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The Innovate Fund is a Community Development Entity, which uses New Markets Tax Credits to provide flexible financing tools to economically depressed communities across North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Virginia.  The Innovate Fund partners with potential borrowers, local community leaders, investors and lenders to ensure that each investment maximizes the overall impact to the community.  Whether it is through creating quality jobs, improving health and wellness, or investing in real estate developments to catalyze further development, The Innovate Fund ensures that projects financed through NMTCs are held to performance measurements which translate into tangible community impacts.

A Community Development Entity (CDE) is a corporation or partnership that has a track record in providing technical and financial assistance to businesses located and operating in low-income communities. Additionally, they have an established advisory board comprised of residents and local stakeholders to represent the interests of those communities.

How Do I Know if My Project Qualifies for New Markets Tax Credits?

1. Location:  Project must be located in a “qualifying” census tract, which means it qualifies as a Low Income Community (LIC) under NMTC program regulations.  Contact us and we will help determine this.
2. Impact:  Project must make an impact on the community. This can be through job creation, providing services to LIC residents, and more.
3. Financial Need:  A project must be able to demonstrate that it cannot be completed without NMTC funds, the scope of the project will be significantly reduced without NMTC funds, or services to the community will be reduced or eliminated without NMTC funds.  This financial need is often called the “but for” test – meaning “this project could not succeed but for the NMTC funds.”
4. Size of Project:  Most NMTC projects are a minimum of $5 million.
5. Certain projects cannot be funded. These include: gambling facilities, ABC stores, massage parlors, hot tub facilities, tanning facilities, certain farming businesses, golf course/country clubs, residential rental properties, businesses predominantly holding intangibles.

These are meant to serve as a guideline for NMTC project qualifications, and do not represent a complete list of all requirements. We would be delighted to talk with you about projects at any point from conception to construction. Please contact The Innovate Fund staff to learn more about this flexible funding source!