OUR STORY
A Mission Rooted in Community. An Organization Built to Last.
“We will be known forever by the tracks we leave.”
— Traditional Dakota teaching
This teaching is not a slogan. It is an accountability standard; a measure of whether what we build is worthy of the communities we build it for, and whether it will still be serving them long after the people who built it are gone. That is the standard Native Finance Development Corporation (NFDC) has set for itself, and the spirit in which it operates today.
THE PROBLEM WE WERE BUILT TO ADDRESS
Native nations have governed their lands, communities, and futures according to their own laws, values, and traditions since long before European contact. That sovereignty has never been extinguished. But the financial systems built around Native communities over the past centuries were not designed with tribal sovereignty in mind and the consequences have been profound. Bank and finance deserts, communities located more than ten miles from the nearest financial institution, remain a defining feature of life on many tribal lands. Research documented predatory lending storefronts, such as payday lenders and check cashers, concentrated in Native communities at rates far exceeding the national average, deliberately targeting the communities with the fewest alternatives (Borrowing Trouble, First Nations Development Institute, Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2008). Through the history of dispossession and financial exploitation, distrust that has developed between tribal members and mainstream institutions is not irrational. It is the rational response to a system that was never built for them.
THE FOUNDING STORY
In 2003, the seeds of NFDC were planted through Cynthia J. Tam’s work as a Certified Financial Planner™ in Southern California. Through her practice, she helped tribal community members navigate tax planning, retirement savings, and insurance — work that brought her into sustained, close relationships with people navigating financial decisions within a system that had never been designed to serve them well. Teaching financial education in tribal communities since 2003, she saw not the need for better individual coaching, but a scalable, culturally grounded organization that could expand access to financial knowledge across entire communities.
The conversations she had along the way deepened that understanding. Hundreds of exchanges with community members returned consistently to the same realities: bank deserts, limited access to capital, and the absence of financial education that reflected the legal and sovereign reality of Native life. Those conversations also led to meaningful relationships with tribal leaders. Among the most significant was the one she built with James M. “Potts” Hill, Sr., Vice Chairman and Tribal Administrator of the La Posta Band of Diegueño Mission Indians, who became Co-Founder of NFDC and brought to the work both deep community trust and a firsthand understanding of what financial exclusion looks like at the community level. Together, they began building an organization rooted in Native traditions and guided by the Haudenosaunee Seven Generations Principle — the teaching that every decision carries responsibility for the seven generations yet to come.
In 2018, Tam petitioned for 501(c)(3) status, formally establishing NFDC. In 2023, NFDC received funding from the Administration for Native Americans, a milestone that marked the organization’s emergence as a recognized actor in the long work of Indigenous economic self-determination.
VISION & MISSION
Twenty years of practice, community relationship, and organizational development have produced commitments that can now be stated plainly.
NFDC Vision
A future where every tribal nation possesses complete financial sovereignty and the internal infrastructure to manifest their own prosperity across generations.
NFDC Mission
To secure tribal economic independence by building the institutional frameworks, legal pathways, and financial systems required for tribal self-determination.
Native Catalyst™ Mission
To cultivate a comprehensive pipeline of Native financial experts who bridge the gap between modern strategy and ancestral wisdom through kindergarten-to-professional initiatives.
EDUCATION EQUITY
The Seven Generations Principle asks us to think in the longest possible timeframe. Applied to education, that means starting at the beginning. Research on early childhood development consistently demonstrates that the foundations of financial reasoning, planning, and decision-making are formed in the earliest years of a child’s life (Habit Formation and Learning in Young Children, Dr.'s Whitebread and Bingham, University of Cambridge, 2013). Native Catalyst’s™ kindergarten-to-professional pipeline is built on that evidence and on the commitment to meet Native learners wherever they are in their journey, at every stage from early childhood through career.
WHY WE DO THIS WORK
The people who built NFDC share a conviction that something better is possible and a personal relationship with the communities that deserve it. In their own words:
“The economic and political might that Native Americans hold can shape the future of America, and I want to stand firmly in support of empowering that future.”
Eric Menzel — CTO, NFDC
“I support the concept because I believe financial stability plays a key role in our overall well-being. Financial stress can deeply influence your mental health and prevent people from being able to focus on their life goals in general. Without the knowledge and tools needed to manage finances effectively, individuals may struggle to prioritize long-term needs, increasing financial strain and limiting opportunities for themselves and their families.”
Rigoberto “Rigo” Ruiz — Tribal Member of the MHA Nation; Board Secretary, NFDC
“I’ve been a member of the California Indian Manpower Consortium for decades. Community members came to us for training to build a trade but banks wouldn’t finance them because they are on the Indian reservation. Not having access to capital limits opportunities.”
James M. “Potts” Hill, Sr. — Vice Chairman, La Posta Band of Diegueño Mission Indians; Co-Founder, NFDC
“Even with an advanced education, I didn’t fully understand personal finance until later in my career. Our young people deserve the opportunity to learn these skills early in life so they can make informed decisions, provide for their families, and build a strong future.”
Teresa Martinez — Tribal Member of the Pauma Band of Luiseño Indians; Board Member, NFDC
The tracks NFDC leaves will be visible in the communities that gain access to what was withheld, in the students who find pathways that were never built for them before, and in the families whose financial futures are shaped by an organization that chose to build for the long arc rather than the short one. That is the work. That is the standard.
One community, one family, one generation at a time — and always, the seven that follow.