Supporting Indigenous Self-Determination Through a Spectrum of Capital

Above image courtesy of:  The Christensen Fund works to support Indigenous Peoples in advancing their inherent rights, dignity and self-determination.

For centuries, Indigenous Peoples and communities have been colonized, stolen from, discriminated against, marginalized, and neglected. To restore economic justice, investors and capital-holders must consider this history and reality, and then determine if, how, and when they will take action to facilitate a reimagined, inclusive economic future. Investment opportunities exist to support this transition and promote Indigenous economic livelihoods.

The Christensen Fund, a private grantmaking foundation created in 1957 by Allen D. and Carmen M. Christensen, supported the arts and cultural preservation around the world through the late 1990s. Beginning in the early 2000s, the organization shifted its focus to biocultural diversity, supporting local initiatives in select priority regions around the world with unique heritage in an effort to sustain planetary diversity. Following a series of collaborative and consultative discussions with partners, in 2021 The Christensen Fund narrowed its focus explicitly on supporting Indigenous Peoples in advancing their inherent rights, dignity, and self-determination. We coined this as our organizational “Purpose”, rather than our “Mission”, because of the traumatic, colonial history of the Catholic missions in California, where we are based.

Indigenous Peoples have been purposefully excluded from participation in economic activities around the world. Discriminatory and predatory lending practices have kept Indigenous communities from being able to access capital that is critical to building wealth. For this reason, we determined that for our foundation to achieve the desired impact, we had to go beyond our grantmaking and assess how our foundation’s endowment could be more effectively activated in pursuit of our Purpose.

Our Journey

The Christensen Fund has long considered how its assets could create positive impact beyond our grantmaking. In the mid-2010s, our Board and Investment Committee piloted multiple small-scale initiatives, including one Program Related Investment, several Mission-Related Investments, and a shareholder activism program. We also began a fossil-fuel divestment initiative. 

In 2021, after developing a new program strategy and articulating our organizational Purpose focused on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, we delved deeper into a conversation about the impact of our investments. After updating our Investment Policy Statement (IPS) to “align our investments and our values”, we spent over a year developing what we called our “Purpose Aligned Capital” plan. 

This collaborative process, which included members of our staff, Board, Investment Committee, OCIO, and external consultants and peers, was approved by our Board at the end of 2022 and created three distinct sleeves for our assets:

• Program Related Investments (PRIs) would have absolute alignment with our program strategy and Purpose, and may underperform, have wider range of outcomes, or be less liquid relative to other strategies in the same asset class;
• Purpose Aligned Investments (PAIs) would be expected to generate market-rate returns and actively support our Purpose; and
• Values Aligned Investments (VAI) would be expected to generate market-rate returns and not be opposed to the principles that The Christensen Fund stands for.

We spent the entirety of 2023 fleshing out parameters and qualifiers for each of these categories, and by the end of that year, we made our first commitments under this new Purpose Aligned Capital strategy.

During that time, we came across many PRI and PAI investment opportunities that excited us, and we confirmed what we expected to be true: that Indigenous Peoples have suffered economically for centuries because of economic injustice and discriminatory lending practices. As we began scratching the surface, we came across many promising and exciting, yet under-resourced opportunities. One such example is Tocabe Indigenous Marketplace, an Indigenous-owned, operated, and serving food company. Tocabe’s business aligns directly with The Christensen Fund’s Purpose of supporting Indigenous People via leadership, inherent rights, dignity and self-determination. By centering Native producers and consumers within its business model, Tocabe has created a social purpose business that is solving for multiple challenges: creating demand for Native producers and helping to solve for their distribution and marketing challenges while providing culturally relevant products for Tribes and Native consumers with limited or no access to healthy Native foods. The Christensen Fund is proud to partner with Tocabe by providing them with one of our first PRIs.

Tocabe is just one example of exciting indigenous-led and -serving enterprises that we have added to our PRI portfolio. We also committed a PRI to Akiptan, a community development financial institution (CDFI) which further supports Native American food systems by providing loans to Native American and tribal ranchers and farmers in order to build out Indigenous food chains. In an effort to facilitate access to clean energy, we have also committed a PRI to Navajo Power Home. These opportunities promote economic independence for Native American tribes, communities, and individuals — a critical ingredient for self-determination.

Realizations to Date

While we are still very early in our journey, we have embraced several key lessons already that will guide our path forward.

Transformative change takes time. It has been over three years since we revised our IPS, creating a mandate to align our values and  investments, and we have only committed 30% of our allocated capital to PRIs and PAIs. This may seem like slow progress, but it has actually felt like anything but. It has been critical to move carefully, building these programs for the long-term. We took the time to converse with our peers and our partners. We consulted experts, including leaders from the MacArthur Foundation and The Nathan Cummings Foundation, who have been doing this work for years, to hear about their experiences and develop our own plan based on their learnings. We have spent countless hours with our staff, Investment Committee, and full Board, ensuring that everyone understands both the importance AND the mechanics of this work. We are moving toward this future together and taking our time to ensure everyone is on board has been very important.

Partnership is critical. We have benefited tremendously from talking with partners, working with consultants, and listening to capital-seekers. In order to truly address the challenges, we are trying to overcome, we cannot go it alone. We must have the humility to acknowledge that we need help, and that others have expertise and experience that we do not. 

In addition to the recipients of our PRIs and PAIs, partners who have been critical to our implementation include Impact Charitable (intermediary who advises and offers administrative support for PRI implementation), Global Endowment Management (Outsourced Chief Investment Officer who is administering our PAI and VAI portfolios), and Integrated Capital Investing (consultant that supported our plan design and facilitated PRI sourcing).

The ecosystem is evolving. Our world is changing at a rapid pace, and so are the opportunities and challenges facing Indigenous Peoples. In order to continue to build and sustain a values-oriented investment plan that supports Indigenous livelihood, we must remain nimble and in relationship with the communities that we intend to support. We must prioritize learning as these challenges evolve, be open to pivoting and rethinking our strategy as we deepen our own understanding and as new opportunities unfold.

Indigenous Peoples face more threats today than ever before. By building an investment portfolio with a commitment to supporting Indigenous economic livelihoods, The Christensen Fund has taken action to support Indigenous self-determination. Achieving economic justice will require others to join in this effort. We know that, just as they have for millennia before, Indigenous Peoples can and will emerge from these challenges. We are excited for this future.

 

Article by Carla Fredericks and Matt Aguiar of The Christensen Fund

Carla Fredericks serves as CEO of The Christensen Fund, a private foundation that backs the global Indigenous Peoples’ movement in its efforts to advance Indigenous Peoples’ rights, support Indigenous self-determination and biocultural diversity.

As CEO of The Christensen Fund, Fredericks leads the organization’s work to support Indigenous Peoples’ rights and leadership globally through grantmaking, advocacy, and strategic partnerships. Under her leadership, Christensen has deepened its commitment to Indigenous self-determination and sovereignty while building strong relationships with peer funders to increase philanthropic support for Indigenous causes.

Prior to joining Christensen in 2021, Fredericks was Director of First Peoples Worldwide and Clinical Professor at the University of Colorado Law School and a partner at Milberg LLP. An enrolled citizen of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, Fredericks has long worked to advance the rights of Native peoples and is a recognized expert in finance, law, business & human rights, and Indigenous Peoples’ rights. 

Matt Aguiar joined The Christensen Fund in 2019 and is the Chief Financial and Operating Officer. He leads financial and operational functions, including oversight of investments, risk management, compliance, information technology, and human resources. Matt also spearheads implementation of strategies to improve organizational effectiveness and purpose alignment.