WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) is now allowing currently Certified Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) who have not yet submitted their revised CDFI Certification Application (released December 2023) to submit an extension request for the upcoming Sept. 30, 2025, CDFI Certification Application submission deadline, the CDFI Fund announced.
On June 20, 2024, the CDFI Fund announced the updated CDFI Certification Application deadlines for currently Certified CDFIs. In the announcement, the CDFI Fund stated, “No additional grace period or extension will be provided to CDFIs that fail to submit their Application by the revised deadline.”
As of this announcement, the prohibition on extension requests is lifted, the CDFI Fund said.
If a currently Certified CDFI will not meet the Sept. 30, 2025, submission deadline and wants to retain its CDFI Certification, it must follow the steps outlined below to submit an extension request to the CDFI Fund:
- Submit a Service Request in AMIS with “Certification” selected for the “Program” field and “Application” for the “Program Topic” field.
- The subject line of the Service Request should read “Request for Extension to the 9/30/2025 CDFI Certification Application Submission Deadline.”
- The request must be from the Applicant’s Authorized Representative’s individual AMIS account. It cannot be sent from a consultant’s AMIS account.
- The request must state the reason for why the extension is being requested.
- The request must include the requested extension date, which must be on or before 11:59 p.m. on December 31, 2025.
All extension requests must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025, to allow the CDFI Fund time to review and approve any extension requests in a timely manner, the CDFI Fund said.
“The determination on your extension request will be communicated via email in AMIS. The CDFI Fund reserves the right to grant an extension date different than the date originally requested. Failure to follow the above steps may result in delays to the review of your submitted Service Request. While your extension request is pending, you will not be deemed to have missed the September 30, 2025, submission deadline,” the Fund stated.
As a reminder, the Fund said, Window 2, the second Application submission period and part of the CDFI Fund’s established General Reapplication Submission Deadlines, opened July 7, 2025, and runs until Sept. 30, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. E.T. Organizations in Window 2 are currently Certified CDFIs with fiscal years that end on Dec. 31, 2024; Feb. 28, 2025; or March 31, 2025. All organizations must prepare and submit their Application(s) within their assigned window unless authorized directly by the CDFI Fund to do otherwise. Submissions outside of the designated timeframe, without advance approval from the CDFI Fund, will result in loss of CDFI Certification.
CDFI Certification Application Guidance and Resources
The CDFI Fund has guidance and resources on the Certification webpage to assist with submitting a CDFI Certification Application. In particular, the CDFI Certification Supplemental Guidance and Tips has detailed instructions on completing the CDFI Certification Application.
In addition to guidance materials, the webinars located at Monthly and Recorded Webinars can help with key parts of the Application process including:
- CDFI Certification Application Roadmap: Webinar Recording
- CDFI Certification Application Navigation Walkthrough: Webinar Recording
- Navigating AMIS: Webinar Recording
“Applicants must use the most recent versions of the CDFI Certification Application, Target Market Calculator, and Transaction Level Report (TLR) templates available in AMIS. Templates downloaded or initiated in 2024 or early 2025 will not reflect updates made to improve the system and reduce errors. Applicants should rerun the Target Market Calculator prior to submission of the CDFI Certification Application to ensure the latest Target Market Activity percentages are included in the Application,” the Fund stated.