NDN Fund
Snapshot
Fund Type: Debt
Fund Size: $18MM
Investment Stage: Early Growth
Geographic Focus: Indian Country (tribally-based, rural, and urban), on Turtle Island (also known as North America)
Sector Focus: Renewable Energy, Community Development & Housing, Resilient & Regenerative Infrastructure, Social Enterprise, Regenerative Agriculture
Fund Overview
The NDN Fund is the lending and impact investing arm of the US-based Native Community Development Financial Institution (NCDFI) that’s focused on advancing Indigenous Peoples’ self-determination and climate justice through flexible, regenerative capital. Founded in 2018, the fund is the only NCDFI dedicated to financing large-scale Indigenous-led projects using a braided capital model, combining loans, grants, tax credits, and guarantees alongside movement-building and technical support.
Despite receiving less than 1% of U.S. philanthropic capital, Indigenous communities steward over 56 million acres of biologically diverse, energy-rich land and hold vital traditional ecological knowledge. Yet centuries of dispossession and disinvestment have left them facing severe challenges. The NDN Fund addresses these by reshaping capital flows to meet the unique needs of Native Nations, businesses, and Tribal enterprises, promoting resource rematriation, climate resilience, and social equity.
Why We Invested
The NDN Fund’s climate and gender integration is evolving, rooted in its indigenized lending approach that centers women’s vital role in Indigenous communities and climate resilience. Climate considerations are fully embedded across 100% of the portfolio, including regenerative agriculture, renewable energy, large-scale projects like Navajo Power, and community initiatives such as herb shops and food hubs. Their Resilient Financial Model and Impact Assessment ensure all projects advance climate resilience with clear metrics aligned to local, regional, and global targets for vulnerable populations, climate equity, and disaster risk reduction.
The Fund is women-led, with an all-female lending team, and has supported Indigenous women-led projects in a third of its loans.
Women as Agents of Change
Grounded in Indigenous values such as the rematriation of capital and land, the Fund prioritizes projects that promote gender equity and empower women, especially in food sovereignty and climate resilience. The Fund actively supports women leaders, tracks women’s roles across value chains, and values their contributions to Indigenous ecosystems, particularly in building resilience and strengthening communities.
An example of this is Miss Anne’s Maypop Herb Shop, founded by Anne White Hat — a Lakota herbalist, climate activist, and entrepreneur. Anne acquired an existing herb shop in New Orleans during the pandemic, but, in the absence of more traditional loan options, it was only with the support from NDN Fund’s culturally aligned, flexible capital and wraparound services, that she was able to fully realize her vision for a shop rooted in Indigenous matriarchal traditions, climate resilience and cultural preservation. As a result of this continued support, Anne has gone on to launch the Medicine Trail, a solar-powered mobile outreach initiative, and is developing additional ways to support and uplift women herbalists and knowledge holders as a means to promote economic and environmental agency for Indigenous women. By helping Anne build a thriving business rooted in community and climate, the Fund is advancing its mission to rematriate capital and restore Indigenous women’s control over their economic futures, and strengthen community resilience at the intersection of gender, climate, and food and medicine sovereignty.
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