I guess not all nonprofits are easy to explain. The one I work at (Housing Development Fund) provides counseling and classes to lesser-privileged families who want to buy their very first home, but need to work on their credit score or their paperwork, etc. before they can be approved for a mortgage. (Oftentimes, these families live in public housing or subsidized housing and never thought they could afford their own home. And some of their rents are still sky-high!) We also have classes and counseling for those who are about to lose their homes to foreclosure.
Both are under the category of financial counseling...but we're not working on these families' stock portfolios! We're helping them with budgeting, making sure they can be financially stable after buying their first home, and making sure they can continue to keep their home.
The other side of HDF is giving loans (downpayment assistance) to families who still need additional help to buy a home in Connecticut's very very pricey housing market. And we also invest in affordable housing in the area, investing in developers who build affordable rental apartments - which is so important and necessary in this area.
Recently, we helped create 60 affordable apartments in some of the lowest income neighborhoods in the county! Bridgeport, CT was hit extremely hard by the foreclosure crisis, and HDF's financing was able to revitalize some foreclosed and abandoned buildings, converting them to affordable housing. And even better news: the amount of affordable apartments created will be able to empty the homeless family shelters in Bridgeport and Fairfield for at least one day.
So this side of HDF makes it seem like a "nonprofit bank", which is a good way to describe the nonprofit, but I guess can also lead to confusion...
I must say, working at a nonprofit is quite the opposite of working in finance. And well, I wouldn't have it any other way. :)
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