Kelly Elkin, vice president in nonprofit banking at Bremer Bank Twin Cities, was quoted in a recent Finance and Commerce newspaper piece about BQ bonds. A sample of that story is included below including a link to the full piece.
BQ bond program – a break for nonprofits
by Mark Anderson Staff Writer
Expanded during stimulus program, lending tool offers low interest rates
Nonprofits have taken it on the chin during the last 24 months, losing donations, state allocations and endowment income, and all the while watching demand for their services climb through the roof.
The good news — there’s a newly expanded lending tool that pares down their borrowing costs when they buy, expand or refinance their buildings.
The product — bank qualified revenue bonds — has been around for years, but they became a little easier to obtain last spring when federal stimulus legislation raised a cap that had limited how much any state or county could issue.
“We’ve seen a nice uptick in our volume in that business,” said Kelly Elkin, vice president for nonprofit banking at Bremer Bank in the Twin Cities.
The city of Minneapolis’ bank qualified — or BQ — bond program is also getting a lot more attention than in the past, said Bob Lind, who manages business finance programs at the city’s development agency. Although 2010 originations are flat so far, volume for the two years that ended this spring had climbed to $18 million to finance projects aimed at building or refinancing nonprofit facilities.
Activity climbed because of the savings. BQ bonds are delivering funds to borrowers at a 30 percent to 35 percent discount to the interest rate they’d pay on a conventional bank loan for the same deal, Elkin said.
Read the full story.
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