CROW AGENCY — When Tanya Plainfeather Gardner wanted to start a small business in 2023, she knew it would require a leap of faith, but it was one she wouldn’t be making alone.

Tanya faced barriers like not having experience running a small business or knowing how to navigate the complex paperwork and process involved. The team at Plenty Doors Community Development Corporation (Plenty Doors) and their Business Incubator program guided her through the process with tools like expert advisors, mentors, administrative support, office equipment, training, and more.

When Tanya needed a place outside her home to set up her kiln that fires the porcelain elk teeth, trade beads, and flowers she crafts by hand, Plenty Doors, a grantee of the Women’s Foundation of Montana, provided that too.

“They offered me an opportunity,” Tanya said, three years into running her business, TPlainfeathers. “And now people come and ask ‘How did you do this? How did this happen?’”

The answer to that is the community approach of Indigenous Finance, successfully deploying capital into previously under-resourced rural and Native markets, resulting in job growth and wealth creation. With a focus on trust, relationship, and shared power, Indigenous Finance is a powerful industry growing Indigenous economies. Organizations like Plenty Doors, a female-led nonprofit, drive growth in their communities and create widespread change.

***

In April 2026 over the stretch of four days in Billings, multiple organizations gathered under the umbrella of the Mountain | Plains Indigenous Finance Gathering to celebrate relationships to the land, to community, and to one another. Many attendees were grantees of the Women’s Foundation of Montana.

The interconnectivity, not only of grantees’ work to each other but the ripple effects of their efforts to communities broadly, was clear in every interaction.

Angela Howe is an artist and fashion designer who founded Choke Cherry Creek, a contemporary Indigenous fashion brand. She founded her business with the support of Montana Native Growth Fund, a Native Community Development Financial Institution and 2023 grantee of the Women’s Foundation of Montana. Angela spoke during the gathering.

“When I got into fashion, I didn’t think I would be doing a lot of shows, but it blew up into something even more amazing,” Howe said. “I’m selling clothes, but it’s opened doors to do a lot of workshops in communities.”

At one model workshop, Howe said she connected with a young person who had struggled with suicidal ideations but found hope and support through walking the runway.

“I see them physically light up on stage,” Howe said.

Her most recent collection, “Lateral Kindness," is dedicated to Indigenous values of lifting up each other through kindness, respect, and support, marking a focus on healing and unifying communities to counter the lateral violence tied to colonialism.

***

When Misty McCormick, a mother of two, wanted to live on her own land near Crow Agency, she found guidance when she signed up for Plenty Doors' Individual Development Account, or IDA, Program.

She thought owning her own place would be impossible before learning about the program.

“It was enlightening, it showed me it’s possible, this is possible,” said McCormick, who told a panel in April that she’s now living on the land that once felt like an unobtainable dream.

The savings program helps participants acquire assets and increase the value of assets already held, with Plenty Doors contributing $4 for every $1 saved, with a maximum total of $5,000.

“It’s steps and it’s a process, and it’s not easy,” McCormick said. “But it’s do-able, that’s what Plenty Doors helps me with, the discipline.”

Plenty Doors itself has also grown beyond what those involved early in the process thought was possible. Roberta Glenn, business development specialist for Plenty Doors, said the nonprofit started in an office so small employees couldn’t even do Zoom calls because it was too loud in the shared space.

“We went in not knowing what it would turn into, but we were dreaming big,” Roberta said.

In 2022, Charlene Johnson, executive director and founder of Plenty Doors, said the organization, which was founded in 2018, purchased the old Crow mercantile and now has nine full-time staff and two part-time workers. Now Plenty Doors is building a new facility, the first new commercial building on the reservation in about two decades, Charlene said, to have larger office space and offer more room for business incubation.

***

Quill Hawley is the co-owner and co-founder of 406 Native Roots, a bead, craft supply, jewelry, and gift store in Billings.

Quill and her mom started the business three years ago with support from Montana Native Growth Fund after identifying a need for an in-store supply for beads because of issues with online ordering. Quill also has physical disabilities that meant operating her own business was a better professional option to fit her life.

“It’s an amazing journey that I’ve been on that I didn’t know I was capable of,” Quill said. “Being a part of a locally owned business, being able to own my own business, has created such life-changing opportunities for me. I’m very grateful to all of the people who have given me words of encouragement and helped with the funding of this. It’s just been such a great journey to be on to be able to expand."

Quill started in a tiny storefront and, within a year and a half of running the business, had to move because she ran out of space.

“Being a part of this business has really opened a lot of opportunity for me,” Quill said. “ … Being able to teach what I know is really important to me because I feel like arts and especially Native arts are something that should really come out of Native communities rather than non-Native communities. It is a part of our ancestry, it is a part of our history, it is deeply tied to our identity and being a part of that is such an honor for me.”

***

Amy Allison, the chair of the Women’s Foundation of Montana Advisory Committee, attended the Indigenous Finance gathering. Amy said that the event and those who spoke illustrated the importance of supporting the work of women uplifting each other.

"I was delighted to attend the Mountain Plains Indigenous Finance Gathering as Chair of the Women's Foundation of Montana Advisory Committee. It was an incredible opportunity to see firsthand how the Foundation's support of Native      Community Development Financial Institutions is strengthening communities and advancing the economic security of women and girls across Montana, particularly in rural and Indigenous communities,” Amy said. “Witnessing the innovation, leadership, and community-centered approach of these organizations reinforced the importance of investing in solutions that create lasting economic impact."

“Seventy two percent of Indigenous Finance organizations are women-led, and the businesses they support are also often  run by women. When those grandmas, mothers, aunties, sisters, and friends gain financial success, they become the person in the community that others then turn to for help and support,” said Jael Kampfe, the president of Indigenous Impact Co.

“That’s what makes a difference,” Jael said. “There’s been jokes all along about sisters, aunties, and that is Indigenous Finance. This is why we’re all doing this work. There may be scarcity of resources but there’s abundance in resilience and creativity and leadership and family.”