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The Lakota Funds is a private non-profit community development financial institution for the Lakota people of the Oglala Lakota Nation in southwestern South Dakota.  The fund operates out of the village of Kyle, SD which is located in the geographic center of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

TLF was a project of the First Nations Development Institute of Falmouth, Virginia. The Fund was started in 1986 and made over a million dollars in loans to almost 300 tribal members to develop small businesses and microenterprises through it's two lending programs.  TLF was started to answer a need for capital and technical assistance to help stimulate the private sector of the Pine Ridge Reservation, an area of roughly 2 million acres with a population if about 22,000.  At the time the Fund was organized, Pine Ridge had fewer than 40 small businesses.  Most were owned by non-indians.  There were no banks on the reservation.  And some 74 million dollars yearly were flowing off the reservation to neighboring towns because of lack of a private sector.  On December 6, 1992 TLF had a seperate ceremony and the Fund is now a community owned "Lakota" not-for-profit organization.

For more information on The Lakota Funds, visit our website at www.lakotafunds.org.