Funding What Works: Raven Outcomes and the Future of Indigenous-Led Finance
Thursday, September 3, 2026
10-11AM PDT • 1-2PM EDT • 2-3PM ADT
Jeff Cyr
Founder & Managing Partner
Raven Outcomes
Allison Gibson
Chief of Staff,
New Power Labs
About the session
Jeff Cyr, Raven Outcomes Fund’s Founder and Managing Partner, will be in conversation with Allison Gibson, New Power Labs' Chief of Staff.
In our candid conversation, Jeff will walk through Raven Outcomes’ early bets, the hard lessons, and what it's taking to raise a $50 million fund that enables Indigenous leaders to design and deliver solutions to issues in their communities by engaging with investors, governments, and funders.
Traditional loan guarantees and similar tools can reduce the cost and risk of Indigenous participation in major projects, but they usually come into play only after the project has already been designed and deemed commercially viable. By this stage, many of the most important decisions about what gets built, how it is structured, and whose priorities shape the project have already been made. The traditional funding tools used do not address who decided what gets built in the first place.
The Raven Indigenous Outcomes Fund is innovative by design and invests in Indigenous-led projects from the outset, shifting capital and decision-making power closer to the community. Private and philanthropic investors fund the projects upfront, prioritizing housing, healthcare, and clean energy, and community leads the design and delivery, with outcomes defined before capital moves. Independent experts track progress, and the government repays investors once the outcomes are verified.
Raven's first completed Community-Driven Outcomes Contract delivered 124 home upgrades for Fisher River and Peguis First Nations, creating $7.6 million in verified social, economic, and environmental outcomes value, of which CMHC and Efficiency Manitoba purchased $5.1 million.
About the speakers
Jeff Cyr, Founder & Managing Partner, Raven Indigenous Outcomes Fund
Julia is a placemaker and builder of community-based social infrastructure, integrating social, physical, and financial platforms for community benefit, working primarily in the non-profit sector. As the founder of the non-profit organization 10C Shared Space, Julia manages a $2.75 million real-estate-backed community bond that financed its 2016 expansion, engaged 150 community investors, now generates over $ 100,000 in annual local returns, and has driven a 17-fold organizational growth. Building on this, 10C launched Harvest Impact, a community-based fund that invests in food, farm, and environmental entrepreneurs with a focus on the circular economy. Julia is passionate about community wealth building, social entrepreneurship, the economies of place, and seeks to demonstrate the potential of social finance and social enterprise through locally and nationally relevant changemaking projects.
Allison Gibson, Chief of Staff, New Power Labs
Allison Gibson is an award-winning entrepreneur and champion for social capital. She leverages her fundraising expertise to help founders access values-aligned funding and is passionate about demystifying venture capital for diverse founders. Allison also works with investors and funding programs to integrate impact into their investment thesis and processes, with the goal of shifting more capital toward under-represented entrepreneurs and communities.