CIFC Asset Management, an alternative credit specialist serving institutional investors, made its third donation on behalf of CLO Initiative for Change, the firm’s philanthropic program in connection with its issued collateralized loan obligations. For this donation, CIFC partnered with the deal parties of its latest CLO, CIFC Funding 2024-II, including RBC Capital Markets, Appleby (Cayman), Allen & Overy and Milbank, to make a collective contribution of $225,000 to the TEAK Fellowship, a free, outcomes-driven academic and career access program for students located in New York City. This donation is the second $225,000 financial contribution CIFC’s CLO Initiative for Change program has made to TEAK and builds upon CIFC’s existing partnership with the organization.
In 2022, CIFC partnered with TEAK to host a weeklong summer workshop at CIFC’s New York City office for prospective college students interested in pursuing a career in the financial services industry. For the past two summers, TEAK Changemaker Fellows have immersed themselves in the workshop, which includes a series of educational presentations and team building activities focused on life at CIFC and career opportunities in investment management. This workshop, which CIFC will host again this summer, coupled with the CLO Initiative for Change’s second financial contribution to TEAK, will allow TEAK to continue to unlock access to outstanding education and transformative experiences for students.
“Over the past two years, we have developed a strong partnership with TEAK, an outstanding organization that believes motivation and potential, not economic circumstances, should determine a student’s future,” Mark Sanofsky, managing director at CIFC and a member of the firm’s diversity, equity and inclusion committee, said. “Through our summer workshops, we have seen first-hand the impact TEAK can have on the lives of New York City students and are proud to deepen our partnership with the organization. We would like to thank our CIFC Funding 2024-II deal parties for making this meaningful donation possible again this year.”
“RBC is honored to continue to support TEAK in its mission to empower the next generation of leaders through educational equity,” Mukund Sadagopan, head of CLO banking at RBC Capital Markets, said. “We are also grateful to CIFC for offering us the opportunity to participate in the CLO Initiative for Change consistently since the start of the philanthropic program three years ago.”
“Since our founding, TEAK has sought to transform the lives of students and communities at large,” Dr. Denise Brown-Allen, executive director at TEAK, said. “To accomplish this goal, we have created programming that provides students access to life-changing learning experiences and opportunities to explore career paths that they may have never considered. We are thrilled to expand our partnership with CIFC and its CLO Initiative for Change and look forward to leveraging this generous donation to the benefit of our Fellows and their academic aspirations.”
Since launching in 2021, CIFC’s CLO Initiative for Change has donated nearly $600,000 to support organizations driving social, economic and/or environmental change. This recent donation to TEAK is the third donation made on behalf of the program and the second donation to TEAK by the program. Other beneficiaries of the program include Black Girls CODE.
