Since our inception, Sunrise Banks has set out to be more than just a bank; we have aspired to become the world’s foremost socially responsible bank. Every day, we are driven by our mission to truly be a force for good—one that offers products, services and financial technology (fintech) partnerships designed to empower financial wellness and inclusivity.

Within the pages of our annual Impact Report, you will discover how passionately we endeavor to level the playing field in the financial industry. We believe that whether individuals are purchasing a home, launching a business, expanding their families or supporting their neighbors, every person deserves the opportunity to build stability and generational wealth.

Among the many impactful strides we took in 2023, none was more significant than our renewed commitment to our core values. By rearticulating and simplifying these guiding principles, our dedicated employees have been empowered to translate these values into meaningful action, bringing their true, authentic selves to their roles and interactions with our valued clients.

In 2024, we see tremendous opportunities to leverage financial technology partnerships to scale positive social and environmental impact. We remain resolute in our mission to support underserved people and communities. We aim to share these stories to demonstrate that our actions align with our words, highlighting our commitment in tangible ways.

I am incredibly grateful to our employees, customers and community partners for their support as we execute our vision and mission to make a profound difference in the lives of people and communities.

With heartfelt appreciation,

Sunrise Banks provides C-PACE loans to Minnesota businesses looking to implement sustainable building renovations and energy efficient upgrades, including solar panels, high-efficiency lighting, electric car charging ports and more.

• The C-PACE program can cover up to 100% of qualifying costs (limited to 20% of
  property assessed value or appraisal for construction loans)
• Payment term of up to 20-years fully amortized
• Fixed interest rate for term of the loan
• Funding is paid back through a special property tax assessment
• C-PACE loans can cover equipment, installation, permit, inspection, design and
  labor costs for eligible projects

C-PACE lending is paid back through property taxes and allows business owners to increase their cash flow thanks to energy savings.

In 2023, Sunrise Banks offered more than $756,000 in C-PACE loans.

Passive House is a voluntary set of standards that aims to create energy efficient buildings with significantly reduced ecological footprints. When construction is built according to these high-performing standards, the need for mechanical heating and cooling is radically reduced. Instead, heat is gained through external solar energy and internal heat from the building’s occupants, including body heat, appliances, televisions and light bulbs.

Sunrise Banks funded the construction of a Passive House certified multi-family building in 2023, initiated by Footprint Development, LLC. Solstice Northeast, located in northeast Minneapolis, is expected to open in April 2024. It features 23 low-carbon footprint apartments.

Solstice Northeast is Minnesota’s first low-carbon construction, Passive House certified multifamily building.  It uses around 84% less energy and emits 78% less carbon than the average apartment building in the region. Solstice Northeast also reduced embodied carbon emissions by 60% when compared to today’s typical new construction. The project is 100% electrified, with one-third of this power coming from a rooftop solar array. Footprint Development provides residents at Solstice with a bike hub equipped with 1.5 spots per unit and bike washing and repair stations.

How it all adds up: over the next five years, a critical window for emissions reduction, Solstice Northeast will have generated approximately one-third of the greenhouse gas emissions of a typical new building.

The report outlined the bank’s financed and operational emissions using the PCAF global standard, which provides its members with the industry-standard methodology to measure the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions related to their lending activities.

PCAF consists of more than 460 financial institutions with nearly $86 trillion in total assets from all over the world. Sunrise Banks committed to tracking its carbon emissions in 2019 as part of the Global Alliance for Banking on Value’s 3C Initiative, also known as the “Climate Change Commitment.” Read the PCAF report here.

The Environment & Sustainability committee’s goal is to lead company initiatives focused on lowering emissions and working towards a greener, more sustainable future.

• The committee championed the creation of the Net Zero Deposit Fund (NZDF), allowing customers to direct their deposits towards net zero projects that reduce, remove, or avoid carbon emissions, such as energy reduction and efficiency, green buildings, renewable energy and clean transportation.
• Two employees earned their Sustainability and Climate Risk (SCR) certification. This certification is administered by the Global Association for Risk Professionals.
• The committee led a project to install a USAGAIN clothing donation and recycling bin at our corporate offices in St. Paul.

