finance Forum will return to downtown Chicago’s magnificent mile in 2024 in a new, larger location! The 11th annual forum will bring together over 500 mission-driven small business lenders, partners, and advocates for a day-and-a-half of learning and networking that supports the shared goal of helping our nation’s small businesses succeed.
For the last decade, the forum has provided small business and microlending CDFIs with timely content, inspiration, and the chance to connect. In 2024, the forum will feature over 20 sessions; opportunities for peer learning and networking; and a Small Business Partner Showcase with products and organizations that help CDFI small business lenders do their jobs more efficiently and effectively.
Attendees can also opt to arrive a day early to take advantage of the new pre-forum training day on June 12, which will offer training opportunities led by OFN and other industry partners on a variety of topics ranging from CDFI 101 to Climate Lending.
Learn more about the Small Business Finance Forum, including highlights and sessions from previous years, here.
Topics of Interest
2024 CONNECT+ Forum
The 2024 CONNECT+ Forum will be focused on CDFI Capitalization, with two tracks: (1) Leading Practices and (2) Sources - Public, Private & Philanthropic. Areas of particular interest within these two tracks include:
Capitalization: Leading Practices
Capitalization: Sources (Public, Private & Philanthropic)
2024 Small Business Finance Forum
OFN welcomes all ideas and proposals relevant to small business lenders. Below is a list of topics to help you get started.
Core competencies and best practices for small business lending including:
Trends in small business lending such as:
Suggestions for Developing a Strong Proposal
To increase your chances of being selected, we strongly suggest that you:
OFN makes every effort to select a mix of strong session proposals that offer value to a range of audiences and levels of experience. We do our best to accommodate as many strong proposals as we can. Sometimes we do this by asking people who propose similar topics to combine their ideas into a single session.
Sample Session Descriptions
Below are two sample session descriptions that you can model your description on:
I Heart CDFI Notes: Engaging Individual and Institutional Investors to Deepen Mission Impact
There’s something very special about the relationships CDFIs hold with investors who help advance our collective mission. While not all investment note offerings are the same, those relationships are at the heart of a growing recognition of what real community investment can look like when investors put their capital to work with CDFIs. In this session, hear from CDFIs with growing notes products about how they manage investor relations and what growth means for their loan funds. We'll talk shop about offering documents, legal advice, accredited vs. nonaccredited investors, and administrative challenges. Together, we'll ponder: Are CDFI investment notes a way to democratize investment? How do we strengthen our links to long-term CDFI supporters like faith communities while developing connections with new individual and institutional investors to create more diversity and inclusion in our investor base? What issues or focus areas are important to these CDFI investors? How can we partner with advisory firms? And what is our opportunity for growth?
The Journey Is the Destination: How CDFIs Can Move from “Colorblind” to “Antiracist”
Women of color accounted for 89% of new businesses opened every day over the year before COVID-19. Black women are 300% more likely to launch a new business than a white person, and Latinas are 180% more likely−and both are more likely to fail, due to lack of affordable capital and access to business advising. The CDFI industry was founded as an antidote to the failings of the traditional financial system, like red lining and lending discrimination. We’re working hard to close these gaps, but “colorblind” policies and ways of doing business hold us back from truly centering Black and Brown business owners and confronting racial and economic injustice head on. As an industry we must move from colorblind to antiracist, and this session is an open and frank discussion of how we do it.
Presenter and Session Policies
Session Length: All sessions will be approximately 60 minutes.
Small Business Finance Forum Registration: Session presenters will be required to register and pay the registration fee for the Small Business Finance Forum. Exceptions will be made for presenters who only plan to attend the session rather than the full Forum. We regret that OFN cannot provide compensation or travel reimbursements to presenters except in rare instances.
Session Organizer: The Session Organizer will be the primary contact for all communications regarding the selected session proposal. The Session Organizer assumes full responsibility for the design of the session, the coordination of all session presenters (if applicable), compliance with OFN’s Presenter and Session Policies, and a successful session delivery.
Presenter Confirmations: All session presenters must be confirmed no later than 30 days after a session proposal is accepted.
Session Scheduling: OFN will determine the scheduling of all sessions. By confirming speakers’ participation in the session proposal, you are agreeing that they are available at the times designated below.
Timeline & Submission Instructions
If you have questions about the process or your session idea, please contact Seth Julyan or Sindhu Lakshmanan. You can also download a practice copy of the proposal submission.