Rebecca L. Adamson is a serial social entrepreneur and internationally recognized champion of Indigenous Peoples and pioneer in the field of Indigenous-led financial mechanisms. She is the Founder and President of First Peoples Worldwide (1997) serving Indigenous Peoples outside the U.S., and Founder and past-President of First Nations Development Institute (1980) serving US-based Indigenous communities. Her life’s work has established a new field of culturally appropriate, values-driven, community asset-based development which created the first reservation-based micro-enterprise loan funds in the United States; the first tribal investment model; a national movement for reservation land reform; and legislation that established new standards of accountability regarding federal trust responsibility for Native Americans. Ms. Adamson has been working with the World Bank to create the Indigenous Peoples Climate Action Fund, which was successfully launched in 2009 to address Indigenous Peoples’ climate change issues.
Thirty years ago, she initiated this work, founding and leading First Nations Development Institute to help American Indians identify their assets. Through this work, Rebecca invited “Indian Country” leaders to help develop an evaluation tool, the Elements of Development (EOD), that appreciates Indian cultures and helps Indian communities identify existing assets and develop new ones. She helped to design the first reservation-based micro-loan fund and launched The Lakota Fund in 1984 to re-connect capital markets to the community. In 1989, Calvert’s founding trustees were interested in Rebecca’s microfinance experience and invited her to join the Calvert Social Investment Fund Board of Trustees (the largest socially responsible mutual fund), where she led Calvert to include an Indigenous Peoples Rights screen in 1999. She founded the Calvert Community Notes Investment, the first financial instrument whereby mutual fund shareholders and other individual investors can invest in community development loan funds, with over $400 million now placed in Community Notes. Adamson used traditional Native values honed in her experience with tribal Community Development Financial Institutions to design the first program for high social impact investing through a mutual fund, successfully connecting capital markets to low-income communities.
Ms. Adamson serves in the corporate sector as a member of the Board of Directors for the Calvert Social Investment Fund, as well as Calvert Small Cap Fund. She serves on the Calvert Group Governance Committee, and Co-chaired for the Calvert Social Investment Fund Audit Committee. She has also served on the Calvert Foundation Board, and Tom’s of Maine, Inc. including Chair of the company’s Audit and Evaluation Committee.
As a leader in the non-profit sector, she currently serves on the Council on Foundations Global Philanthropy Committee, and the Bay Paul Foundation Board of Directors. She has served on the Boards of the Council on Foundations (including membership on the Management and Investment Committee), Indiana University’s The Center on Philanthropy, the Corporation for Enterprise Development, Seventh Generation Fund, Ms. Foundation for Women, National Committee for Responsible Philanthropy, Independent Sector, Natural Step, the Bridge Span Group, among others. She is a founding Board member of Native Americans in Philanthropy and International Funders for Indigenous Peoples (IFIP). She has served as an advisor to the United Nations on Rural Development as well as US delegate to the United Nations’ International Labor Organization for International Indigenous Rights, and through FPW created the first Indigenous community foundation – The Lumba Aboriginal Community Foundation in Australia.
Ms. Adamson has received many honors and awards, including The World Economic Forum Charles Schwab Outstanding Social Entrepreneur Award 2004-2006; Council on Foundations Scrivner Award 1996; Jay Silverheels Award 1996; The Independent Sector John W. Garner Leadership Award 2001; Virginia Women in History Honoree 2002; Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters Dartmouth College 2003; National Women History Honoree 2003; the Meyers Outstanding Book Award for Color of Wealth 2006; 2009 Alliance Essay Prize for co-authoring Indigenous Peoples Climate Action Fund, and, her writings are being archived at Smith College.