In 1976, South Minneapolis faced development and zoning issues that impacted access to safe, stable, and affordable housing for low- to moderate-income residents. In response to these challenges, neighbors and activists joined to create the Powderhorn Residents Group (PRG). Today, PRG, Inc. proudly serves the seven-county Twin Cities metro area.

While opportunities, needs, and threats to housing have changed over the years, the consistent thread to PRG’s work has been a focus on resident-controlled housing.

“In the early days, that looked like cooperatives,” says Kathy Wetzel-Mastel, executive director of PRG. “Later, it was fulfilling an unmet housing need that was identified by residents, and today it is largely helping residents own their own homes.”

For the last 15 years, the organization has aimed its attention at addressing the substantial racial homeownership disparities prevalent in the area. These efforts include providing pre-purchase homebuyer education and advising, foreclosure prevention advising, and affordable housing development—as well as influencing public policy at the state and local levels.

When asked how PRG has changed people’s lives over the years, Wetzel-Mastel says, “That would probably be better answered by the young family who have affordable, stable housing for themselves and their young children in one of PRG’s cooperatives. Or by the Black grandmother who was able to remain in the home she had owned for years after running into financial hardship. Or by the aging LGBTQ folks who feared returning to the closet and now live at Spirit on Lake. Or by the hundreds of families of color who now own their own home, many of whom are first-generation homeowners.”

Despite their mounting successes, PRG encounters frequent obstacles to securing the public funding and other resources needed to accomplish their mission. However, as Wetzel-Mastel explains, it’s the community’s “would-be” homebuyers who—even 47 years after the creation of PRG—continue to face the real challenges.

“As though hundreds of years of policy and practice aimed at preventing people of color from owning their own home weren’t enough, people are now experiencing a trifecta of new barriers—historically low inventory, increasing market values, and soaring interest rates,” she says.

Thankfully, the organization is made up of many determined individuals who are devoted to their mission-critical work. Each year, with PRG’s help, approximately 220 renters of color purchase their own homes and get on the road toward building wealth.

After falling prey to a house-flipping scam 25 years ago, Cheryl Daniel and her three children ended up without a home. Following a stay in a homeless shelter, they were eventually able to move into an apartment. However, the painful experience left her believing she would never become a homeowner again.

Years later, unfulfilled by living in apartments and rental houses, Daniel found the inspiration and strength to try again. Through her work with PRG’s Homeownership Advisors to pay off her debts and improve her credit, Daniel accomplished her goal. She could finally afford to buy the house she was renting and turn her dreams into reality.

Stories like these have kept the organization going over the last several decades—but none of it would be possible without individual contributions from the community.

Currently, contributed income from donations and grants represent 27% of PRG’s revenue. Wetzel-Mastel says her goal is to see that number grow to 30% by year-end.

“This type of income has few restrictions and helps us with the challenges we face, as well as allows us to act on new opportunities and try new approaches,” she says. “Without it, innovation and improvement would be really difficult.”

PRG celebrates the significant strides it has made toward narrowing the racial homeownership gap over the years. Even so, there is still a long way to go in ensuring that families of color are well-positioned to achieve affordable homeownership—or to remain in their homes when faced with challenges that prevent them from paying their mortgage.

“Nothing would make me happier than to say that in five, ten, or 15 years, PRG will have moved on to addressing some other critical part of the housing ecosystem—but I don’t think that is true,” says Wetzel-Mastel. “It took many, many years to create one of the largest racial homeownership disparities in the country, and it is going to continue to take collective and persistent work to eliminate it.”

Minnesota Peacebuilding Leadership Institute (Peacebuilding) was founded in 2010 as a 501(c)(3) to administer the Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience ® (STAR) training. The training was originally developed at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding in Virginia following the 9/11 tragedy. STAR is well-known nationally and internationally as a successful training for community leaders and care providers to become “trauma-informed, resilience-oriented, and restorative-focused within their spheres of influence.”

Since its inception, Peacebuilding – with its focus on turning psychological trauma into nonviolent power – has grown to be one of Minnesota’s premier professional development and community education resources.

Peacebuilding provides its learning opportunities on a pay-what-you-can basis. Programming covers a wide range of essential topics, including trauma awareness, restorative justice, self-care for resilience, and racial healing.

