Vancouver-based Raven Group launched in 2018 to steer capital to Indigenous businesses and communities in Canada and the US. The organization is looking to raise C$50 million (US$37.5 million) for an outcomes-based finance fund that designs financial instruments with communities for health and climate-related initiatives.
Christensen Fund, a San Francisco-based nonprofit focused on Indigenous communities, made a $2 million, seven-year program-related investment.
Trust-based finance
“Moving at the pace of trust” is crucial for funders directing capital to Indigenous communities. Raven’s approach brings together community leaders and members to create “community-driven outcomes contracts,” or CDOCs.
“The convening employs community learning to build trust-based relationships inclusive of Indigenous protocols and ceremony,” Christensen explained in a post.
Before launching the fund, Raven piloted CDOCs for energy access, housing upgrades and diabetes management projects, including a $5.1 million, two-year deal to install geothermal energy and retrofit housing for the Fisher River Cree Nation and Peguis First Nation.
Boann Social Impact, which has a C$135 million investment mandate from the Canadian government’s Social Finance Fund, has also backed the Outcomes fund.
Raven last year closed a C$100 million fund to invest in Indigenous-led startups.
