FAQs

The Community Impact Fund (CIF) governs this Impact Loan Fund. CIF is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization responsible for responding to all inquiries, vetting all applications, and distributing funds to approved applicants.

Please reach out to the Community Impact Fund’s (CIF) loan administration team at loans@communityimpactfund.org. Email is the best way to reach our team. If you do call, you will need to leave a voicemail. We will do our best to return your call no later than the next BUSINESS day. Please note the CIF office is open Monday-Friday, 8am-3pm MST. We are closed on weekends and all national banking holidays. Loan applications and loan disbursements cannot be processed on the weekends.

On behalf of Share it Forward (SIF), The Community Impact Fund (CIF) offers an interest-free Impact Loan with a 12-month payback schedule to individuals in need who are affiliated with the fund’s sponsoring organization. 

To qualify for a loan, an eligible individual (Borrower) applies to CIF for consideration. CIF conducts due diligence to ensure the borrower qualifies for assistance under IRS regulations, CIF policies, and procedures and meets the basic eligibility requirements set forth by the applicant’s sponsoring organization.  Once approved for the Loan, a distribution of the approved amount will be made directly to a bank account provided by the Borrower.

To be eligible to apply for a loan, you must be at least 18 years old and a part-time or full-time employee of Herschend Family Entertainment, with a minimum of six months of employment from their most recent hire date at a participating Herschend property. This program is currently available only for Adventure Aquarium, Dollywood Parks & Resorts, Harlem Globetrotters, Newport Aquarium, and Pink Adventure Tours employees. It will be rolled out to all Herschend employees in 2025.

You may also be a seasonal employee who has signed a rehire letter by the requested deadline.  Former furloughed or laid-off employees will not be eligible to apply for this program.

Our programs are designed for current employees only. Immediate family members of employees are not eligible to apply.

To respect the dignity of our employee family to the best of our abilities, your loan application and loan remain anonymous to Share it Forward and Herschend Family Entertainment unless the following situation occurs:  The programming partner may disclose the name and contact information of loan holders to SIF who become delinquent or in default of payment. Loan holders who become delinquent or in default may become ineligible for other SIF programs.

You will agree to these terms as part of the loan Promissory Note that you sign as part of the loan application process.

Approval decisions are based on the information provided by the applicant. To apply, applicants must submit a completed application and meet the criteria outlined in the pre-check section. For detailed information on the application process, please refer to the application instructions document linked on the “Apply” page of this site.

Loans are based on the needs cited in the application. The minimum loan amount you can request is $500. The maximum amount is $2400.

A repayment schedule will be set up automatically for the full loan amount divided over 12 months. For example, if you take out a $2400 loan, you will have 12 payments of $200 starting 30-45 days after you receive your loan. As part of the application, you must sign a Promissory Note where you commit to paying back your loan. It is an agreement between you as a Borrower and the Community Impact Fund as the loan manager.

IMPORTANT! You must pay back your loan even if you leave your current organization. Remember, each time you make a payment on your loan it provides funding to allow someone else to take out a loan. Therefore,  even if you miss a few payments in the first 12 months, we still want you to continue to make payments until your loan is paid off in full. Your loan does not collect interest at any time. 

No, this loan has a 0% interest rate for all of time.

Any loans received by applicants will NOT be deemed as taxable income.

No, at this time, Impact Loans are not reported to the Credit Bureaus. A soft credit pull is completed as part of the application process but it does not affect your credit score.

Sometimes you may be in a situation where you can’t make a payment. We do our best to support you by allowing you to occasionally defer a monthly payment. This moves the payment to the end of your repayment schedule so you will still need to pay it eventually but it does not collect interest. Borrowers have the option to make a prepayment to pay off the loan faster and any prepayment will be applied to the final monthly payment schedule. 

HOWEVER PLEASE NOTE: Making a manual payment DOES NOT cancel your automatic payment that is set to withdraw each month. Therefore, if you don’t wish to have the additional payment withdrawn, you must email loans@communityimpactfund.org at least FIVE DAYS before the day your payment is due.

Loans will be distributed by CIF to the approved applicant directly to the applicant’s bank account that they provided as part of the application process. You will receive your loan disbursement within 2-4 BUSINESS DAYS of the loan being approved. Due to banking schedules, loans cannot be processed on weekends or national banking holidays.

Please note: To receive your disbursement, you may be required to confirm that two small “micro-deposits” were made into the bank account you connected as part of your application process. Loans will be distributed by CIF to the approved applicant directly to the applicant’s bank account.  

Yes, you can change the date that your monthly payment is withdrawn from your bank account by signing into your loan dashboard via the SIGN IN button on the top right corner of this website. Once you have signed in, you can submit a Flexible Payment Request. IMPORTANT! In order to make this change, your Flexible Payment Request must be submitted AT LEAST 4 DAYS PRIOR TO YOUR CURRENT DATE. We can not stop any payment processing once it has begun. Questions? Contact loans@communityimpactfund.org.

Yes, prepayments are applied to the final monthly installment. The borrower can access the platform by logging in and manually making a payment. HOWEVER PLEASE NOTE: Making a manual payment DOES NOT cancel your automatic payment that is set to withdraw each month. Therefore, if you don’t wish to have the additional payment withdrawn, you must email loans@communityimpactfund.org at least FIVE DAYS prior to the day your payment is due.

We want you to have success with your loan. The loan remains a 0% interest loan. If you miss a loan payment, it is automatically added to the end of your repayment schedule and you will be expected to pay next month’s payment and all remaining payments INCLUDING this payment. Every dollar you pay back on your loan goes back into the fund and allows your fellow employees to apply for a loan. You can continue to make payments at any time until your loan is paid off even if you have missed several payments. You can always come back and pay!

Please refer to the above, What are the terms of the Flexible Repayment Schedule?, for more information on how to address repayment challenges. You are expected to repay back your loan even if you leave your organization as an employee as the loan is made by the Community Impact Fund, not your employer.

Remember, the CIF team is here to help you be successful. The more you communicate with us, the more we can help you. Contact us any time at loans@communityimpactfund.org.