Corporate treasury has always been guided by three priorities: preserve principal, maintain liquidity, and generate competitive returns.
Today, a fourth consideration is entering the conversation.Boards, investors, employees, and communities increasingly expect organizations to demonstrate that all capital, including operating cash, aligns with the commitments outlined in sustainability reports, community investment initiatives, and corporate responsibility programs.
The challenge is that traditional cash management vehicles provide little visibility into how deposited funds are used once they leave the balance sheet.
That is why a growing number of corporations, foundations, and institutions are evaluating Impact Cash®, CNote’s insured cash management platform that allows organizations to maintain liquidity and principal protection while generating measurable community impact.
A Treasury Solution First
Impact Cash is designed to meet treasury’s core objectives. Deposits are distributed across a network of FDIC and NCUA insured community banks and credit unions, providing expanded federal insurance coverage up to $100 million through a single relationship.
Treasury teams maintain access to liquidity while earning competitive returns. No operational overhaul is required. No need to manage dozens of separate banking relationships. No tradeoff between financial performance and impact.
The result is a cash management solution that functions within existing treasury frameworks while putting deposits to work in communities across the country.
Why More Treasury Teams Are Taking Notice
The events of recent years have elevated the importance of diversification and counterparty risk management.
Impact Cash helps organizations diversify deposits across a network of mission driven financial institutions while maintaining centralized reporting and administration.
As Tina Kobetsky, retired Treasurer, explains:
“Allocating a portion of holdings to community financial institutions achieves both: it broadens diversification across the real economy, small businesses, local growth, community resilience, while generating returns that extend well beyond the balance sheet.”
For treasury professionals, this represents a practical opportunity to align cash management strategy with broader organizational priorities without compromising fiduciary responsibilities.
The Financial Strength Behind the Network
One of the most common questions treasury teams ask is whether mission driven financial institutions introduce additional risk.
The data suggests otherwise. According to CNote’s 2025 Annual Impact Report, Impact Cash participating institutions reported:
• 12.31% capitalization rate
• 0.53% net charge off rate
• 86.42% loan to deposit ratio
These metrics are derived from FDIC and NCUA call report data, the same regulatory reporting used to evaluate the health and performance of financial institutions nationwide.
The result is a network of institutions that combines strong capitalization, disciplined lending practices, and active deployment of capital into local economies.
What Your Deposits Actually Support
Treasury teams increasingly want visibility into what their cash is doing while it sits on the balance sheet.
In 2025 alone, institutions participating in the Impact Cash program originated more than 961,449 loans totaling $30.6 billion. Those loans supported:
• $16.2 billion in lending to low to moderate income communities
• $8.5 billion in home lending and affordable housing
• $3.25 billion in lending to rural communities
• $2.7 billion in small business loans under $1 million
• $761 million in loans to nonprofit organizations
• $741 million in green financing initiatives
• $247 million in healthcare lending
These are not projections. They represent actual lending activity conducted by institutions participating in the Impact Cash network during 2025.
Closing the ESG Treasury Gap
Many organizations publicly commit to supporting affordable housing, small business development, healthcare access, climate resilience, and economic opportunity.
Yet their operating cash often sits in conventional banking products that provide little transparency into how those funds are deployed.
The ESG team is making commitments. Treasury is managing cash. Historically, those activities have existed separately. Impact Cash helps bridge that gap.
Organizations can continue pursuing treasury’s core objectives while receiving reporting that demonstrates how deposits support lending and economic development across underserved communities.
For boards, investors, and stakeholders increasingly focused on accountability and measurable outcomes, that visibility matters.
More Than Impact. Better Treasury Alignment.
Impact Cash is not philanthropy. It is not a donation.
It is not a donation.
It is a treasury strategy designed to preserve liquidity, protect principal, diversify banking exposure, and generate competitive returns while supporting the real economy.
Since inception, CNote has deployed more than $1 billion to support mission driven community financial institutions and has worked with more than 200 community financial institutions nationwide.
For organizations managing $10 million to $100 million or more in operating cash, the question is no longer whether treasury can support corporate impact goals.
The question is whether cash that already needs to be managed can create measurable value beyond the balance sheet while continuing to meet treasury’s traditional objectives.
For a growing number of corporate treasury teams, the answer is yes.
*Impact Cash® deposits are eligible for FDIC or NCUA insurance, subject to applicable coverage limits and the terms and conditions of the Impact Cash agreements. CNote Group, Inc. (“CNote”) is not a bank, credit union, or other depository institution, and is not registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as an investment adviser or with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) as a broker-dealer. CNote does not provide legal, financial, accounting, or tax advice. Impact Cash deposits are bank or credit union deposits and are not securities or investment products.
