Your priorities should drive the funding.Not the other way around.
Why NOFO exists, and what we're trying to change.
Native Country does not have a shortage of priorities.
Tribal Nations are already defining what their communities need: housing, energy, broadband, healthcare, education, infrastructure, and economic development.
The problem is that the capital capable of building those priorities was never organized around them.
Capital is fragmented.
Federal programs sit in one system. Philanthropy in another. Lenders and investors operate through their own networks. Tax incentives, grants, credit, and technical assistance each carry different requirements, timelines, and relationships.
The result is not a lack of capital. It is a coordination problem.
The system should work the other way around.
Instead of forcing Nations to continuously reorganize themselves around funding programs, funding should organize around the priorities Nations define.
Priorities first.Capital second.
NOFO is building shared infrastructure that allows Nations to define what they want to build, organize those priorities across their teams, and connect them with institutions capable of funding them.
Native-controlled capital is the long-term opportunity.
Better access to outside capital matters. But access alone does not change who controls the infrastructure.
We believe the funding infrastructure connecting Nations and capital today can help create new sources of Native-controlled capital tomorrow.
The goal is not simply to move more capital into Native Country. It is to help more capital remain there.
Who we are
NOFO is an independent product of Sun Bear Industries, built for Tribal Nations and the organizations that work alongside them.
The NOFO Brief
New federal funding for Native Country, deadlines worth watching, and what changed at the agencies. Every other week, free.
Read past issuesStart with one goal. See what funds it today.
Create an account, write your first goal, and have matches in front of you before the end of the session.
