Circle Foundation has made its first grants in the United States to Accion Opportunity Fund and Pacific Community Ventures, backing artificial intelligence tools designed to help underserved small businesses access finance.
The awards were announced on Sept. 22 at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting in New York. Both recipients are Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), which serve small-business owners who can find it difficult to secure funding through traditional lenders.
Circle did not disclose the value of either grant.
Accion Opportunity Fund will use its funding to develop Credit Compass 2.0, a system that analyses information from loan applications and provides personalised financial education to prospective borrowers. Applicants who are not yet eligible for finance receive an explanation of the decision, along with steps intended to improve their chances of qualifying in future.
Accion says applicants who use its educational resources are 84% more likely to qualify for a loan. The figure was supplied by Accion and cited by Circle, but no sample size, methodology or independent assessment was published.
Elisabeth Carpenter, Circle Internet Group’s chief strategic engagement officer and founding chair of Circle Foundation, said Credit Compass 2.0 gives small-business owners a “real roadmap to capital”.
Luz Urrutia, chief executive of Accion Opportunity Fund, said the tool was intended to provide business owners with a “clear, honest picture of where they stand”.
Accion Opportunity Fund is a non-profit small-business lender with a longstanding role in the US CDFI system. Treasury CDFI Fund records show Accion Opportunity Fund Community Development has received federal CDFI awards over several years.
The grant will support further development and deployment of Credit Compass 2.0. Neither Circle nor Accion has announced a launch date, a target number of users or the value of the grant. Circle also said it had not committed to using USDC, its Arc blockchain or other commercial technology to operate the system.
Pacific Community Ventures will apply its grant to the Radiant Data Hub, an AI-enabled platform for CDFIs and other mission-driven lenders. The Hub is designed to provide data governance, predictive modelling, benchmarking and impact analysis.
PCV said it launched the platform after acquiring a long-term data and AI start-up partner in 2025. That technology included AIKKA, a voice-AI tool built to gather qualitative feedback across major languages.
PCV also plans to develop its CDFI Data Commons during autumn 2026. The project is intended to provide shared benchmarking, portfolio analysis and sector-wide information, and is described by PCV as the first Data Commons model created for the CDFI industry.
The organisation says the system will use a nationally representative algorithm trained on mission-driven loan portfolios. Participating lenders are expected to compare portfolio performance and improve predictive underwriting models once the platform is operating.
Bulbul Gupta, PCV’s president and chief executive, said the organisation wanted to keep “human judgment and community impact at the center” of its use of AI. PCV has introduced an ethical AI policy covering the use of emerging technology by community lenders.
Treasury CDFI Fund records show Pacific Community Ventures has also taken part in federal CDFI programmes, including Financial Assistance and Technical Assistance awards.
Ten-year equity commitment
Circle said the grants are being funded through an equity commitment approved before it became a public company. In its 2025 annual filing, the company disclosed that its board had reserved up to 2,682,392 Class A shares for the Foundation in March 2025. The allocation represented approximately 1% of Circle’s capital stock and can be transferred in instalments over ten years.
The first contribution was made in November 2025, when Circle reissued 268,239 treasury shares and recorded a $23.1 million general and administrative expense. By June 30, 2026, it had transferred a further 134,120 shares during the first half of the year, recording $13.1 million in related expense.
Circle’s second-quarter outlook projected 268,239 shares for Foundation contributions during 2026. Using the July 31 reference price in its guidance, the company estimated a non-cash expense of about $22 million, while warning that the final amount would depend on its share price at the time of each transfer.
Circle Foundation is a separately governed donor-advised fund managed by Fidelity Charitable. Circle covers its operating costs, allowing Foundation resources to be directed towards charitable activity, and employees receive up to 40 hours of paid volunteer time each year.
The disclosed equity commitment explains how Circle finances the Foundation, but not how much Accion Opportunity Fund or Pacific Community Ventures received on Sept. 22.
Earlier international grant
The US awards follow Circle Foundation’s first international grant, announced in January for the United Nations Digital Hub of Treasury Solutions, known as DHoTS.
Circle said funding provided through UNHCR and UNDP would support cross-border transfers, local-currency conversion, programmable disbursements and interoperability between financial systems. The value of that grant was not disclosed.
UNHCR describes DHoTS as infrastructure linking more than 150 banking and financial systems in over 100 countries. Fifteen agencies are involved, with the technology including AI-driven treasury management, blockchain disbursements, digital wallets and connections to banks and mobile-money providers.
The next phase is expected to add links with local financial systems, financial technology companies and global banks, while expanding on-chain treasury management and programmable payments.
