ABOUT NDN FUND
NDN FUND FOCUSES OUR WORK IN FIVE PRIMARY AREAS
Renewable Energy
We support community-owned and controlled ecologically sound renewable energy that fosters a just transition away from fossil fuels.
Community Development and Housing
We support community and housing design that engages communities; reflects the cultures, bioregions, and ways of life of Indigenous Peoples; and creates pathways to affordable home ownership and wealth-building.
Resilient, Regenerative, and Sustainable Infrastructure
We support community and housing design that engages communities; reflects the cultures, bioregions, and ways of life of Indigenous Peoples; and creates pathways to affordable home ownership and wealth-building.
Social Enterprise
We support innovative entrepreneurs and businesses that offer clear social and cultural benefits with potential to deliver services at scale.
Regenerative Agriculture
We support agricultural businesses with holistic land management practices that leverage the power of natural systems and processes to feed our people and animals in ways that mitigate and reverse climate change.
Our work is done in collaboration with the NDN Collective ecosystem and external partners to source other forms of capital as needed, including grants, equity, tax credits, and loan guarantees. The combination of resources is called “braided capital.” NDN Collective is shifting in how society thinks about economic development. We do so by rooting our lending strategy in Indigenous values: recognizing the interconnectedness of all things and our responsibilities to our homelands and each other.
Through our unique, flexible lending and our Indigenous movement-building work, NDN Fund moves braided capital in service of defending, developing, and decolonizing Indigenous Peoples and Mother Earth. Capacity-building and power building within our communities is integral to the success of our model, leaving Indigenous Peoples with the technical knowledge and access to networks needed to further develop their economic infrastructure and systems.
Over the next decade, NDN Fund will move more than $100 million in capital to projects that 1) uphold the principles of regenerative and just economies, and 2) are led by and in service to, Indigenous communities. We do this through two lending programs: Relief & Resilience and SEEDING (Social Enterprise & Economic Development for Indigenous Growth).
Loans ranging from $500,000 – $3,000,000 to Indigenous projects and businesses with pre-development, startup, bridge, and expansion capital.
To decide which loans to issue, we use our Resilience Impact Assessment (RIA) which is a work-in-progress and a major component of our Indigenized lending model. The RIA was designed to assess 1) the level of resilience in a loan under consideration, as part of underwriting, or 2) an existing loan, as part of portfolio management and risk assessment. The RIA supports our decision making and loan structuring and, most importantly, will surface opportunities for building greater resilience in the loan, the underlying project or business, and the community through the life of the loan. Part of our success comes from our intentional process to stay actively engaged with our loan relatives through quarterly impact reporting, regular communications, and providing power building resources as needed. The RIA is the Indigenized version of the Resilience Assessment for CDFI Lenders developed by the Opportunity Finance Network, Recovery Labs and a network of innovative community development financial institutions. It is currently stewarded by the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire as we move into the next phase of testing and refining.
We are shifting how society invests in Indigenous economic development by grounding our investment strategy in Indigenous systems thinking, recognizing the interconnectedness of all things and our responsibilities to our homelands and each other. Our approach ensures a resilient and regenerative framework from start to finish, built around the principles listed below.
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SUSTAINABLE FINANCE
NDN Fund upholds the principles of regenerative and just economies that are led by and serve Indigenous communities. We invest in radically innovative, resilient businesses that are ready to level up.
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BRAIDED CAPITAL APPROACH
NDN Fund provides a braided capital approach through capacity building and power building services to get our potential clients loan ready. Our goal is to help increase their resilience and financial sustainability to be prepared for any future shocks and stressors.
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UTILIZING AN IMPACT RESILIENCE LENS
NDN Fund uses a Resilience Impact Assessment © to prioritize sustainable finance through our multi-level approach to assess and strengthen Indigenous businesses and large-scale projects’ resilience, evaluating impact all along the way.