Small Business Lending

"GAF has lent over $116 million to 366 businesses across the country, creating or retaining over 9,200 jobs and leveraging over $180 million in the process."

-John Palyo, President, NDC Grow America Fund

The NDC Grow America Fund (GAF), in cooperation with our Community Partners, provides financing to growing small businesses throughout the country.  GAF operates as a community development lender to support the creation of jobs and the expansion of eligible small businesses in underserved areas, particularly minority and women-owned businesses.  The financing provided is partially guaranteed by the U.S. Small Business Administration under GAF's Small Business Lending Company license, and GAF has Preferred Lender status nationwide.

GAF lending differs from conventional lending by providing:

• Longer Terms – Using repayment schedules up to 25 years that give the borrower smaller monthly loan payments
• Larger Loans - Providing loan amounts ranging from $100,000 to $2 million
• Lower Down Payments – Allowing higher loan-to-value ratios to preserve the business's equity and maximize growth potential
• Lower Interest Rate – Providing lower interest rates to enhance community development rather than corporate profit
• Better Structure - Matching the term of the loan to the life of the assets being financed, ensuring debt service does not exceed available cash flow

These features make a difference!

Download NDC Grow America Fund (GAF) Information

GAF Brochure GAF Portfolio & Statistics

We provide healthy, growing small businesses that are beyond a conventional lender's profile with access to capital.  As a result of GAF financing, Community Partners benefit from the job creation and economic energy of small business growth that is so crucial for economic vitality. 

Alpha Cine

GAF Opens New Doors in Seattle

When Alpha Cine owner Don Jensen purchased the business in 2006, he recognized the critical need for a new state-of-the-art space that would suit Alpha Cine's unique needs but lacked the means to make it happen. A profile of Alpha Cine in the Seattle Times-Intelligencer brought the company's plight to the attention of the City of Seattle. With business retention as a priority, the City called in long-standing development assistance partner NDC to help structure a financing package to meet Alpha Cine's needs.

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Dental Kidz

GAF Helps Bring Dentistry to Kids in Downtown Newark

Newark husband and wife team open 8,000 square foot state-of-the-art pediatric dentistry and orthodontic practice with $710,000 in project financing from the Grow Newark Fund. Dental Kidz provides oral heath care to children up to 12 years old including digital x-rays to minimize radiation and age appropriate entertainment and décor. Services to clients include diagnostic exams, preventive care, restorative treatment and the only pediatric sedation center in Essex County.

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Cardinal Fastener

Future Golden for Bolt Manufacturer Supplying Green Energy Industry

For more than twenty-five years, Cardinal Fastener, the latest addition to NDC Grow America Fund’s (GAF) family of borrowers, has been proud to say that it has been keeping the country together, its bolts found in such iconic American structures as the Empire State Building and the Golden Gate Bridge. More recently, the Cleveland-area manufacturer of industrial “fasteners” has added a new industry to its customer base: the green energy industry, specifically manufacturers of power-generating windmills.

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