This a public service announcement.
Every year we see it—credit unions that are tricked into paying to renew their governmental registrations.
The System for Award Management (SAM.gov) is an official website of the U.S. government. Anyone doing business with the U.S. government needs to maintain a registration on SAM.gov, but registration is free.
Similarly, there’s also no registration charge for registering on other CDFI-related web sites like the CDFI Fund’s Award Management Information System (AMIS) or the Federal Audit Clearinghouse.
Third party organizations offering to update your CDFI’s registration on a governmental web site for a fee may be legitimate, but their solicitations are often misleading and imply that they are operating on behalf of the governmental sites themselves, which makes them suspect.
CDFIs should also be wary about opening attachments that purport to be grant related, but aren’t really sent from the CDFI Fund since these may include viruses or detrimental script.
If in doubt, please contact us straight away!