Salli Martyniak says her job at Forward Community Investments (FCI) is a natural extension of her life-long commitment to strengthen nonprofits, build community, and improve social services. [FCI is a Wisconsin-based loan fund dedicated to building the financial capacity of nonprofits.]
“I’m here for the borrower as a support system that they can turn to if they run into a brick wall or bump in the road,” Martyniak said. “Nonprofits borrow for very specific reasons, to help make or create social changes. As proof of this, we have had just one minor default in 15 years. We approve loans that stimulate and encourage the stabilization and revitalization of neighborhoods and communities.”
The loan capital Martyniak speaks of comes from investors (including banks, credit unions, corporations, and individuals) who fund community organizations exemplifying a passion for sustainable development and community-based betterment. This is the perfect mechanism for the socially conscious Martyniak, who became executive director of FCI (then the Dane Fund) in 2003.
The hallmarks of her tenure at FCI include the expansion of its socially responsible investment scope to incorporate provisions of vital technical assistance, and stronger promotion of new policies that offer nonprofits, through statewide workshops and seminars, sounder financial management advice.
“These careful considerations of investment dollars facilitates a giving that has a far greater impact than traditional donating,” she said.
With Martyniak at the helm, the company takes a single investment and leverages its impact, giving nonprofits access to resources that help them meet operational and functional needs. The system flourishes through cyclicality: investments convert to low-interest loans for nonprofits in need, and repaid loan money continually recycles to help these organizations achieve their objectives.
“We have a self-propelling cycle going that gives nonprofits the chance to borrow and allows communities to grow,” summarized Martyniak.
One of just 14 community development financial institutions (CDFIs) in Wisconsin, Forward Community Investments is one of approximately 600 sanctioned by the U.S. Department of Treasury. Also under Martyniak’s tenure, the loan fund moved its Dane County focus to offer the loan program statewide. (However, as she is quick to point out, since its inception in 1994, Forward Community Investments has disbursed more than $15 million to benefit low-income people and disadvantaged communities in Dane County.)
Martyniak revels in a laid-back, upbeat workplace, which is the reason why her dog, Marley, is usually outstretched at her feet at work. “I can’t imagine working anywhere else now,” she admits.
Looking ahead, she expects FCI to encounter some distinct challenges: with more than 16,000 nonprofits in Wisconsin, there is tremendous demand — and, indeed, opportunity — to help achieve higher levels of social change. Being president of the only statewide loan fund in Wisconsin means that she will be exceptionally busy building the financial and technical strengths of nonprofits.
She sees herself as an all-encompassing link, a nexus bringing positive community investment to borrowers, bridging investors to the compassionate world that nonprofits serve. “The great benefit of investing with us is that we are more personable than the stock market,” said Martyniak. “Here, you are investing in someone you know. Investors can touch, feel, and understand where their money is loaned. That makes all parties involved feel good.”
