In October, the entire staff of the U.S. Department of Treasury’s CDFI Fund was terminated as part of a broader Reduction in Force by the Trump administration. Even with the restoration of these jobs written into the shutdown deal, the future of federal support and a key funding pipeline for more than 1,400 community development financial institutions (CDFIs) is still deeply uncertain.

CDFIs are mission-driven lenders working in low-income communities, reaching borrowers traditional financial institutions can’t – or won’t – lend to. CDFIs work in urban, rural and Native communities, playing a critical role in financing affordable housing, small businesses and community facilities. Such efforts are all central to the mission of most community foundations.

Read more: The CDFI Fund Is Under Fire. What Does That Mean for Community Development?

With economic instability mounting, affordable housing shortages deepening and wealth gaps widening, CDFI funding is endangered at a moment when communities need capital most. Community foundations have a unique opportunity, and indeed a responsibility, to step forward with investment dollars to fill a critical capital gap for low-income communities.

CDFIs assemble a mix of debt and grant capital from public and private sources. For the majority of CDFIs, the federal government is a top funder. These funds are disbursed primarily by the CDFI Fund, which also oversees certification for the sector. Last year, the CDFI Fund awarded nearly $789 million to CDFIs, guaranteed nearly $500 million in CDFI-issued bonds and allocated $5 billion in tax credits to incentivize private investment in economically-distressed communities.

But the threat to CDFIs extends beyond direct cuts to federal funding. Without staff, the certification process that gives CDFIs access to billions in capital from banks is at risk. Under Community Reinvestment Act obligations, banks extend loans and grants to CDFIs each year, relying on federal certification to verify these investments serve low-income communities and keep them compliant with regulations. Without this process, bank capital may become harder to access.

Read more: Why the Community Reinvestment Act Is Back in the News

If CDFI funding dries up, affordable projects will stall, small businesses will go unfunded and community facilities will remain unbuilt. With stability and access to economic opportunity at stake, community foundations are well-positioned to help fill the funding gap for CDFIs.

Community foundations hold more than $150 billion in assets, most of which is invested in public equities, bonds, private equity and other funds, earning returns to drive grantmaking but not connected to local needs. And yet, tackling the acute challenges families and communities face today requires systems-level solutions that grantmaking alone cannot deliver. By redirecting a portion of their invested assets from Wall Street to Main Street via CDFIs, community foundations can deploy more capital to mission, grow their asset base and help sustain the financial infrastructure that serves low-income communities.

Investing in CDFIs allows community foundations to amplify their impact. Unlike grants that are spent once, investments in CDFIs (even if below market-rate) return capital with interest. Foundations can still grow assets for future grantmaking while putting that same capital to work for their mission today. This would have a tremendous impact: Directing even 1% of assets in community foundations today to CDFIs would represent $1.5 billon in incremental capital flowing to low-income communities.

For community foundations managing donor-advised fund (DAF) capital, there’s a clear business case for incorporating CDFIs into their investment portfolios.

Local investments are a differentiator that can help community foundations compete with large national sponsors and even attract new assets. As Mary Rutherford, president and CEO of the Montana Community Foundation, frames it: “We can say to our donors…when you establish your funds at the Montana Community Foundation, a portion of those assets are reinvested in Montana. It’s very compelling.” 

CDFIs offer a low-barrier, low-risk opportunity for deploying endowment capital locally. Foundation leaders don’t need to underwrite complex tax-credit affordable housing projects or source and service loans to local entrepreneurs themselves. CDFIs bring specialized expertise, added capacity and diversified portfolios — turning what could be a daunting undertaking into a turnkey solution.

Read our series: CDFI Futures

CDFIs also have over four decades of demonstrated results. In total, they’ve provided $124 billion of financing to low-income communities and have created or preserved 1 million small businesses, 3.4 million jobs and 3 million housing units.

And while they serve borrowers mainstream banks often decline, CDFIs’ loan portfolios perform with consistently low delinquencies. From FY15 to FY23, CDFIs maintained average 90-day past due rates of just 1.24%, which can be attributed to their hands-on relationships with borrowers, innovative underwriting processes and sound financial management practices.

Leading community foundations are increasingly investing in CDFIs, too. The Boston Foundation, which already has a long history of local impact investing, this year announced its new Mission First Pool, which will expand its investments in Boston-area CDFIs. The pool is expected to grow to $45 million over the next five years, funded by a default allocation from all DAFs. Baltimore Community Foundation, San Francisco Foundation, Montana Community Foundation, Vermont Community Foundation and many more have committed as much as 5% of their assets to local CDFIs.

It’s time to make this practice standard rather than exceptional.

Community foundations have both the resources and the responsibility to invest, and CDFIs have proven their ability to stabilize families, create jobs and drive wealth creation. By stepping up to fill these funding gaps, community foundations can strengthen the financial lifelines our communities depend upon — ensuring that capital continues flowing to where it’s needed most, even in uncertain times.

This post was originally published on Next City.