NCN works to strengthen the Native CDFI industry by increasing the voice of Native CDFIs in national policy dialogues and sharing resources that grow the knowledge and skills of our members. One of the ways we do this is by offering skill-building workshops and in-depth trainings on leadership and practice topics of importance to Native CDFIs.

2025 NCN Leadership Institute Series: Risk-Proof Your Funding: Compliance Tactics for Native CDFIs

Managing compliance doesn’t have to be overwhelming. NCN’s upcoming webinar series “Risk-Proof Your Funding: Compliance Tactics for Native CDFIs” is designed to help Native CDFIs strengthen their internal systems, reduce risk, and approach federal and philanthropic grants with clarity and confidence. Whether you’re navigating your first award or looking to streamline your organization’s approach to reporting, budgeting, and legal terms, this series will walk you through the tools and best practices that turn compliance from a burden into a strategy.

Each session offers practical guidance, ready-to-use templates, and expert insight to help Native CDFI leaders and staff stay prepared from award to close-out.

*This training series is open to NCN members only. Log into your Membership Portal to register.

June 11, 2025

2:00 – 3:30 p.m. ET

Session 1: Your Compliance Compass: Building the Crosswalk That Guides You

Compliance doesn’t start when the report is due—it starts when the award letter hits your inbox. This session introduces a simple yet powerful crosswalk tool to help you organize deliverables, track performance measures, and prepare for reporting from day one.

Learning Objectives:

  • Understand the value of a compliance matrix in managing grants and contracts.
  • Learn how to prepare and use the crosswalk template.
  • Apply the tool to key grant phases: negotiation, budgeting, and proposal planning.

June 25, 2025

2:00 – 3:30 p.m. ET

Session 2: Budget Like a Pro: Turning RFPs into Real Numbers

Budgets are more than spreadsheets—they’re roadmaps to successful execution. This session demystifies the budgeting process, helping you align proposal costs with funding guidelines and program goals.

Learning Objectives:

  • Review different types of budgets and how to respond to specific RFP/RFQ requirements.
  • Identify essential cost components and common budgeting pitfalls.
  • Strengthen budget tracking to support compliance and reporting.

July 9, 2025

2:00 – 3:30 p.m. ET

Session 3: Avoiding the Pitfalls: Legal Landmines and Compliance Risks

Not all risks are obvious. This session dives into legal language, hidden clauses, and the terms that could trip up your organization if left unmonitored. Learn how to spot red flags, protect your CDFI, and engage subcontractors and consultants with confidence.

Learning Objectives:

  • Distinguish between terms and conditions, reps and certs, and their implications for compliance.
  • Understand board and staff responsibilities in mitigating legal and financial risk.
  • Identify flow-down requirements and recognize signs of potential non-compliance.

July 23, 2025

2:00 – 3:30 p.m. ET

Session 4: Close It Out Right: Lessons from the End of the Line

The end of a grant doesn’t mean the end of oversight. This final session explores best practices for closeouts, audits, and peer reviews to ensure your organization remains funder-ready and audit-proof—today and tomorrow.

Learning Objectives:

  • Review closeout procedures and common post-award requirements.
  • Differentiate between compliance and financial audits.
  • Prepare for evaluations and implement corrective actions if needed.

Examples of Previous NCN Institute Programs include:

Increasing Your Visibility through Storytelling. In 2021, NCN worked with Harvard Professor, Marshall Ganz, an expert in labor organizing and leadership, to offer 23 hours of training to 15 NCN members. In this training series, Native CDFI leaders gathered each weekend for one month to learn how they could create meaningful change by telling their stories.

NCN Summer Institute 2022. This Summer Series included three training sessions from June – August 2022 covering the topics of small business underwriting, advanced cash flow analysis, loan product pricing and market choice. Jack Northrup, of New England Market Research, a long-time partner with NCN, provide energizing, skill-building sessions for 22 NCN members followed by one-on-one technical assistance to support their implementation of these new skills and knowledge.

NCN Summer Institute 2023. This series included six training sessions covering capitalization planning, loan pipeline development, financial systems useful for CDFIs, and preparing for the audit.

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Jack Northrup

New England Market Research

Jack Northrup of New England Market Research, Inc. has worked with companies performing qualitative and quantitative research on issues related to market access. Since, 1997 he has worked with over 250 companies conducting primary and secondary research. The main focus is quantitative analysis around issues of marketing, branding and consumer perception and financial management. Additionally, he conducts customer surveys and focus groups for clients on issues of demographics, pricing and attitudes/behaviors.

Jack developed and taught online small business training for the US Dept. of Treasury CDFI Fund and has taught business development at the University of Vermont and Southern New Hampshire University, in class and online.  He has developed and taught dozens of webinars and client trainings. He has a BS and MSc from New Hampshire College and an MBA from Dartmouth College.

Blaine Rasmuson

Bluestem Consulting

As a consultant, Blaine Rasmuson serves as a Loan Officer for the intermediary lending arm of NCN. Mr. Rasmuson helps our members through the loan process and ensures that NCN’s lending standards are of the highest caliber.

Rasmuson graduated from the University of Wyoming with a degree in Finance. Before entering the CDFI industry, Mr. Rasmuson worked as a Registered Investment Advisor and as a Finance Manager. His experience in the finance industry will serve NCN as its lending capacity grows.

Caleb Selby

Selby Consulting

Caleb entered the Native CDFI industry in 2015 at Oweesta Corporation. He then became a consultant as he returned to school for a B.S. in General Mathematics. Currently, Mr. Selby is the owner of Selby Consulting, a consulting firm offering grant writing, financial analysis, capitalization planning, programmatic analysis, and other technical assistance to over 20 Native CDFIs each year. Mr. Selby is passionate about assisting and enjoys working with Native CDFIs. In his free time, Caleb enjoys being outdoors.

Kristen Wagner

Native CDFI Network

Kristen Wagner serves as the Native CDFI Network’s National Program Director. In this role, Wagner manages NCN grant funded programs, Membership Programs, and oversees the design and delivery of capacity-building supports to NCN members. Dr. Wagner built her 25-year career with a commitment to building more equitable economies in Native communities across the country and Indigenous communities globally.

In addition, she spent the past 15 years in classroom settings, individual mentoring relationships, and as a consultant providing organizational management support and training to asset-building practitioners and advocates to support economic equity in their workplaces, community decision-making processes, and broader institutional systems. Through these experiences, Dr. Wagner understands the day-to-day experiences and challenges organizations face delivering asset-building programs in Indian Country.

Wagner holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of North Dakota and a Master’s degree and Ph.D. in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis. Her work has taken the form of research, program design and implementation, policy advocacy, and leadership training.

Lisa Wagner

Bluestem Consulting

Lisa Wagner is the owner of Bluestem Consulting, Inc. She is a community development consultant and trainer based in Buffalo, Wyoming.  Lisa has worked in small business and economic development for 26 years and in the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) industry for 22 years. Over the last 14 years, Lisa has worked with CDFIs across the nation as a consultant and trainer. Her work has focused on providing capacity building services including CDFI certification and application support, board development, financial projections and analysis, sustainability and strategic planning, business planning, and capitalization planning. She has served as a trainer and facilitator for national, regional and local events in the CDFI arena. Lisa has taught lending courses for NeighborWorks America at their quarterly National Training Institutes. She has also served as facilitator for several CDFI Fund collaborative training initiatives through First Nations Oweesta and Opportunity Finance Network. She was the founding Executive Director of the Wind River Development Fund, a successful Native CDFI on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming, from 2001 until 2009. During her tenure as Executive Director, WRDF received several national and regional awards. In 2009, Lisa was recognized by the U.S. Small Business Administration as the Wyoming Financial Services Champion of the year.  Lisa has served on the board of directors of both non-profit and for-profit organizations, including sitting on the loan committee of a state-wide loan fund. She has a B.A. in Economics from the University of Colorado and an M.B.A. from the University of Texas.