The round dance in Mni Luzahan on Indigenous Peoples’ Day 2025. Photo by Angel White Eyes for NDN Collective

The fall season is in full magnificence, and at NDN Collective, we are taking this time to appreciate the natural world around us, to reflect, plan, check in on our relatives, and prepare for the days ahead. 

Alongside the fall harvests, we are also gathering many insights from our work here at NDN. In this spirit, we are honored to share “Key Impacts & Insights from the First Year of the Collective Abundance Fund” – a blog that lifts up inspiring personal anecdotes as well as data from one of our most popular grants. The Collective Abundance Fund is also opening soon for the next round of applications, with registration beginning on November 5 and closing November 19. We encourage applicants to plan ahead and make plenty of time for the two-part application process.

Continue reading this month’s newsletter for more insights about our time at New York Climate Week, our latest podcast episode, and more storytelling and multimedia highlights from our ecosystem, including the FULL livestream of our Indigenous Peoples’ Day event. In case you missed it, the event was a phenomenal 9 hours of Indigenous brilliance, artistry, and joy. As always, we are honored to continue building Indigenous power with all of you.

Elliott Renville (center), a Collective Abundance Yr 1 Awardee, used his award to help pay for his biology degree and lessen the financial stress of higher education. Photo credit: Elliott Renville

The Collective Abundance Fund was launched in early 2023, and we distributed 200 awards from October 2023 to 2024. The amount awarded in the first year totaled $7.9 million, with 84 awards of $25,000 and 116 awards of $50,000. It is clear from the stories shared with us by awardees that the Collective Abundance Fund facilitated many meaningful experiences for awardees and their families. While some findings shared below may be predictable, other emergent impacts demonstrate the importance of this work. They show the power of honoring Indigenous self-determination at an individual level and how these individual dreams can ripple out to positively impact their community…continue reading.

NYC Climate Week 2025 served as a reminder that Mother Earth cannot wait for bureaucracy to protect her. As we navigate democratic backsliding in the so-called United States, we continue our efforts to defend our homelands across Turtle Island against extractive industries, including fossil fuels, artificial intelligence, and hypermilitarization…continue reading.

The LANDBACK Blanket is coming soon! This blanket was designed by JayCee Beyale and created in collaboration with Eighth Generation with inspiration from Diné rug designs and Lakota geometrics. You can get your very own, limited edition, LANDBACK Blanket on Nov. 7.

Registration for the Collective Abundance Fund will open on Nov. 5 and the deadline to submit your application will be Dec. 5. The Collective Abundance Fund is dedicated to continuing to provide resources and power-building to awardees to achieve their dreams and aspirations rooted in the definition of Indigenous wealth.

If you are an Indigenous individual or family in Minnesota, South Dakota, or North Dakota and are interested in this wealth-building opportunity, please visit our website to learn more

Important Dates: 
Registration Opens: November 5
Registration Deadline: November 19
Application Deadline: December 5

LANDBACK logo pictured in the NDN Podcast studio. Photo by Angel White Eyes for NDN Collective.

In this episode, Nick sits down with three amazing leaders of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS). NABS is conducting an oral history project documenting the stories of boarding school survivors for the Library of Congress. The work of NABS includes development and implementation of a national strategy to increase public awareness and cultivate healing for the traumas experienced by those who attended these schools, their families and communities.
At the heart of this work is healing. Join us as we dive into the cross-intersections of LANDBACK, truth, reconciliation, healing and boarding schools.

Almost 10% of people in South Dakota are indigenous, with only two other states in the US with a higher percentage. That’s what makes Indigenous Peoples’ Day here in the Black Hills so special…continue reading. 

After living in a windowless, concrete box for nearly 50 years, Leonard Peltier is discovering the little joys that come with being in a two-bedroom house of his own. He can see the sun. He has a refrigerator, and a TV with more channels than he can count. He has his now-cherished recliner, the fancy kind that lays you all the way back and, with some navigating on a remote control, pushes you up and right out of the seat. It’s where Peltier, who just turned 81, is content to spend most of his days…continue reading.

IPD Livestream hosts Jordynn Paz (left) and Sarah Sunshine Manning (right) speaking to the virtual audience from backstage. Photo by Angel White Eyes for NDN Collective.

ICYMI: NDN Collective hosted our third Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebration in Mni Luzahan aka Rapid City. We brought together the community for a rally, march and free concert series that featured Indigenous talent from across Turtle Island and beyond. We are so proud to bring this event to our people and celebrate all the beautiful things about being Indigenous. 

Watch our livestream!

Nick Tilsen, Founder & CEO of NDN Collective, addresses community supporters during his evidentiary hearing in Rapid City, SD. Photo by Willi White for NDN Collective.

We need your help to secure Nick Tilsen’s freedom and ensure the upcoming evidentiary hearing doesn’t go to trial. 
Here are a few ways you can support Nick Tilsen and NDN Collective:
1. Sign this Petition (& encourage others to sign)
2. Donate to the NDN Legal Fund
3. Call or email the Pennington County States Attorney’s office asking them to drop the charges: Phone: (605) 394-2191 OR Email: [email protected] and [email protected]
4. Share this information with a friend or on social media to bring attention to the injustices happening in South Dakota

Pete Lien & Sons recently proposed a project that would involve exploratory drilling for graphite within the protected boundaries of Pe’sla, a sacred site which has been used for ceremonial gatherings of Lakota, Dakota, and other nations for thousands of years. This project will also threaten the Rapid Creek Watershed and the underground water sources in the area.

Reach out to South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden and ask him to intervene and put a stop to the Rochford Mineral Exploratory Drilling project for the sake of the public good.

Graphic Art by JayCee Beyale.

For generations, Indigenous Peoples have been preparing for this moment. NDN Collective has built power through grantmaking, storytelling, frontline action, and sustainable investing.

The For The People Campaign is designed to provide critical resources directly to Indigenous communities through our existing grantmaking programs and organizing work to strengthen our movement, enhance the resiliency of frontline actions, and continue making transformative change under this authoritarian administration.