The dual effect of the CDFA tax credit program

First-time-participant M&T Bank cites community’s ‘strong relationships’

Gather, a regional food pantry based in Portsmouth, opened a new kitchen and food center in October, thanks to the New Hampshire Community Finance Authority (CDFA) Tax Credit Program, in which M&T Bank was a participant. (Photo by Kevin Edge)

One way New Hampshire businesses can become good corporate citizens is their participation in the New Hampshire Community Development Finance Authority (CDFA) Tax Credit Program.

Program recipients — nonprofits, for example — get a needed boost of funds for projects such as housing, child care and community-based services.

Program participants receive a 75% NH state tax credit on their contribution.

They also get the knowledge and satisfaction that their contributions improve the communities in which they live and work better, as M&T Bank has found as a first-time program participant.

“Those investments stay in those communities,” said Mo Reilly, who is in charge of M&T Bank’s Community Reinvestment Act (CAR) efforts in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine.

“It also gives us a chance to build really strong relationships with local nonprofits, which is something that M&T always seeks to do,” Reilly added.

The 1977 Community Reinvestment Act is federal law that requires banks to help meet the credit needs of everyone in a community in which they do business.

One way banks can do this in New Hampshire is through the CDFA, which has the dual effect of impacting certain local projects as well as giving banks (and other CDFA participants) a tax credit that can be applied against their state Business Profits Tax (BPT), Business Enterprise Tax (BET) or Insurance Premium Tax.

“The investment that we make in New Hampshire stays in New Hampshire, which is, I think, a pretty special opportunity,” Reilly said.

M&T’s first foray into the CDFA program is a $257,500 investment across seven projects in the state. Here is a rundown of those projects, with M&T’s assessment of how the money will be used: Gather, a regional food pantry based in Portsmouth, will leverage tax credits to renovate an 18,000-square-foot space there to become New England’s first Community Food Center with a commercial and teaching kitchen, as well as an expanded warehouse, pantry market and dining space. The new location will provide space for local partners to deliver wraparound services and the delivery of an innovative culinary workforce program. The project expects to create 10 new jobs, retain 30 jobs and expand services for the 175,000 people served annually who are experiencing food insecurity.

Family Promise of Southern New Hampshire will use tax credits to support the expansion of their transitional housing program to a second facility in Derry, increasing access to critical services for families within the region. The organization provides housing and case management for families temporarily experiencing homelessness. Renovations will include transforming rooms into nine family suites; improvements to the kitchen, dining and laundry facilities, living room; and the creation of conference room spaces and administrative offices.

The Dismas Home will use tax credit funds to support remodeling a Rochester facility to serve justice-involved women with substance use disorder. The organization provides women with transitional housing and the clinical, social and emotional support they need to thrive in the community. Improvements to the property will result in 14 bedrooms, a commercial kitchen, living and dining space, clinical and executive office space, and recreational and outdoor gardening space. The new location will significantly increase the number of women the Dismas Home will be able to serve annually and move them closer to the goal of having access to Dismas Homes throughout the state.

The Concord Coalition to End Homelessness will leverage tax credit resources to develop a commercial property on South State Street in Concord into eight-one-bedroom apartment units that will provide permanent supportive housing with rental assistance for individuals experiencing homelessness. The organization will provide all tenants with ongoing case management.

Tax credit resources will support the development of the Mark Stebbins Community Center, a 20,000-square-foot, multi-service nonprofit center to provide a centralized hub for children and families to access vital resources, participate in community programs and receive tailored support. The project is designed to address the critical needs of Manchester’s West Side. Services will include affordable before- and after-school care, health care, food access initiatives and a community navigator program. Key partners in the project include the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Manchester and Amoskeag Health.

The New Hampshire Community Loan Fund will use tax credits to support families with low- and moderate-incomes with assistance to purchase new, affordable energy-efficient manufactured homes. These homes are anticipated to cost well below the median cost of a home in New Hampshire, which was $514,000 in 2024 and unattainable for many homebuyers. Supported households will also have access to free financial and personal counseling for homebuyers.

Tax credits will support the Monadnock Economic Development Corporation Bringing It Home Project, a new initiative to improve child care accessibility by creating and supporting home-based providers in the Monadnock Region. The program aims to create at least 10 licensed, home-based providers by 2025, adding an additional 60 to 120 child care slots and creating 25 new jobs. Tax credits will be leveraged for facility startup expenses in the form of home improvements required for licensure and health safety upgrades.

Gather’s executive director, Anne Hayes, underscored the importance of the CDFA program and how it was instrumental in the development of the industrial kitchen/food center, which opened in early October.

“The New Hampshire CDFA program was critical to Gather’s relocation and expansion in Portsmouth. Our CDFA award was an early, pivotal commitment — providing tax credits we could sell to New Hampshire businesses to generate $500,000 for our building construction. M&T Bank’s $50,000 tax credit purchase helped make our 18,000-square-foot facility possible,” Hayes said.

“Now our new Community Food Center is a model for how nonprofits can address hunger in our communities. The new facility enables many more people to easily access free, healthy food,” she added. “It allows us to not only serve the line at our door but also shorten that line by providing additional supportive services through partners like M&T Bank and by introducing culinary workforce training as a path towards greater financial stability.”

M&T has also gone the extra step to having personnel on-site at Gather once a month to answer questions people have about finances — banking or managing their credit rating or budgeting — according to Hayes.

“They are really open to helping with whatever folks need. It truly is a great partnership,” she said.

M&T Bank started in 1856 in Buffalo, New York, as Manufacturers and Traders Bank to support local industrial growth.

Now a full-service financial institution with 960-plus branches throughout the Northeast, its entrance into the New Hampshire market came in 2022 with its acquisition of People’s Bank.

Kathy Curran, senior public relations manager for M&T Bank in New England, described the tax credit opportunity as “a unique program that’s making a positive impact across the state.”

“We looked at the impact and just the different sectors that it touches,” Curran said. “It’s housing, it’s food insecurity.

When you look at the Stebbins Center, that’s a community that has been underresourced, and the new Stebbins center will bring wraparound services into that community.”

M&T’s first foray into the tax credit program is a $257,500 investment across seven projects.