Landmark Partnership Makes AI-Powered Funding Platform Free for a Decade to All 574 Tribal Nations

WASHINGTON D.C.-A new technological partnership may help Native American Tribes pursue and secure funding sources in an easier manner for the next ten years, hoping to help Tribal nations access a capital stack they've historically been unable to access.

In late December, the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Strategic Partnerships (OSP), Native Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Network, and Syncurrent announced the historic, 10-year partnership to gift Syncurrent technology to all 574 Tribal Nations free of charge.

Syncurrent is an AI technology startup whose platform will connect these nations and communities with customized federal, state, and philanthropic funding opportunities, empowering communities to pursue financial investments with greater ease while harnessing their data sovereignty.

The Syncurrent technology dramatically reduces the time it takes tribal governments to find and obtain the external funding they need to support tribal programs and services and capitalize the development of critical infrastructure such as roads, utilities, schools, and hospitals.

More than a trillion dollars are made available to local, Tribal and State governments annually, although many Tribal Nations are staff- and resource-constrained in navigating the overwhelming complexities of pursuing this grant funding. To address this challenge, the Syncurrent version 2 platform consolidates federal, state, and philanthropic funding data onto one unified platform. Through artificial intelligence, the platform then matches Tribal Nations with relevant funding opportunities using publicly available data, cutting down the labor-intensive grant searching process from months to minutes. Future versions numbered in consecutive order (V3, V4, etc) will have AI-Auto grant write and compliance features built into it.

"Supporting Tribal nations is and always will be a main priority for Syncurrent," said Dhruv C. Patel, Co-Founder and CEO of Syncurrent. "Through our efforts, we're taking a group of people that have always been pushed to the back of the line and moving them all the way to the front. We are so incredibly grateful for our partners in sharing and promoting our mission to increase access to capital across Indian Country."

Native Americans In Philanthropy reports that although Native American populations make up 2 percent of the U.S. population, they receive only 0.4 percent of philanthropic dollars explicitly benefiting them. The formation of this partnership addresses this inequity as it relates to access to capital in the form of grants, loans, and funding opportunities to Tribal Nations. Increasing the visibility and accessibility of funding opportunities is the first step in creating a paradigm shift for Indian Country.

"Tribal Nations have long faced systemic barriers to accessing capital and securing their fair share of federal, state, and philanthropic dollars," said Pete Upton, CEO of Native CDFI Network. "This partnership is a testament to the power of collaboration, innovation, and an unabiding commitment to equity. . . . This partnership demonstrates our collective resolve to not only bridge the funding gaps in Native communities, but to position them at the forefront of innovation.

"We've been utilizing Syncurrent's AI platform since last spring," said Eugene Sommers the District II Representative for The White Earth Nation of Ojibwe. "The platform's simplicity has allowed us to identify and collaborate on critical funding to meet our community's needs. It's awesome that Syncurrent will be providing all U.S. tribes with free access to their platform. This is a historic step forward for all of Indian Country."

Tribal Nations are invited to begin using Syncurrent immediately by visiting Syncurrent.com.