Inside a Gathering of Finance Officers

More than 40 years ago, “Tribes lacked a forum to network, access timely information, or build relationships with capital providers,” said Native American Finance Officers Association (NAFOA) Executive Director Cory Blankenship (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians). NAFOA was founded in 1982 to fill that gap, the first organization dedicated to Tribal finance and economic development. Conferences have been central to its mission from the start.

During the pandemic, NAFOA hosted three fully virtual conferences, and when in-person events returned in fall 2021, “we experimented with a virtual option, but participation was extremely limited,” Blankenship told Convene via email, which he attributed in part to the fact that many Tribal communities lack the infrastructure to fully engage in an online format.

In addition, “the value of NAFOA conferences extends beyond the sessions themselves, and the networking and relationship-building opportunities are best realized in person,” he said, reflected in steadily growing attendance levels — the spring conference hosted the most participants in its history, with attendance up 20 percent from the previous fall conference.

At most NAFOA conferences, a local member Tribe also serves as the host Tribe, welcoming participants and sharing their culture through traditional performers and storytellers, Blankenship said. In New Orleans, traditional dancers and a drum group from the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians performed for attendees. The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians will serve as the host Tribe for NAFOA’s fall conference in Portland, Oregon.

Tradition and tech play important roles at NAFOA conferences. At the April event, a new app made it possible to print badges on-site for the first time, and “generated QR codes for each attendee, enabling seamless session check-ins for CPE credits, networking among participants, and lead capture for sponsors,” Blankenship said. Not only did this update make “things smoother for everyone,” it saved time, he added — and money.

Music to a finance officer’s ears.

On the Program

“Contingency Planning for Pauses in Federal Funding,” was a popular workshop addressing “one of our community’s biggest challenges today — balancing long-term planning with uncertainty in federal funding and shifting regulatory requirements,” said NAFOA’s Cory Blankenship.

‘Buy Indian’

Products from Tribal businesses, sometimes gifted to participants, are a regular conference feature. In New Orleans, attendees received chocolates from Bedré Chocolate (owned by the Chickasaw Nation) and Puyallup Chocolates (owned by the Puyallup Tribe), directly supporting Tribal economies.

Michelle Russell is Convene’s editor in chief.

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