Do you want to support native communities?
Meet Oweesta Corporation.
Oweesta Corporation is the only existing intermediary offering financial products and development services exclusively to Native Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and Native communities.
Oweesta supports Native CDFIs through training, technical assistance, investment capital, research and policy advocacy. In turn, Native CDFIs stimulate reservation economies by providing financial education to tribal members, giving them the opportunity to acquire financial management skills, and build and accumulate assets through small business development, homeownership, education and sustainable job creation.
Over the last 25 years, Oweesta has invested over $75M into Native CDFIs and communities. Not only is Oweesta a wonderful place to invest your money for impact, but also investing in CDFIs is extremely low risk. Through their 25 years, Oweesta has experienced only one partial default and during the recession CDFIs were the single best performing asset class.
Our partnership with Oweesta began over two years ago when funding from the Reis Foundation enabled us to launch and hold two meetings of our Native Communities Investor Club. These Investor Clubs acted as a marketplace to directly connect investors with Indigenous projects that help Native people develop financial assets, create wealth, contribute to economic independence, and strengthen sovereignty for all Native communities. Through these efforts we identified over 200 impact investors interested in supporting Native communities.
Now, we want to strengthen our relationship with these investors, better understand their interests, and create new connections that can benefit Native CDFIs and Native communities.
Funded by a MacArthur Foundation grant, we are launching a project to conduct individual investor calls. These calls aim to increase impact investor awareness of Native community investment needs and opportunities, and help investors overcome the hurdles they face in making full spectrum investments in Native communities.
The results of these calls will guide Impact Finance Center and Oweesta toward further work together promoting full spectrum capital investment through paid education, as well as provide valuable information for the field on how to move impact investors from interest to investment.
By supporting Oweesta, you can support the hundreds of Native CDFIs working in communities across the United States, building a low-risk portfolio dedicated to impact.