Tanka Fund

About Tanka Fund

Indigenous communities are returning to a traditional food source—buffalo—to restore the health of their lands, communities, and economies. But with significant barriers to securing capital, Native ranchers struggle to access the expanding market for bison. Tanka Fund connects Native producers with the resources to raise economically and environmentally sustainable buffalo herds—feeding reservation communities while building community wealth. 

Challenges and Opportunities

Tanka Fund reached out to Emergence at a time of evolution and rapid growth. With a brand new 501c3 designation and a new executive director on board, Tanka Fund urgently needed to fundraise to increase direct support to Native ranchers. But they also needed to create the back-end infrastructure to support advancement and operations in the long-term—from communications strategies and a new website to an effective CRM to track relationships and impact.  

Approach

Drawing on systems thinking, the Emergence team got to work creating foundational resources needed to realize Tanka Fund’s vision. We developed a community-driven advancement plan to raise critical funds quickly—while also identifying operations strategies to support sustainable growth. We coached the Fund’s director and board on developing strong relationships with committed supporters; supported the launch of a website and social media strategy to raise awareness and engage new audiences; and created financial and grant management systems to track impact. 

Impact

Two years ago, with an annual budget of approximately $250,000, Tanka Fund was able to provide grants of between $5,000 and $8,000 to Native buffalo ranchers. Today the Tanka Fund’s budget is over $1,000,000 and growing, and in 2022 it will provide grants to ranchers that top $50,000. Through individual donors, federal grants, and the launch of the Fund’s The Return campaign, Emergence surfaced a new wave of new support for Tanka Fund’s work—while creating an operations framework to sustain its growth. Tanka Fund remains one of our closest partners, and we’re honored to support their mission toward economic sustainability Indian Country. 

"The team at Emergence really works to understand your specific vision—and then tailors resources and support to help you get there. While taking the worry out of day-to-day operations processes like bookkeeping and grants management, they’ve also helped us build strong relationships with major foundations, so that we’re ultimately moving toward self-sufficiency. We went from a $250,000 budget when I first started, and in just a few years our budget is over one million. Our partnership with Emergence is a key factor in our growth and impact in the community."- Trudy Ecoffey, Executive Director