Community Finance
Community Finance is a New Zealand social enterprise founded in 2019 that finances charitable Community Housing Providers by aggregating wholesale-investor capital and lending at lower margins than banks to support affordable housing delivery nationwide.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2019
- HeadquartersAuckland, New Zealand
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Community Finance does
Community Finance is a New Zealand-based social enterprise founded in 2019 that operates as the country's specialist financial intermediary for the community and affordable housing sector. The company finances charitable Community Housing Providers (CHPs), which are leading charities on the front line of New Zealand's affordable housing crisis, by raising capital from wholesale investors and lending directly to those CHPs at minimum loan sizes of $5,000,000 with terms exceeding five years. Investment is restricted to wholesale investors under Schedule 1 of the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013.
In 2024, Community Finance launched the Community Housing Funding Agency (CHFA) as a wholly-owned subsidiary to evolve from bilateral lending into a bond aggregation model. CHFA pools the finance requirements of the community housing sector to issue larger social bonds on market standard terms, supported by a credit rating and government backing, making the bonds more attractive to impact investors and securing efficient long-term finance. The company uses the Impact Management Project and IRIS+ frameworks for impact reporting. No proprietary technology platform or AI/ML systems are disclosed; the core operating asset is the intermediation infrastructure, regulatory standing, and credit relationships rather than software.
Community Finance generates revenue through interest margins on its loan book and fees associated with managing CHFA's bond issuances, explicitly operating on margins lower than commercial banks as part of its social purpose and reinvesting surpluses back into the housing mission. The company is wholly owned by Positive Capital Limited and operates from Auckland, New Zealand.
Community Finance firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Community Finance
- Legal name
- Community Finance Limited
- Website
- https://communityfinance.co.nz
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2019
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Community Finance is a New Zealand social enterprise founded in 2019 that finances charitable Community Housing Providers by aggregating wholesale-investor capital and lending at lower margins than banks to support affordable housing delivery nationwide.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Community Finance industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Community Housing Finance
- NAICS
- Depository Credit Intermediation (5221), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)
- SIC
- Asset-Backed Securities (6189), Mortgage Bankers & Loan Correspondents (6162)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Community Development & Affordable Housing Funds (FSANAJAK)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Sustainable Private Markets (Impact PE/VC, Private Credit, Infrastructure) (FSAAALAG), Microfinance & Community P2P Lending (FSAKAHAD), Infrastructure & Public Works (Transport, Social, PPP) (FSABACAI)
Keywords
Where Community Finance is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Auckland
- HQ country
- New Zealand
- HQ region
- Oceania
Offices1 record
Markets served
Community Finance business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Lending and Bond Issuance: Community Finance operates as a specialist intermediary raising capital through bond issuances and lending to community housing providers. They operate on lower margins than banks, optimising returns for investors while lowering cost of finance for CHPs. Revenue generated through interest margins on loans and bond issuances managed through CHFA.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Borrower pricing - minimum loan $5M for social impact housing projects |
| Other | Multi-year contract | Wholesale investor terms |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels5 records
Community Finance product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Community Finance is a New Zealand social enterprise that provides long-term, lower-cost loans (minimum NZD 5 million, 5+ year terms) to charitable Community Housing Providers (CHPs) to support the delivery of affordable and social housing. It raises this capital from wholesale investors, impact investors, philanthropists, and charities through social bond issuances aggregated by its subsidiary, the Community Housing Funding Agency (CHFA), and reports social impact using globally accepted Impact Management Project and IRIS+ frameworks.
Product overview
Community Finance operates as a single-product social enterprise focused on financing the community and affordable housing sector in New Zealand. The company and its subsidiary CHFA work together as an integrated offering: Community Finance provides the financing platform and acts as manager of CHFA, which serves as the bond aggregation vehicle. Since 2019, Community Finance has raised over $165m to provide finance to charities, and together with CHFA has delivered over $300 million as of September 2025. The core offering centers on lower-cost financing for charitable Community Housing Providers (CHPs) through wholesale investor capital, impact investment frameworks, and government partnerships.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Community Housing Funding Agency (CHFA): Specialist lending and bond aggregation platform for the community and affordable housing sector, offering larger bond issuances on market standard terms to raise more money for supporting homes.
Products and services
- Community Finance Lending to Community Housing Providers Long-term loan finance (minimum NZD 5 million, 5+ year terms) provided to charitable Community Housing Providers (CHPs) in New Zealand to support the development and operation of social and affordable housing. Funded by capital raised from wholesale investors, impact investors, philanthropists and charities.
- Community Housing Funding Agency (CHFA) Social Bond Aggregation Wholly-owned subsidiary that aggregates finance requirements across New Zealand's community and affordable housing sector to issue larger social bonds on market-standard terms to wholesale investors. Managed by Community Finance, with scale, credit rating and government support making the social bonds more attractive to impact investors and securing efficient long-term finance for CHPs.
