Appalachian Community Capital

What it reported doing in 2024

Appalachian community capital (acc) enjoyed another impactful year in 2024, leading innovative initiatives and bringing significant new capital to the region. The description below highlights major achievements that occurred in 2024. Acc capital raising activity for cdfis and small businessesas a wholesale community development lender, acc aggregates capital and passes the capital to its members (numbering 41 at the end of 2024).. Acc raised $9m in debt capital and funded $8.75m in new loans during 2024, an average deployment amount. Cdfi borrowers financed 20 small businesses, which used the loans for working capital, to buy equipment, and to expand their business, to name a few uses. As with capital it receives from other sources, cdfi members leverage acc capital to attract additional investments for underserved communities in its footprint. Since it began lending in 2015, acc has raised and deployed over $50 million to members. In addition , it has obtained $80m in grants ($3.3m acquired in 2024).development services in 2024, based on survey results from members, acc offered business lending training, introductory cdfi courses, alternative energy financing training, and small business lending data analyses for members who are pursuing practices that will have greater impact for their small business customers and build the organizations' capacity. Close to 100 staff from regional cdfis attended these sessions.clean communities investment accelerator on april 4, under the previous administration, the u.s. Environmental protection agency (epa) announced that acc was one of eight recipients of its greenhouse gas reduction fund grants. Acc was selected for a $500 million award for its wholly-owned subsidiary, the green bank for rural america, under the clean communities investment accelerator program.acc intended to use the award to 1) catalyze renewable energy investments in hard-hit communities in appalachia and in rural communities on other parts of the country, 2) leverage private capital to finance an anticipated $2.25 billion in 2,750 renewable energy projects, 3) create 18,000 quality jobs, 4) reduce energy generation from carbon-based sources by 1.4m mwh annually, and 5) reduce carbon emissions by 12m tons annually.in march 2025, the new epa administrator announced the agency's intent to cancel the $20b in contracts awarded to the eight organizations. All grants were frozen, and the courts are now reviewing epa's efforts. Opportunity appalachia opportunity appalachia (oa) provides access to technical assistance and supports capital raise activities for projects in central appalachia. The target geography includes appalachian communities in ky, nc, oh, tn, va, and wv. In 2024, 27 projects were awarded $1.9 million in technical assistance funding for pre-development on a diverse array of developments.also in november 2024, opportunity appalachia hosted a local developers forum with over 60 attendees - mainly current and former oa project sponsors - who engaged in discussions about how successful projects are created, organized, financed, and delivered. The event was organized and curated in collaboration with building small, which hosts forums around the country focused on small-scale development.hurricane helene and disaster reliefto support very small businesses in western North Carolina that sustained physical damage from hurricane helene in september 2024, acc and the dogwood health trust launched the western North Carolina small business initiative to provide relief grants of up to $25,000. Acc worked with acc member community reinvestment fund and nc cdfi partners and by the end of the year had disbursed over $5,935,000 million to 281 to small businesses. Additional funding support from the state of North Carolina, the duke endowment, the ford foundation, and the silicon valley community foundation followed.cumulatively, funding totaled over $55m, with acc poised to disburse all the funds in the first quarter of 202

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 82.3%; rating input score 82
• Program expense ratio: 80.8%; rating input score 81
• Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
  • Compensation committee: Missing
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Missing
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: Limited
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 19th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 2.8%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 90.55; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.99; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 9.3%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 22.6% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 17.3% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 36.7% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings