Kim Pate (She/Her), is of Eastern Band Cherokee, Mississippi Choctaw and Black descent. Kim is the Managing Director of NDN Fund, the lending and investing arm of NDN Collective. NDN Fund is a national, emerging Native Community Development Financial Institution founded in 2018. NDN Fund’s mission is to dramatically increase Indigenous Peoples’ access to capital and financial decision-making power through an approach grounded in resilient and regenerative Indigenous lending principles.
Pate, an attorney, has 25 years of experience in the nonprofit sector. She specializes in representing the interests of Native Americans in community and economic development with the goal of improving individual and family economic futures and promoting lasting change. Prior to joining NDN Collective, Pate helped develop and launch the Native CDFI Network, a trade association of Native community development financial institutions (CDFIs) based in South Dakota promoting policies that support access to capital in Native communities. She is a member of Nimiipuu Community Development Fund CDFI and Turtle Island Community Capital CDFI Boards of Directors. Pate holds a Law Degree from University of California at Los Angeles School of Law and is admitted to practice in Nez Perce Tribal Court and California. She received a B.A. in Political Science from Stanford University.