Native Americans in Philanthropy

Funder Education, Training, and Engagement:Native Youth GrantmakersThe Native Youth Grantmakers program is designed for Indigenous youth aged 18-24 who are connected to their community (urban, rural, or reservation) and want to grow their leadership skills, advocate for Native youth and youth programs, and learn more about the philanthropic sector. This program is a year-long course designed to be both in-person and virtual and embraces Indigenous values that can help create conditions for all communities to thrive. The NAP team will work closely with program participants to help cultivate and nurture their strengths and connect them to key Indigenous leaders in the philanthropy sector. Program Objectives:- Increasing knowledge of philanthropy- Strengthening leadership and advocacy skills- Developing and coordinating effective grantmaking strategies- Encouraging dialogue between Native youth and Mentors to learn from one another- Creating a space to develop meaningful relationships in philanthropy and communityActivities during the 2022-2023 year included meetings with congressional offices and committees, engaging with various tribal communities to learn more about how the philanthropic sector can better serve them through their perspectives, participating in self-reflection and awareness trainings to help us understand how to show up as leaders and for ourselves, meeting with various PSOs, learning about the way other orgs are working towards a more equitable philanthropic sector and meeting with Indigenous led NGOs and NVR grantees.Indigenous Philanthropic Professionals Working GroupNAP connects Native people working in philanthropy, provides targeted resources, and supports growth as an individual and community member. Circle of Leadership Academy Program (CoLA)This program is for early to mid-career Native professionals who want to move into philanthropic leadership. Philanthropic leadership includes executive, board, and trustee leaders of large and small foundations, community and family foundations, as well as Native-led and tribal foundations. The goal of the program is to identify, support, and build Indigenous models of leadership within the philanthropic sector by increasing the number of Native professionals in executive, board, and trustee leadership positions, while also creating a supportive ecosystem for Native leaders that reinforces cultural identity and Indigenous worldviews. The format of this program includes network meetings, mentorship, and professional development workshops.Tribal Philanthropy CoalitionThe Tribal Philanthropy Coalition is a community of practice to support, connect, and elevate the work of Tribal professionals working in the areas of grant making, grant seeking, and philanthropy for their Tribe. Tribal Leaders, Tribal philanthropy professionals, Tribal grant writers, Tribal Directors/managers and/or Tribal planners are encouraged to join this coalition to network with other professionals doing similar work, learn from others, share your priorities, challenges, needs and develop strategies together to elevate Tribal philanthropy to support Native communities. Native Voices RisingNative Voices Rising is a research, donor education, re-granting, and capacity-building collaborative created and led by Common Counsel Foundation and Native Americans in Philanthropy. Native Voices Rising is designed to support organizing, advocacy and civic engagement in American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities.Since its inception in 2013, Native Voices Rising has awarded over $9 million general operating support grants to Native-led organizations. Eligible organizations are rooted in a Native community, led by Native people, hold a vision for change that improves the lives of Native community members, engage the community to take action together and/or seek to affect the policies and rules that govern the community.Native Voices Rising serves as a mechanism to build broad-based philanthropic support for grassroots groups led by and for Native communities and to amplify Native voices elevating indigenous solutions to historic harms and society's most pressing issues.In 2021, NVR launched its inaugural Advisory Council, composed of nine Native leaders, with deep experience around philanthropy and grassroots Native nonprofits. Advisory Council members serve as thought partners around NVR's strategy, programming, and organizational development.

Research & Data play a key role in philanthropy, often determining who receives funding and whether certain programs are considered successful. NAP is a hub for Indigenous leadership in philanthropic data and advocates for more accurate and timely data on Indigenous communities and the decolonization of research practices.Current Activities:- Contributed to the CHANGE coalition DAPP report for 2022 - 2023.- Designed a supplement to the DAPP report titled the Indigenous Philanthropic Professionals Report in which we analyzed national demographic data derived from the DAPP report with a qualitative component of quotes from Indigenous professionals in the sector. - Contributed to the Native Voices Rising report with authorship and analyses of qualitative data sets. - Initiated, managed, and authored a study and report on assessing factors of accountability between community foundations and Native communities. - Designing and managing a "Funding for Native Arts, Artists, and Culture" initiative to include a brainstorming session with Native arts and culture organizations at the Association for Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums (ATALM) 2023 conference.

The Tribal Nations Initiative (TNI) was launched in 2021. TNI is a new national platform for Tribal leaders and their staff to strategically engage with the philanthropic sector around their priorities as Tribal Nations. NAP recently completed a national listening tour where it co-hosted regional listening sessions with different tribes across the country and invited Native-led nonprofits and funders to participate in the dialogue. The goal was to better understand how philanthropy can strengthen support for Tribal priorities and identify opportunities to build infrastructure for Tribal philanthropy. A report has been published outlining what was learned from this listening tour, including a rich set of qualitative and quantitative data that will guide philanthropy in their work with Tribes. Tribal Nations Climate and Conservation Funding Collaborative (the Collaborative)In partnership with the Biodiversity Funders Group (BFG), the Collaborative is a cross-sector partnership with Tribes that seeks to strategically connect philanthropic investments with Native-led technical assistance, and federal coordination, to support Tribes in their conservation and nature-based climate projects. It consists of a pooled fund, a philanthropic pledge, a funder learning community, and federal coordination facilitated through NAP's new MOU with the Department of Interior (DOI) to stand up the Office of Strategic Partnerships. A soft-launch of the Collaborative occurred in November 2022 at BFG's federal policy meeting and formally announced in conjunction with the White House Tribal Nations Summit. Since the launch, funding for conservation related work has been raised. We signed an MOU with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) to guarantee match funding for all Tribal applicants to the new America the Beautiful Challenge (ATBC) using our Tribal Nations Initiative fund. Additionally, we provided joint technical assistance with our nonprofit and government partners. The overarching goal is to advance existing landscape conservation plans and/or propose to knit together a diverse stakeholder partnership that develops and/or implements new conservation plans. As part of this, projects should address priority species and/or habitat conservation actions identified in existing plans or other species recovery or conservation plans. Projects that are informed by Indigenous Knowledge (IK) and promote Tribal co-stewardship are also encouraged.NAP continued its efforts in funder education through its quarterly learning series with the Biodiversity Funders Group, which serves as a new space for funders to learn about strategies and opportunities in Tribal conservation from the field. NAP is currently in the second phase of this initiative, which is focused on building the organization's internal capacity to support the programming within the collaborative, strengthen public-private partnerships, and partner pledges. Through this opportunity, vetted projects can be aligned with organizations seeking ways to advance conservation and make long term commitments direct with Tribes while supporting the critical work of NAP.

Tribal Nations Initiative:The Tribal Nations Initiative (TNI) was launched in 2021. TNI is a new national platform for Tribal leaders and their staff to strategically engage with the philanthropic sector around their priorities as Tribal Nations. NAP recently completed a national listening tour where it co-hosted regional listening sessions with different tribes across the country and invited Native-led nonprofits and funders to participate in the dialogue. The goal was to better understand how philanthropy can strengthen support for Tribal priorities and identify opportunities to build infrastructure for Tribal philanthropy. A report has been published outlining what was learned from this listening tour, including a rich set of qualitative and quantitative data that will guide philanthropy in their work with Tribes.