Like most organizations at the start of the global pandemic, Peacebuilding was concerned about how it would continue serving the community during such uncertain times.

Peacebuilding worked with Sunrise Banks in July 2020 to apply for a PPP loan and was notified of acceptance in October. The loan, in the amount of $10,700, was forgiven in February of 2021. This support allowed Peacebuilding to endure unprecedented events, providing its critical, unparalleled work training and supporting individuals and organizations during a time when it was desperately needed.

We spoke with the Peacebuilding team about their experience operating during COVID, and other events the community faced during that challenging time.

Sunrise Banks:
How did the PPP loan help Peacebuilding remain operational during the global pandemic and thrive in the face of adversity?

Peacebuilding:
The PPP loan played a crucial role in ensuring our nonprofit’s continuity, allowing us to cover essential expenses like rent and payroll for our four full-time employees and various contractors. This financial support not only allowed us to keep our team intact, but also granted us the flexibility to focus on fulfilling our mission in ways we never dreamed of before.

Sunrise Banks:
How did COVID-19 affect the work you do?

Peacebuilding:
We were processing the trauma ourselves, and Peacebuilding work was a good outlet for that energy. Once the pandemic hit, we had to channel the energy that emerged from all the chaos, pain, and uncertainty. We asked ourselves, “What can we do to help?” and “What resources can we share?”

In order to ensure the safety of our participants and staff, we had to adapt quickly. We shifted our in-person training to virtual. While this transition posed various challenges, it also opened up new opportunities. It allowed us to reach a broader and more geographically diverse audience, making our training accessible to individuals who might not have been able to attend in-person sessions. Since making this shift, we’ve had people from nearly every continent attend our training!

Many people were processing their individual trauma, and we were all going through the collective trauma. In response, we added four new introductory training courses: Introduction to STAR, Introduction to Restorative Justice, Introduction to Talking Circles, and Introduction to Self Care for Resilience.

In May 2020, in the midst of a global pandemic taking the lives of millions and shattering economies across the world, the Twin Cities were also experiencing turmoil of a different kind. George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was killed at the hands of officers from the Minneapolis Police Department while in their custody.

The video of the death of yet another unarmed Black person at the hands of police went viral.  Protests erupted around the world. In Minneapolis, peaceful daytime protests gave way to violent unrest at night. By early June of 2020, the city experienced two deaths, over 600 arrests, and an estimated $550 million in property damage.

The trauma from these events is still being processed today. Peacebuilding’s efforts toward resilience and restorative justice continue to be necessary as the city works to overcome the lasting impact that Floyd’s murder and the racial unrest that followed had on the community.

Sunrise Banks:
How have the events of May 2020 in Minneapolis impacted the restorative justice and peacebuilding work you provide?

Peacebuilding:
George Floyd’s murder interrupted the status quo and brought systemic racism to the forefront of people’s minds. There was a huge demand and interest in the topics that we’ve taught since 2010. People were seeking information and new ways to engage with themselves, those closest to them, and systems.

Our existing training programs really hit the mark in helping people deal with the trauma stemming from systemic injustices. But in direct response to this tragic event, we expanded our Coming to the Table program and introduced the MN Peacebuilding Racial Justice Book Club. We offered hands-on ways for people to remain committed to push for progress in the realm of racial healing.

Peacebuilding’s critical work continues to expand and flourish thanks to the financial assistance it received in 2020, and to the dedicated group of individuals at the helm of the organization. While its successes are immeasurable as the community continues to heal and grow to overcome past experiences, the Peacebuilding team always strives for more.

Sunrise Banks:
What is your hope for the community you serve and how do you envision your organization helping them to get there?

Peacebuilding:
Dr. Erica Chenoweth, a Harvard political scientist, suggests that it takes less than 5% of a cross section of the population working together to bring about significant structural change over time. Guided by this insight, we at the Minnesota Peacebuilding Leadership Institute have set a goal to engage 5% of Minnesotans in our peacebuilding initiatives by 2030, which amounts to approximately 285,000 individuals.

Our vision is to create a community where peace, justice, and reconciliation are the norm. We aspire to create a society where every person, regardless of their background, can live without fear, discrimination, or violence.