Almost ten years ago (January 3, 2016), I sat at my in-laws’ kitchen table and filed Hope Community Capital with the State of Wisconsin. I had just taken one of those long, reflective drives through Southeast Wisconsin, praying about how to bring together my training in urban planning and my experience in community development finance. I asked God if there was a way to help neighbors come together to build places where everyone feels safe, loved, and able to flourish. The answer was Hope Community Capital, a company grounded in a simple belief: that communities already hold the seeds of their own thriving, and that sometimes what they need most is a trusted partner to help unlock access to capital.
As we enter 2026, Hope Community Capital turns ten years old. What began as a vision at a kitchen table has grown into a national team of eight, working alongside extraordinary clients to raise and structure capital for community facilities and affordable housing across the country. To honor this milestone, I have been reflecting on what I have learned along the way.
The first lesson is that alignment matters. Our values of equity, integrity, excellence, stewardship, and leadership shape everything we do. Our most transformative projects always emerge when our clients live these values as deeply as we do. Second, servant leadership works. Greenleaf’s “best test” asks whether those served grow as persons. I have seen this truth over and over. When we invest in the growth of our team and our clients, the impact multiplies.
A third lesson is close to my heart. A building is just a building; it is the people inside who matter. What keeps us going is not the spreadsheets or term sheets, but the stories. Who will live in these homes? Who will send their children to these classrooms? Who will find safety, dignity, and hope within these walls? Community development is made up of a million small, persistent actions with endless calls to investors, adjusting financial models, walking sites in the rain, negotiating better terms. The work is tedious at times, but the results are always worth it.
I have also learned that impact expands with a team. Three years into the company’s life, it became clear that the opportunities before us far exceeded what one person could do. Growing our team has been the best decision I have made for the business, and the reason our clients now have access to deeper knowledge, stronger strategy, and greater outcomes.
Another lesson is that rejection is data. Over ten years, we have helped clients secure nearly one billion dollars in capital, and we have also experienced more than two hundred fifty million dollars in “no’s.” I have learned that a rejection can be a gift. It tells us something important about fit, timing, or structure. It pushes us to refine, rethink, and direct our energy where the alignment between the capital and the impact is strong.
I have also learned the essential importance of capital alignment. Real estate vision only becomes reality when the capital matches the mission. When capital and mission reinforce one another, capital becomes an engine that propels community impact forward.
I have learned to pay attention to heartbreak. Our clients work on the hardest problems: a severe affordable housing crisis, child safety and development, entrenched poverty, lack of healthcare access, and more. These realities break our hearts, and they should. I have learned to listen carefully to that heartbreak and harness it as fuel in raising and structuring capital for transformational projects.
Finally, I have learned that real leadership requires courage. Fear often shows up in our work: How will this get financed? How will we raise this much capital? Can we really do this in time to meet the desires of the community? I have learned to transform that fear into focus. When we hold a clear vision of the emerging future, whether it is affordable housing on a vacant church parking lot or high-quality childcare in a community that desperately needs it, we can lead from that vision and serve our clients.
In 2025, I wrote to our team that it would be the “Year of the Leader.” My vision remains that Hope Community Capital will be a company of leaders who guide other leaders to create lasting, positive change. We aim to transform systems that have left too many behind. We aim to move the community development finance field toward deeper alignment with the needs of low-income communities. And we aim to lead with compassion, kindness, and integrity.
In all of this, God has been faithful. From the moment I prayed that first prayer in 2015, I could not have imagined where God would lead us. I am grateful beyond words.
To our clients, partners, and friends: thank you for your trust, your collaboration, and the countless lives you touch every day. It is the honor of my life to walk alongside you as we work to build sustainable, inclusive, and thriving communities.
Alongside,
Carrie Sanders
CEO and Founder
Hope Community Capital
Carrie Sanders
CEO and Founder
Hope Community Capital
