About
The nonprofit center of an Indigenous-led Constellation.
Seven Stones Corporation is the nonprofit center of an Indigenous-led Constellation of three institutions operating across the Northern Plains. Founded in December 2016 on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation as Standing Rock Community Development Corporation, Seven Stones serves as the parent organization for Indigenous community development, fiscal sponsorship, philanthropic partnership, and Constellation-wide strategic leadership. Together with WITĖ Development LLC (our real estate arm) and Witaya Financial Solutions (our CDFI in formation), Seven Stones is building a sovereign economic ecosystem rooted in the lifeways of the Oceti Sakowin — the Seven Council Fires.
Origin & Vision
Born from a stand.
Standing Rock Community Development Corporation was born from a stand. Formed by Standing Rock community members in the aftermath of the Dakota Access Pipeline movement, the organization was created to carry the energy of a people who stood for their treaty lands — and turned that stand into institutions built to outlast the moment.
We were created to become a roadmap: for our own Nation first, and for all Indigenous peoples reclaiming identity, sovereignty, and true self-sufficiency. We see our organization as ground zero — living proof of what Indigenous peoples can accomplish by working together in creative partnership to build a healthy future for those not yet born.
A decade in, the roadmap has become a working system. Seven Stones Corp anchors a three-entity Constellation — nonprofit, real estate, and capital — driving programs that enable economic growth, empower identity through culture, restore independent food and medicine systems, and raise strong young leaders. True change comes from within. We plan seven generations ahead, and we turn community priorities into reality.
“Every community has life. Every community has gifts. Every community has resources that are untapped.”
— Brian Thunder Hawk, from the 2019 founding documentary
The 2019 founding documentary, featuring co-founders Loretta Bad Heart Bull and Brian Thunder Hawk.
Cultural Foundation
Inyan — the Stone — is the original sacred form in Dakȟóta and Lakȟóta teaching. Inyan gave of itself first, opening so that all other relations could come into being. Seven of those stones come first in our way of prayer, and everything we do follows the sevens — they carry the teaching of the Seven Council Fires, the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, the seven sovereign nations of our people. Each fire is its own. Together they are one.
Seven Stones Corporation honors that foundation. The mark on our brand carries it. The work we do for our people is the living expression of it.
Seven stones come first in our way of prayer, and everything we do follows the sevens — the seven directions and the Seven Council Fires of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ. And each stone carries a virtue. Touch them.
Stone 1
Wóčhekiye
Prayer
Prayer is the ground we stand on. Before the plan, before the capital stack, before the first board resolution — prayer. Yutȟéča: restoring our ancestors’ teachings to create a future that is our own. Our story is built on prayer, and every program in this organization begins there.
The wheel turns — west to north to east to south, the work moving through the seasons. The heart does not turn: Prayer, Respect, Generosity — the axis everything else revolves around. Seven fires; the seventh holds seven. Each fire is its own. Together they are one.