23 May 2011
Leaving the party while it’s in full swing….
Thank you for the many kind messages I have received since I announced that I will be leaving the cdfa. I have been really privileged to lead the association and help build the CDFI industry in the UK for the last eight years. But, of course, many others have been involved, including CDFIs themselves, government departments, charitable trusts, banks and staff of the cdfa, past and present. Not forgetting individuals such as Sir Ronald Cohen, Susan Rice and Ed Mayo whose influence has been critical to our growth.
Creating an industry from nothing was a real challenge for us all – but great fun too. The chance to be pioneers doesn’t come along often and we took on the prospect with enthusiasm, zest and commitment. The industry has grown exponentially since I started at the cdfa and it is now unrecognisable from its early days. For instance, when I went to the US in February 2003 to meet key players in the CDFI sector there, it was clear they were light years ahead of us in experience, practice and policy. Not surprising as the industry there is 20 years older than ours. But when I went back to the US last year, the gap has closed so much that it is almost invisible. In just eight years; an astonishing achievement! A lot of it is because the US CDFI industry shared their learning with us, so we owe a debt of thanks to people like Mark Pinsky and Cliff Rosenthal. Their generosity certainly helped accelerate our growth. However, we have different legal, cultural and fiscal frameworks here so that nothing translated directly at all from the US – we took the key issues and principles and worked them into a UK perspective.
And look where we are now: The Regional Growth Fund, at £60m, promises to be the biggest single investment in the sector to date. The Chancellor has announced he will keep CITR, yet he is cutting 43 other tax reliefs. The EIF PROGRESS Fund is on its way, our performance framework, Change Matters, has moved into its second phase sponsored by RBS and will become indicators and benchmarks. CDFIs are well within the sights of new initiatives such as The Big Society Bank and the Green Investment Bank. Relationships with banks, government departments and charitable trusts are stronger than ever.
So with these achievements in place, the time has come for me to hand over the reigns to new leadership. This will be my last blog – I have enjoyed writing it, I hope you have enjoyed reading it as well. I will be at cdfa’s conference in Liverpool in September, when I shall be giving my farewell speech.
See you there!
