Leadership project participants have moved into key leadership positions in Philanthropy and Native American nonprofits, and have started several giving circles in the Twin Cities area.
Leadership Development participant Yvonne Barrett (left) with Suzanne Koepplinger, executive director of Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center.
Tiwahe Board Member Justin Kii Huenemann is a leadership development program participant and AIFEP grantee. Here he’s shown at a PowWow with his sons.
TIWAHE LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
Providing Leadership Development for Emerging
American Indian leaders
With the help of two-year grants from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, the leadership development project that began in 2006 helped to expand the role of the AIFEP Advisory Committee. It also recruited and prepared emerging American Indian philanthropic leaders, established relevant partnerships/networks with philanthropic, public and nonprofit organizations and strengthened AIFEP’s internal infrastructure to move from a special fund to a stand-alone foundation.
Today, over half of our leadership program participants have moved into key leadership positions in philanthropy and Native American nonprofits in the Twin Cities area. A few of our participants that went through the leadership development program created giving circles in their community and received $600 in start-up funding from the Tiwahe Foundation. These giving circles are continuing to perpetuate giving and fostering leadership in their communities. A giving circle is a group of individuals who come together to pool their dollars, decide where to give their money or time, and learn about their community and philanthropy together. If you would like to learn more about starting a giving circle in your community, please click on our giving circle toolkit publication below.
Over the next year, the Tiwahe Foundation will take the lead in convening the various leadership programs for Native Americans in the Twin Cities. These convenings will bring together organizations working on leadership across various disciplines to discuss the programming they provide to the community. After the convenings, the Tiwahe Foundation will further develop leadership development programming based on its assessment of what is already present in our community and future needs.
If you would like to learn more about starting a giving circle in your community, please click on our giving circle toolkit publication under the Tiwahe Publications page.