Impact Seven
Creating homes. Crafting opportunities. Revitalzing communities. Supporting you.
We are a certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that provides flexible, affordable loan capital for businesses, housing, commercial real estate and community development projects in Wisconsin and beyond.
We are also one of the largest non-profit developers of affordable housing in Wisconsin, the only state-wide Certified Housing Development Organization (CHDO) in Wisconsin and manage over 1,500 units, most of which we own. Impact Seven has a long history of managing housing projects financed by Rural Development (Formerly FmHA) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Impact Seven further specializes in the management of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) projects and Market Rate housing.
As a consultant, lender, investor and developer, we have helped numerous communities make significant strides toward revitalizing distressed housing and diminishing economies. Impact Seven has a number of programs, loan pools, properties, resources, and ideas which may interest you. We take pride in our track record of outcomes and especially those related to projects generally thought to be too complex or challenging to succeed.
Impact Seven was founded in 1970 by Wisconsin residents in a seven-county area who were concerned with a waning economy and high poverty. Originally named the Ojibwa Industrial Development Corporation before a name change to Impact Seven in 1972, the organization was established to serve as a consultant and developer for Native American tribes, municipalities, housing authorities and non-profits in northwestern Wisconsin. In this capacity, Impact Seven assisted with identifying needs, setting up ownership and management entities, assembling financing, and overseeing the construction and management of housing, industrial, commercial and mixed-use developments.
In 1985, Impact Seven began developing residential housing of its own. In total, Impact Seven has developed, managed, and/or owned more than 2,500 units of housing, most of which are affordable for families with low incomes and including more than 840 that are set aside for residents who are elderly or have disabilities.
Job creation is another historical focus of Impact Seven’s, first as a developer and equity investor in commercial and industrial real estate and business enterprises. Impact Seven was also the largest workforce employment and training provider in Wisconsin from 1978 – 1983. Additionally, the provision of flexible, affordable financing for business and housing ventures became an increasingly important part of the organization’s job-creation impact.
In 1994, new legislation established the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund within the US Department of the Treasury to build capacity for a national network of community-based lenders. Impact Seven became a certified CDFI in 1999 and since then has won numerous CDFI Fund awards for community and economic development lending, including the first New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) allocation in the state when the program was established in 2002.
Many partnerships and affiliations support Impact Seven’s community development mission, including NeighborWorks America affiliation in 2012 and Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago membership in 2015. These professional associations provide valuable resources for organizational capacity-building, staff training and capital for community and economic development projects. Partnerships with numerous communities, non-profits and business entities throughout the state leverage additional knowledge and capital resources for community development.
Today, Impact Seven continues to catalyze investment, grow small businesses and create jobs in Wisconsin and beyond through providing loan capital, technical assistance and development services to borrowers for diverse community and economic development purposes. By offering affordable rates and flexible terms in combination with right-touch technical assistance, Impact Seven provides entrepreneurs with the resources they need to focus on running successful businesses, generating financial as well as social returns such as high levels of job creation, affordable housing development, revitalization of blighted infrastructure, and the inducement of additional neighborhood investments.
With 50 years of experience, Impact Seven has grown to become one of the largest non-profit developers of affordable and workforce housing in the state. Housing developments may be new construction, adaptive reuse of vacant buildings or preservation and rehabilitation of existing affordable housing. Utilizing an innovative and flexible approach, Impact Seven pursues housing projects that are responsive to local needs, from apartments that are affordable for low-income families to rental communities for persons with disabilities or homeless U.S. military veterans. In 2020, Impact Seven created the Impact Management Group to continue professional management of its portfolio of affordable housing, as well as for third party owners.
Impact Seven is recognized as a trusted partner by communities throughout Wisconsin and beyond for economic and housing development and quality property management. Over the past 50 years, Impact Seven has provided safe, affordable housing for tens of thousands of low-income households, assisted thousands of successful business ventures and created over 25,000 jobs throughout the state. Impact Seven’s activities leverage additional investment, attracting outside capital to local community and economic development projects. Indeed, Impact Seven’s investments have resulted in nearly $1 billion in economic impact throughout Wisconsin in the last ten years alone.
Whether it’s a loan for a small business start-up or new affordable housing, Impact Seven builds the places that build community.
Pine Ridge Assisted Living provides 36 separate assisted living units of which 12 can be devoted to memory care. The project came to fruition after several years of investigation and study by Flambeau Hospital and Impact Seven. […]
Mirro Plant #3 in Manitowoc was constructed in 1929 by the nation’s largest aluminum goods manufacturer, Manitowoc-based Aluminum Goods Manufacturing Company, also known as Mirro. By 2003, all Mirro company production operations were transferred out of Manitowoc and overseas, which […]
Once a vacant school campus, Franklin School Apartments is a new rental community providing 20 affordable apartments and townhomes for families on Rice Lake’s main commercial corridor. With Impact Seven at the helm of development, construction was complete in April […]