Summer Internship with Opportunity Finance Network
Anna Gallerani, Daytime MBA 2024
This summer I underwrote community development financial institutions (CDFI) applying for Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) loans and grants. This involved analyzing their financial statements and meeting with their management teams. I applied what I’ve learned from finance, accounting and management courses to OFN’s CAMEL analysis model which breaks the underwriting processes into 1) Capital Structure 2) Asset Quality 3) Management 4) Earnings and 5) Liquidity. Through this process I learned about the differences between for-profit and non-profit financial statements and the impact of recent market shocks on financial institutions.
From this analysis, I rated the risk of each CDFI and wrote a credit memo outlining my findings. The credit memo recommended the amount and terms of the loan and grant to award each CDFI. At the end of the summer, I had the opportunity to present my recommendations to the Investment Committee, leading to the deployment of over $2MM in capital from OFN’s Racial Justice Fund. The recipient CDFI’s will use these funds in impact areas varying from affordable housing to small business and sustainability. I was also able to visit one of OFN’s member CDFIs, City First Enterprises. We went to one of the small, minority-owned businesses that they lent to; a cultural architecture firm called PUSH.
It was also an exciting time to be at OFN given the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund’s Notice of Funding Opportunities released in July targeting low-income and disadvantaged communities. I was able to sit in on focus groups with OFN members involved in sustainable finance to learn about the obstacles and opportunities in the industry. I hope to bring this knowledge to future courses at Fuqua as I continue to pursue a career in Impact Investing.
This internship was supported by the Student Internship Fund, which enables first-year Duke MBA students to learn about the rewards and challenges of using business to drive positive impact without making a significant financial sacrifice. The program enables organizations that otherwise could not afford to hire MBA student interns to benefit from students’ expertise. Funds are raised through student fundraising and from donors who believe in the mission of the program. If you would like to contribute, you can donate online using your credit card.