The NDN Collective in Rapid City, South Dakota, has announced 200 grants totaling $7.9 million to rebuild the wealth of Indigenous families across Minnesota and the Dakotas.

The Collective Abundance Fund—which was launched in May 2023 after collaboration with communities across the tri-state area—awarded 116 grants of $50,000 each and 84 grants of $25,000 each. In addition to funding, grantees will receive access to resources and training, including work with Trauma of Money, as well as strategies to build financial security, self-determination, and social and cultural sharing. Grantees include 53 Minnesota-based organizations, 19 from North Dakota, and 128 from South Dakota.

“Institutional philanthropy has a moral imperative to ‘rematriate’ wealth back to Indigenous and Black people—the Collective Abundance Fund is part of this effort, and of the larger movement to dismantle colonial and capitalist systems that have negatively impacted Indigenous people for hundreds of years,” said NDN Collective managing director Gaby Strong. “We offer one model to address the wealth gap—but these efforts are fragile, because they exist within institutional waters that are still fundamentally biased and racist. We need all hands on deck from all sectors to truly address the generational wealth gap.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Fly View Productions)