Yuwinyeya Grant Moves from Pilot to Long-Standing Initiative

Akiptan’s Yuwinyeya Grant was developed to help Akiptan’s clients to start, update, and/or expand their transition and succession plans. Yuwinyeya is the Lakota word for to prepare for something and that is exactly what this initiative has been creating with clients in its pilot year. Clients are able to create a legacy for their family. With the program being an immense success in its first year, it will now become a permanent initiative to support Akiptan’s agriculture producers across Indian Country. Akiptan’s Yuwinyeya initiative was able to support clients in obtaining 22 Life Insurances, 4 Stand-alone Wills,17 Trusts/Estates (which combine a stand-alone Will along with in-depth, long term legal planning), 23 Long Term Investment Accounts and 5 Long Term Tax Plans in it’s first year. 

Akiptan is always aiming to create initiatives that help producers succeed and the idea of the Yuwinyeya program was formulated over the years. The common thought process in Indian country for producers has been, “I want my kids to take on the ranch and so I'll get them a couple of cows and get them started” but that seemed to be the extent of the planning to get the next generation involved. To think beyond the next year in an operation, as far out as succession planning and the intricate details of that planning, is very much a privilege that producers in Indian country have earned. 

For Skya Ducheneaux, Executive Director, experiencing the general agriculture finance industry outside of Native agriculture, exposed those succession planning norms and she thought,

“Akiptan’s financing has had real time impacts for producers up to this point, how can we be intentional about succession planning so that wealth can be passed down to the next generation of producers? How do we pass down assets instead of debt?”

The reality is that in Indian Country, producers generally work until the day they die. But outside of Indian country, the older you get, you get to semi-retire. You get to start going into town to grab coffee every day and visit with the other producers who are retired, or you’re just at home to raise hell with the next generation. Skya was adamant about making this program a reality for producers, thinking to herself, “how do we get our producers to have that privilege, how do we set them up to easily transition to the next stage of their operation, or to be prepared in the event of an untimely death or in the event of that they want to be done working because they have earned retirement.” 

With all of this outside knowledge in her pocket, Skya knew that generational wealth needed to be a part of Akiptan’s initiatives. So, with her guide posts and general ideas, she applied for the Native American Agriculture Fund (NAAF) grant and she wrote the plans into the grant and she thought to herself, “I don’t know what this is going to look like, but I know it’s going to cost money and I know that I want to re-grant for succession planning and I know it’s going to be transformative.” When Akiptan received the funding, Skya passed it off to Akiptan’s Program Officer, Justine, to develop the program to meet the producers' needs. Justine took the idea to task and hit the ground running to develop the program to help build generational wealth for our producers. 

The Yuwinyeya program was launched in 2024, which began with research and meeting with the experts who knew the world of succession planning and who were familiar with Indian country. Akiptan knew that producers had different needs and wanted to help guide producers to the professionals to talk about options and resources for both the beginning and experienced producers. The team decided after all of the research and conversations that life insurances, wills, trust/estates, long term Investment and long term tax plans were the best fits for the Yuwinyeya program. One of the lessons learned in development was around retirement accounts; because of the laws around retirement accounts, Akiptan wasn’t able to offer that specific benefit in this program. Because it’s common for producers in Indian Country to operate as sole proprietors who have owner withdrawals and not an earned salary, they can’t contribute an owner withdrawal to a 401k, it has to be earned income. So, Justine found a route to get to a similar outcome, and focused on long term investment accounts. 

The next steps were to let the Akiptan clients know that the grant existed and to support them in putting their grant funds to use. Justine was on one on one calls with the producers to figure out what plan they wanted based on their family, their operation and where they were in their life. 

Once clients decided on which road they wanted to pursue, Justine was making sure that the producers had the support they needed by connecting them with experts such as legal teams, financial planners, tax professionals and others. In some instances Justine was invited to be on those calls because these types of conversations can be heavy. This part was critical to and reflective of Akiptan’s relationship based approach. The producers trusted Justine to help navigate with them during an incredibly personal and private process. 

Throughout the calls with experts, Justine was told  “I can’t believe there's an organization doing these things,” “every bank should be doing this,” and "this is what people need.” The feedback maintained that this type of initiative is needed and really making a difference. Justine was honored to be able to work alongside producers to nourish those relationships which speaks to the mission of Akiptan. 

