Background & History

Program Principle & Process

  • Principle:  So every family and every community can participate in and benefit from our Commonwealth’s economy.
  • Process:  Providing a 50% refundable tax credit for donations to certified Community Development Corporations in Massachusetts.

Program Background

The Community Investment Tax Credit (CITC) was signed into law by Governor Deval Patrick on August 6, 2012 as part of a larger economic development bill called An Act Relative to Infrastructure, Enhanced Competitiveness and Economic Growth in the Commonwealth.  It was originally sponsored by Representative Linda Dorcena Forry and Senator Sal DiDomenico.  It is designed to support high-impact community-led economic development initiatives through a strategic, market-based approach that leverages private contributions and builds strong local partnerships. 

According to the statute, the purpose of this program is "to enable local residents and stakeholders to work with and through community development corporations to partner with nonprofit, public and private entities to improve economic opportunities for low- and moderate-income households and other residents in urban, rural and suburban communities across the Commonwealth."  In other words, this program can be used to support a broad array of community development efforts as determined by the local community.

The bill works as follows:

  • State-certified CDCs (as defined in MGL Chapter 40H) will develop high quality and high impact, multi-year business plans for community improvement and economic development.
  • These plans will detail how local residents and businesses helped to craft the strategy, how it will improve the community and expand opportunity within a comprehensive framework, and how it will leverage federal and private resources.
  • The Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, through the DHCD, will rank the plans to identify those most effective in meeting local and state-wide goals for community economic development. A percentage of the tax credits will be allocated for rural areas (20%) and Gateway Cities (30%.)
  • The strongest plans will be awarded up to $150,000 in state Community Investment Tax Credits per year for three years that the local CDC will use to attract up to $300,000 in private investment each year. The tax credits are equal to 50% of the donation made by corporate or individual taxpayer.
  • Donors will invest in the CDC’s business plan, thereby providing flexible working capital that can be used to seed new programs, fill funding gaps, leverage other resources and achieve maximum impact.
  • Oversight will be shared by the community-based boards of directors, DHCD and the private donors, with CDCs submitting annual progress reports to DHCD that would be available to the legislature and the public.

CLICK HERE to go the Commonwealth of Massachusetts CITC webpage.