Readout of White House Roundtable on Increasing Tribal Access to Capital

Yesterday, Interior Secretary Haaland, Small Business Administrator Guzman, Commerce Deputy Secretary Graves, U.S. Treasurer Malerba, and Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu, and USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development Farah Ahmad convened a roundtable on increasing Tribal access to capital at the White House. The conversation included leaders from financial, philanthropic, and nonprofit sectors to discuss innovative approaches to expand economic development and investment in Tribal communities across the country.

The Biden-Harris Administration has made strengthening the self-determination and economic vitality of Tribal Nations and Native people a key priority. Last December, President Biden signed a historic Executive Order urging federal agencies to make their funding streams and programs fully accessible to Tribal communities. These commitments create long-overdue opportunities to advance Tribal self-determination––and positively impact the lives of Tribal citizens for generations to come.

Senior Administration officials outlined their commitments to and strategies for reducing barriers to accessing capital, building on the current system of Native community development financial institutions (CDFIs), and improving economic development in Tribal communities. Secretary Haaland emphasized the importance of both public-private partnerships and interagency collaboration in expanding capital access, driving long-term economic growth, and robustly supporting Tribal sovereignty and self-determination. She issued a challenge to the philanthropic sector to commit 10% of total giving to projects in Indian Country and invited banks and financial institutions to bring increased financing to Tribal communities. Leaders from the financial and philanthropic sectors affirmed the unique opportunity to catalyze inclusive investments alongside the federal government to leverage the unprecedented levels of public investment in Tribal Nations.

Hosting partners Native Americans in Philanthropy, Hyphen, and Mission Driven Finance announced the establishment of two public-private partnerships:

• The Tribal Community Vision Fund (Vision Fund), a national multi-year initiative to expand capital access to promote self-determination and sustainable economic and community development in Indian Country. The Vision Fund seeks to raise and deploy $1.2 billion in private and philanthropic investments––in the form of grants, PRIs, MRIs, equity, and debt capital––to leverage historic levels of federal funding.

• The Indigenous Futures Fund, which seeks to accelerate the flow of the State Small Business Credit Initiative capital to Native entrepreneurs and enterprises. The Fund seeks to raise $2 million in grants and $25 million in investment capital to address the immediate needs and opportunities of Native businesses, as well as support the long-term capacity of financial intermediaries working in Indian Country, particularly Native CDFIs.

Philanthropic and financial institution attendees included:
Amalgamated Bank
Bezos Earth Fund
Bush Foundation
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
Christensen Fund
Doris Duke Foundation
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
Goldman Sachs
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
KeyBank
Marguerite Casey Foundation
Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth
McKnight Foundation
Nathan Cummings Foundation
Northwest Area Foundation
Rasmuson Foundation
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Skoll Foundation
Spring Point Partners
Surdna Foundation
Wells Fargo

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