{"id":31370,"date":"2021-02-24T19:58:26","date_gmt":"2021-02-25T00:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/?p=31370"},"modified":"2021-04-01T18:07:08","modified_gmt":"2021-04-01T22:07:08","slug":"bridging-the-divide-between-impact-investing-and-native-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/bridging-the-divide-between-impact-investing-and-native-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Bridging the Divide Between Impact Investing and Native America"},"content":{"rendered":"
>> Back to March 2021 Issue<\/a><\/div>\n
Above image courtesy iStock\/InkkStudios<\/em><\/h5>\n

Indigenous intermediaries are crucial to overcoming asymmetries between impact investors and Native America through the building of relationships of trust, creation of an ecosystem for impact investing in Indigenous communities, and performance of the due diligence investors need to manage risk. <\/em><\/h3>\n

In 2018, Morgan Stanley released The Trillion Dollar Blindspot<\/a>, spotlighting how skewed investment practices are towards white male entrepreneurs, and how entrepreneurs of color lack the access to the social networks that white-owned businesses take for granted. This is particularly true for Native America, which represents billions of dollars in missed opportunities. In a survey of its investor members<\/a>, US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment found that while 75 percent include \u201cIndigenous Peoples issues\u201d in their social investment practices, less than 20 percent had actually developed specific criteria for them. Saying that it\u2019s important to include Indigenous Peoples in decision-making practices is one thing, but if the majority lack capital screens founded on Indigenous principles and practices, how can it translate into action?<\/p>\n

This disconnect between philosophy and practice is emblematic of broader power and relational asymmetries between Indigenous Peoples and the private investment world. Because Indigenous Peoples tend to lack relationships within the philanthropic and the investment community, Indigenous entrepreneurs often find themselves at a great disadvantage when they enter these spaces, which can lead to accepting deals on terms that do not fit their needs (or even worse, that are extractive).<\/p>\n

Bridging the Gap<\/h2>\n

These gaps are not new, of course. But as the pandemic demonstrates, we need more investments focused on the most vulnerable pockets of the world and nation, and investing in local governments and institutions is the best way to secure their future sustainability and growth. Since federal government stimulus can never address the complexity and depth of a crisis like COVID-19\u2014while the recently enacted CARES Act only demonstrates how tribes and Indigenous small businesses get left behind\u2014the impact investing community must prioritize organizations and institutions closest to the impacted communities.<\/p>\n