Invest in Our Communities
Oweesta Corporation was created by First Nations Development Institute to address the lack of capital and financial infrastructure in Native American communities. Oweesta Corporation’s priority is to provide investment capital into Native CDFIs and communities they serve. Oweesta Corporation is a national organization that works with Indigenous peoples living in some of the most rural locations in the United States, including American Indian reservations, traditional Native lands, Hawaiian homelands, and in Alaska Native villages. Oweesta Corporation has worked with hundreds of Native communities and organizations, from Alaska to Louisiana and Maine to Hawaii. As of February 2019, according to the CDFI Fund there are currently 68 certified Native CDFIs. Oweesta Corporation is the only existing Native CDFI intermediary offering financial products and development services exclusively to Native CDFIs and Native communities. The organization offers loan products to Native CDFIs that meet our underwriting criteria, and this investment in Native communities has leveraged amazing results.
Oweesta is aware that acquisition of capital for operating and/or lending stands as a barrier to the success of many emerging Native CDFIs. Therefore, Oweesta affords NCDFIs the opportunity to go one-step further by offering qualified institutional applicants with loan/investment capital, which is then reinvested in the communities by the Native CDFI in the form of housing, consumer or small business loans, or leveraged to attract additional capital.
As a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation, Oweesta relies on its own outside investors to achieve this goal. A benefit to investing in Oweesta as opposed to directly at the grassroots level is that we are able to offer training and technical assistance to our clients, thus overcoming any barriers to repayment that may arise. We receive investments from a number of Socially Responsible Investors (SRI) including religious charities, foundations, individuals, corporations and other business entities. For more information on investing in Oweesta please review our term sheet and Annual Report. To make an investment in Oweesta or if you have any questions, please contact Chrystel Cornelius, CEO and President, at chrystel@oweesta.org.
Investment Partners
(as of Sept. 30, 2024)
Current Industry Demand
(Inquiries + Portfolio)
