Ahead of Native American Heritage Month, anyone can search it, and Indigenous owners and leaders can add or claim their listing at no cost.
Round Dance (rounddance.co), a platform for Indigenous-owned and -led businesses, organizations and creators, has made its directory free to search. More than 13,000 listings from Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities, across more than 500 tribal nations in the United States and Canada, are now open to anyone with a free account. Adding or claiming a listing is also free.
Indigenous-owned businesses are a large and largely unseen part of the North American economy. The U.S. Census Bureau counts about 433,000 businesses owned by American Indians and Alaska Natives, with about $86 billion in combined revenue in 2023, and 87% of them have no paid employees.
Canada has an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 more. Few appear in the places buyers look: Canada’s federal Indigenous Business Directory, used for government contracting, lists about 2,700. In a 2023 Leger poll for Sodexo Canada, 48% of Canadians who don’t directly support Indigenous businesses said they don’t know where to find them.
That gap shapes who gets hired, contracted and funded. A Brookings analysis found that in 2024, 0.51% of foundation and corporate giving went to causes serving Native communities exclusively. Round Dance was built to close it, with one place to find Indigenous-owned businesses, organizations and creators, organized by tribal nation as well as by place.
The directory can be browsed by tribal nation, place and category. A shopper can look for a bead worker from a specific tribal nation, a tribal procurement office can look for contractors in its region, and a funder can look for Native-led organizations in the area it serves.
Heritage Month is when many people decide they want to support Native businesses, and Round Dance doesn’t want cost to stand in the way. Searching is free, listing is free, and every owner controls their own listing.
Most listings began with public information Round Dance gathered online over the past few years. Every owner can claim their listing, update it, or ask for it to be removed at no cost at rounddance.co/claim. Owners who aren’t listed yet can add themselves there in just a few minutes.
Businesses that claim or add a listing by December 31, 2026, get Round Dance Growth free through December 31, 2027. Growth adds more photo and video options as well as contracting documents. No credit card is required for this offer. Starting in 2028, Growth is $15 a month for businesses that choose to continue.
Beyond the directory, Round Dance offers:
• Introductions, which connects members with businesses, organizations and creators that fit what they’re looking for
• The Knowledge Exchange, where Indigenous Culture Bearers share skills like beadwork, language and cooking on their own terms
• In the Circle, featured stories where owners and leaders share who they are and why they do their work
All three are free with an account.
People who want to help keep it that way can become a Relative for $5 a month. Relative membership is a way to support the platform, and Relatives who join by December 31, 2026, receive a Founding Relative badge.
Round Dance keeps its core free because small businesses shouldn’t have to pay for visibility. The platform is supported by sponsors, funders and partner licenses for procurement tools, and search and listings will stay free. Tribes, companies, foundations and procurement offices interested in partnering with, sponsoring
or funding Round Dance can contact Ben Sherman at ben@rounddance.co
