What We Do
High costs delay institutional expansion and result in unwanted compromises. TUFF helps you lower costs and afford your vision.
As a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, TUFF provides tax-exempt financing to institutions of education and research. That structure – combined with our investment-grade credit – helps us deliver new facilities at below-market costs.
For the institutions we serve, this arrangement results in:
- Mission fulfillment: Instead of chipping away at your vision in an effort to cut costs, pursue the built-to-spec facilities your students and researchers need now.
- Growth opportunities: When lower costs provide budget flexibility, you can deliver “wish list” enhancements to your campus community.
- Less financial risk: Master lease arrangements place all the execution, construction, interest rate, and ownership risk on TUFF – not your institution.
But tax-exempt financing isn’t the only way TUFF minimizes costs.
Part of our mission is to deliver built-to-suit facilities at the lowest possible expense. After all, we’re a charitable organization – not a profit-seeking developer.
We frequently deploy strategies to reduce the costs of development and occupancy:
- Financial contributions: Our direct investments often occur in conjunction with below-market financing from other sources, like tax-exempt debt.
- Below-market lease agreements: Generous lease terms make occupancy affordable. We also structure public-private co-ownership arrangements to further reduce occupancy costs.
- Gift of ownership: At the end of the master lease, TUFF gives you the facilities that we developed and managed.