Natives of Kodiak, Inc.
Shareholders

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Cuumi | History

NOK is an Alaska Native Urban Corporation incorporated in 1973.

In 1971, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANSCA) was passed. In exchange for Native Alaskan’s aboriginal land claims, ANCSA made transfer of lands and lands cash settlement to over 200 Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs) created by the ANCSA. In 1973, Natives of Kodiak (NOK) incorporated as an Urban ANC. Under terms of the ANCSA, NOK received 23,040 acres of surface estate and $250,000 in cash. While most ANCs are Village Corporations that have ties to a specific Alaska Native Village, Urban ANCs such as NOK serve a much broader Urban community of Alaska Native people. There were 542 original NOK shareholders, a number that now totals nearly 1,000. NOK is governed by a shareholder elected nine-member Board of Directors who are also shareholders of NOK and is managed by its President and CEO. Kodiak’s Alutiiq people are one of eight Alaska Native peoples and have inhabited the coastal environments of southcentral Alaska for over 7,500 years.

Shareholder Permanent Fund Trust
  • In 2002, the Board of Directors of Natives of Kodiak, Inc. (NOK) recommended the creation of the NOK Shareholder Permanent Fund Trust (SPFT) to the shareholders of NOK with the purpose of promoting the health, education, and welfare of SPFT beneficiaries and preservation of the heritage and culture of Alaska Natives through principal means of beneficiary distributions.  On September 21, 2002, NOK shareholders overwhelmingly approved the creation of the SPFT, by vote, at the 28th Annual Shareholders’ Meeting.  In November of 2002, NOK’s Board of Directors elected to fund the SPFT with the transfer of NOK shareholder assets and on December 28, 2002, NOK assets were transferred to the SPFT.
  • In 2005, the Bureau of Indian Affairs required NOK to add three new shareholders, creating a dissociative event between NOK and the SPFT which changed the SPFT’s operations, including changes in taxation and prohibition of further contributions to the SPFT by NOK. On June 30, 2018, SPFT beneficiaries approved a Restated SPFT Agreement providing Trustees with the flexibility to expand benefits and restoring the SPFT’s tax-advantaged status for beneficiary distributions.  However, as not all of NOK’s shareholders are Trust beneficiaries, NOK remains unable to make additional contributions to the SPFT.
  • The SPFT is an independent legal entity organized under Alaska law and is governed by a nine-member Board of Trustees who are the same individuals as the NOK Board of Directors.
  • Currently, the SPFT pays quarterly distributions to its beneficiaries.
NOK Benefits Trust
  • In 2018, the Board of Directors of Natives of Kodiak, Inc. (NOK) recommended the creation of the NOK Benefits Trust (BT) to the shareholders of NOK with the purpose of promoting the health, education, and welfare of Trust beneficiaries and preservation of the heritage and culture of Alaska Natives through principal means of beneficiary distributions.  Creation of a second Trust under terms of the 1991 Settlement Trust provisions of the ANCSA was recommended by the Board to allow NOK the ability to make tax-advantaged contributions to an ANCSA Settlement Trust and to provide expanded benefits to beneficiaries.  On September 15, 2018, NOK shareholders overwhelmingly approved the creation of the BT, by vote, at the 44th Annual Shareholders’ Meeting.
  • Currently, the BT provides Scholarship, Elder, Death, and (discretionary) Annual Heritage Distribution benefits to Trust beneficiaries.
NOK shareholders are reminded that both Natives of Kodiak Shareholder Permanent Fund Trust and NOK Benefits Trust beneficiaries are required to transfer their Trust units at the same time and in the same quantities as any NOK shares that they choose to transfer. 
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