The youngest Calista shareholder was born in January, and three months later the baby will get a dividend check.
Thom Leonard, the Native Regional Corporation’s communications manager, says that he likes imagining the plump cheeks of the child as the parents see a $208 spring dividend for their new infant.
Leonard says that the number of shareholders has more than doubled since Calista shareholders decided to expand the rolls to include those born after the state’s Native corporations were created. That means the dividends are smaller, even as the total paid out has increased.
The spring dividend’s average is $208. It is much less that the $447 paid on average a few years ago. Though the checks are less, there are more of them coming to most households. Leonard says that since many shareholders live in the same house, most households are getting either the same, and in some cases more total dividends then before.
The total spring distribution is $6.49 million. That is up from the $6.17 million distributed last year. The number of shareholders was 25,000 last year. This year, there are 29,000 Calista shareholders.
Those who have direct deposit can expect their spring dividends in their accounts on April 15. Those who don’t should expect to wait up to three weeks for the checks to arrive in the mail.
Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly stated that the total spring distribution is up from $6.7 million from last year. That information has been corrected to state that the spring distribution is up from $6.17 million from last year.