Quantifiable outcome
- Over $300 million raised and delivered to support community and affordable housing as of September 2025
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Community Finance
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Community Finance technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature1 record
Community Finance partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- Community Housing Funding Agency (CHFA)coreSubsidiary launched in 2024 by Community Finance to serve as bond aggregator for community housing sector. CHFA pools sector finance requirements to enable larger bond issuances on market standard terms, making social bonds more attractive to investors.
- Positive Capital GroupcoreParent organization comprising Community Finance Limited, Community Finance Security Trustee Limited, Positive Capital Limited, Positive Property Fund Limited and Positive Property Fund Holdings Limited. Community Finance is wholly owned by Positive Capital Limited.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves3 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Community Finance competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Impact Investment Exchange (IIX): Impact-focused financial intermediary that structures and issues social bonds and gender/development-themed capital market instruments across Asia-Pacific. Comparable as a specialist social bond issuer and impact capital aggregator serving community-development borrowers.
- Oikocredit: Global cooperative and social investor that channels wholesale investor capital into financial inclusion, affordable housing, and renewable energy in developing markets. Highly comparable as a specialist impact-lending intermediary raising wholesale capital to fund community/social-purpose borrowers.
- Christian Savings: New Zealand member-owned deposit taker providing savings and lending products with a community/faith-based mission. Several Community Finance executives (CFO Andrew Allan, EA Catherine Linton) came directly from Christian Savings, and the institution serves a comparable mission-driven, member-funded intermediary role.
- The Salvation Army New Zealand: One of Community Finance's named borrowers and a major NZ charitable Community Housing Provider. Comparable as a large, government-funded CHP that relies on specialist intermediaries like CF/CHFA for lower-cost long-term finance to deliver social housing.
- BlueOrchard Finance: Swiss-based impact investment manager specializing in microfinance, affordable housing, and SME credit via structured debt and bond issuances. Comparable operating model: raise wholesale capital through rated notes/social bonds, lend on to mission-driven borrowers, and use recognized impact frameworks.
Emerging players
- LinkPeople: New Zealand community housing provider delivering social and affordable housing. Comparable as a borrower/counterparty of Community Finance, representing the type of charitable CHP target market that CF/CHFA lends to at scale.
- Habitat for Humanity New Zealand: NZ affiliate of the global affordable housing nonprofit that finances and builds community housing. Comparable as a New Zealand-focused affordable housing finance and delivery operator serving similar vulnerable-household beneficiaries, although Habitat combines construction with financing.
Broad incumbents
- Big Society Capital: UK social investment wholesaler that pools institutional and government capital to fund social enterprises and affordable housing providers. Comparable as a wholesale-level social finance aggregator, although it operates at much larger scale and at the wholesale-of-wholesale tier.
- Triodos Bank: European sustainable bank that lends to social housing, renewable energy, and community projects while raising wholesale funding from impact-oriented depositors and investors. Comparable mission and structure (purpose-led intermediary channeling impact capital to community/social projects), though broader in scope and geography.
Others
- Community Housing Aotearoa: NZ peak body representing Community Housing Providers. Comparable as a sector-level organization closely connected to the same CHP universe that Community Finance finances, providing advocacy and infrastructure that supports the underlying borrower base.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights1 record
Customer concentration
Community Finance social profiles
Digital presenceCommunity Finance compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
Community Finance financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Community Finance leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles13 records
Community Finance subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries4 records
Community Finance funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Community Finance M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Community Finance
What does Community Finance do?
Community Finance is a New Zealand social enterprise that provides long-term, lower-cost loans (minimum NZD 5 million, 5+ year terms) to charitable Community Housing Providers (CHPs) to support the delivery of affordable and social housing. It raises this capital from wholesale investors, impact investors, philanthropists, and charities through social bond issuances aggregated by its subsidiary, the Community Housing Funding Agency (CHFA), and reports social impact using globally accepted Impact Management Project and IRIS+ frameworks.
Is Community Finance a public or private company?
Community Finance is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Community Finance founded?
Community Finance was founded in 2019. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Community Finance based?
Community Finance is headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand, in the Oceania region.
How does Community Finance make money?
One revenue line is on record: lending and Bond Issuance.
Who are Community Finance's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Impact Investment Exchange (IIX), Oikocredit, Christian Savings, The Salvation Army New Zealand and BlueOrchard Finance. Emerging players are LinkPeople and Habitat for Humanity New Zealand. Broad incumbents are Big Society Capital and Triodos Bank. Community Housing Aotearoa is listed as an others.
Does Community Finance have an API?
No public API is recorded for Community Finance.
What industry is Community Finance in?
Community Finance's product category is Community Housing Finance. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSANAJAK, Community Development & Affordable Housing Funds, with a secondary code of FSAAALAG, Sustainable Private Markets (Impact PE/VC, Private Credit, Infrastructure). Its NAICS code is 5221 and its SIC code is 6189.