During the chat about the Yuwinyeya initiative, Skya and Justine had a good back and forth visit about the highlights of program: 

Justine: You see succession and estate planning outside of Native agriculture and not so much in Indian country. It is such a great opportunity to be able to get these resources and support to our clients. 

Skya: I want people to be able to retire and be a nuisance and enjoy their last days on their operation. If they had a life insurance policy and retirement account they could. 

Justine: Right, what if they did have an investment or retirement account and life insurance? Unfortunately we know that sometimes farm accidents happen, we also know ag has a high rate of risk, and what if they did have these plans in place? 

Skya: It's about empowerment and taking control, it’s about taking those steps to get life insurance and it’s about their family’s ranch legacy. We are empowering them to make those decisions. And that's a huge thing when you get the power to choose and to be in control. 

Justine: These are hard conversations to have and in this program, we are there to support our clients in these decisions, we get to be the catalyst for getting things moving in the right direction, but the clients have to do the footwork! Those who applied for this program have always had this intention but it gets pushed to the back burner and it's not talked about in our own circles and cultures. In the program, we name it, and then we provide the first year support. I'm excited to go back and ask the clients in a year how they are feeling and how the program has helped.  

Skya: It was the fire under their ass. They had the research, the knowledge, and  Justine. They had the missing pieces. 

Justine: Akiptan’s one on one technical assistance, which was nearly 75 hours, and the support of the NAAF grant made this all possible. 

With the success of the pilot program in 2024, the Yuwinyeya program will now be moving to a permanent initiative to support generational wealth of agriculture producers in Indian country. Now that the Akiptan team is in a position to share the best practices of the program, they plan on sharing the development steps with other CDFIs and financial institutions.  And of course, opening round two for clients. Skya says

“This program is instrumental, whether you're an ag producer, or a mom and pop shop. The resource guide is on our website and we are going to make sure that people have access to it”.

With all of this research it also inspired Akiptan to place this knowledge into a succession planning guide. Akiptan put together a Native Agricultural Producer’s Succession Guide showing producers step by step recommendations in a palatable resource. It includes why you need to make a succession plan, steps to creating a succession plan, resources and what important documents you should gather to prepare. The resource is available on our website. 

 “As lenders, we could be doing more and Akiptan is saying here's a road map, let’s meet our producers where they are and get them across the finish line.” - Skya Ducheneaux 

As the program moves from pilot to permanent, Akiptan is excited to continue it. Justine is looking forward to using the knowledge gained to help the next set of clients and to be able to offer a running list of resources.

One of the pilot round producers is Jess Keckler who raises beef cattle in Eagle Butte, SD. Hs a great example of how the Yuwinyeya Grant can really make a difference. Before getting the grant, Jess had only thought about succession planning, it was always in the back of his mind. Something important but without guidance and a starting point, it was overwhelming and seemingly expensive. Jess said, “I never took the time until this grant, it gave me the push I needed to make real future plans.” 

“We are the first generation to put together a succession plan for our family and business. Generations before just gave everything they made away.”

Jess recognized how important it was to change the narrative - not just for his own peace of mind, but for the long term future of his family. The Yuwinyeya Grant provided support for Jess to take a critical step forward in establishing a life insurance policy and a long-term investment plan. “Its a big stress off my shoulders to know that if something happens to me, my family will be taken care of instead of the operation being given away to cover what I owe.” 

When asked about the process he took with the Yuwinyeya Grant, Keckler stated that once he started “It was easy! Just taking the time to get it done was the hard part.” Finding the insurance provider was much simpler than anticipated and once the first premium payment was made, Jess knew this was a long term commitment for his family’s business, “It is something I will never go without again, I’m so glad we did it.”

Beyond the financial security, this journey has been rewarding for Jess. Starting from scratch himself, he understands the weight of that struggle. “It feels great to be able to leave my next generation with something,” he said. “Knowing they are going to have a jump on things makes me feel really good.” In an industry where so much of success depends on generational momentum Jess is proud of having a succession plan in place, offering a leg up, a foundation and a future to the next generation - it’s helping to build a legacy. 

Akiptan will continue to make the Yuwinyeya grant process smooth for clients as they step into the world of estate planning and succession planning to be that operator who sets their family up for success and generational wealth.

For more questions on the Yuwinyeya Initiative please email justine@akiptan.org To read Akiptan’s Native Agricultural Producer’s Succession Guide visit our website at www.akiptan.org. This program was developed with the support of the Native American Agriculture Fund