A strong performance from the Des Cultures Windfarm powered the Kahnawake Sovereign Wealth Fund (KSWF) past its seven percent annual target for a second consecutive year, with over $40 million now in the fund’s coffers.
That’s up from about $33 million two years ago, but it’s a long way from the fund’s $1 billion goal.
That’s exactly as intended. The aim is to build Kahnawake’s nest egg across decades, so one day the money earned by the fund will increase the quality of life of Kahnawa’kehró:non year after year without ever depleting the sum – seven percent of that much money is $70 million.
“If you reach $1 billion, the amount of money that’s being generated will be able to significantly impact the future generations of the community for things like infrastructure, for things like programs and services, for things like direct benefit to community members, and really decrease our reliance on external government funding,” said Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) chief Paul Rice, who leads the economic development portfolio.
While the overall return for the 2025-2026 fiscal year was a solid 8.33 percent, or $3.1 million, not every portfolio excelled, with the blue-chip public securities managed by Giverny Capital losing $305,000, or about four percent, which the KWSF annual report attributed to economic uncertainty and global conflicts.
While down years are to be expected in long-term stock market investing, the S&P 500, which tracks the top 500 largest publicly traded US companies, gained more than 15 percent in value over the same span.
In its annual letter to partners, Giverny noted that AI stocks drove the lion’s share of this growth, defending its investment approach as nuanced and characterizing the valuation of many AI firms as unjustified.
The previous fiscal year, Kahnawake’s investments with Giverny earned a 13.2 percent return, so the KSWF is still up nearly nine percent on the firm’s investments since the wealth fund began operating in fiscal year 2024-2025.
The portfolio with Canaccord, which manages Kahnawake’s broad market investments, grew over seven percent, compared to 1.6 percent the previous fiscal year. That puts both firms roughly on par since April 1, 2024.
The KSWF will be taking a look at its investment managers every three years, according to Rice, which means an evaluation is just around the corner. At that time the committee may choose new firms to manage Kahnawake’s stock market investments.
“That’s just a natural part of managing a fund of this size,” said Rice.
The Des Cultures Wind Farm earned nearly $2.3 million for the KSWF, almost three quarters of the fund’s gains for the year.
“The nice thing about the project, it’s a good return on investment with relatively low risk,” said Rice.
Kahnawake’s fixed-income market investments, which are considered safer than stocks but yield lower returns on average, returned almost three percent, while just over three percent was earned on interest on funds reserved for alternative investments.
According to Rice, a website for the fund is expected by the end of the calendar year, which will include more information on the community’s investments through the KSWF. He also suggested engagement sessions and quarterly reports could be valuable tools for transparency in the future.
“For me it’s a priority that we have a way to communicate more often with community,” he said.
New sources of revenue for the fund going forward include the Hertel line and a second wind farm, and new revenue-generation vehicles such as real estate are under consideration.
The MCK continues to earn own-source revenue that is separate from the KSWF, such as royalties from electronic gaming devices.
The principal for the KSWF originated from the sale of e-gaming company Continent 8 in 2016.
marcus@easterndoor.com
Marcus Bankuti, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
By Marcus Bankuti, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Original Published on Aug 07, 2026 at 11:08
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