LISC CEO Lisa Glover takes stock of the state of the organization, its priorities for the year, and how to balance knowns and unknowns as we work to maximize our impact in communities in 2023.
It goes without saying that we never know what lies ahead in any given year, but somehow, 2023 feels especially hard to forecast. Are we barreling into a full-blown recession? Will mortgage rates and inflation continue to rise?
What about our seemingly divided government—can we hope to see the passage and implementation of legislation that will support the millions of residents who have been sidelined from American prosperity? How many times will we wake up to news of horrific mass shootings, many of them hate crimes that terrorize our communities and each one of us? And in this climate, how will the organizations that traditionally fund our work react?
Last year, while not our highest record in terms of investment, was still an extremely successful one that resulted in major impact—given the drastic shifts in the economy and the backdraft of Covid, our lending and development numbers surprised even us. By the end of 2022, we had invested nearly $400 million in grants, loans and other capital for community projects across the country—and we haven't even finished accounting for the output of our affiliates, such as the National Equity Fund, whose numbers last year topped $2 billion.
The same economic pressures affecting our entire country are affecting us, and our funders, too
We also launched new initiatives in supplier diversity, partnered with comedian and actor Kevin Hart to support the growth of small businesses, and are nurturing the future careers of students of color through an internship program with HBCUs. We intensified our work to narrow racial health and wealth gaps, ramped up our support of community violence intervention programs across the country with the help of $8.25 million in federal grants, and made major headway on how we invest in climate justice and resiliency in dozens of communities.
What we do know at LISC is that the needs of the communities we work with are as pressing as ever, and in some cases have become even more so for all the reasons listed above. We are resolutely committed to doing all we can to help meet demands, to fulfill our mission. But the same economic pressures affecting our entire country are affecting us, and our funders, too.
So, as we forge ahead with more limited dollars, we must continue to tap our nimbleness, our resiliency and, above all, our ability to collaborate, both within and beyond the organization. Through strategic collaboration, we can make more efficient use of the resources we do have—chief among them, the ingenuity, energy and vision of our staff.
We know that collaboration works as a model for efficiency and effectiveness. We’ve seen how our lending and strategic investment teams have partnered to leverage expertise, to get deals done and money out the door. By co-creating new processes, they are building on each other’s strengths, with each department coming out stronger.
That approach dovetails with the way we are prioritizing more support and technical resources for our staff—because they’ve asked for it. Our communications team, for example, has intensified its outreach to the field, helping connect people in all our offices and national programs with each other, to share tools and templates and knowledge, and scale strategies that might otherwise have remained local. As a result, we can tell the story of LISC’s impact, and the achievements of the people and communities we work with, more effectively than ever.
In fact, it’s through continually communicating those stories that we reinforce the trust we have earned from the people and organizations who invest in us and, in turn, make our investments possible. We hope to leverage that trust this year to encourage funders to contribute general operating support—the kinds of unrestricted dollars without which we cannot grow our capacity, run our back offices, or really do any of the work that propels capital, technical support and know-how into places that need and want it.
Finally, from an internal standpoint, if there’s one more thing I’d like to see us make serious progress on this year, it’s in building a corporate culture that is people-centric, not process-driven. To authentically unify and fortify LISC, staff in every facet of the organization must feel heard and valued; they must be able to trust that senior management recognizes their contribution to communities and within this CDFI, and understands the challenges they face. That’s why we’re forming a department of People and Culture that is responsive to new hires, new diversity, new thinking. Between all these efforts, and thanks to the wisdom and dedication of each one of you, I have every confidence that 2023 can be our most productive, energized and fulfilling year yet.
Lisa L. Glover, Former LISC CEO
Lisa L. Glover served as LISC’s CEO from February 2021 through September 2023. She wasn a member of the LISC National Board of Directors from 2010 through 2023. An active community leader, she previously served as the Chair of LISC Milwaukee’s Local Advisory Committee. Lisa is a former Executive Vice President at U.S. Bank, retiring in March, 2020 after a 33 year career that included leadership roles in Community Affairs, risk management, and process improvement. Lisa holds a BBA in Corporate Finance from Iowa State University and a Master of Library and Information Science from University of Wisconsin.
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