May 19th is #NativeNonprofitDay !

May 19th is Native Nonprofit Day!

#NativeNonprofitDay is a giving initiative aimed at increasing support for Native-led organizations nationwide. It is a critical day for Native-led organizations, who struggle with receiving funding due to systemic inequalities within the philanthropic sector.

Boozhoo indinawemaaganidog,

(Greetings all my relatives)

Today is Native Nonprofit Day, a time to recognize and challenge the systemic barriers to resources Native nonprofits face. We are a community foundation built on the generosity of Minnesota’s Native communities. Yet, funding from our small endowment is entirely used for regranting to uplift Native people and ways of being. This means we face the same funding challenges as other Native nonprofits. To name just a few:

Native Americans receive .4% of philanthropic funding.
67% of foundation leaders say they provide little or no funding to organizations serving Native communities.
Philanthropy is rooted in, and continues to perpetuate, economic systems that harm Native communities.

Tiwahe challenges systemic barriers to the goals our people pursue. The dominant culture approach to philanthropy is one of those barriers. Tiwahe offers a new model for philanthropy that centers Indigenous voices and values in every decision from planning through evaluation. We help other organizations let go of dominant culture practices that hold them back.

What Being a Native-led Nonprofit Means to Us

As a Native nonprofit we bring our values, teachings, culture, language and lifeways into everything we do.

Our Dakota and Anishinaabe values help guide our directives and commitment to our relatives — all American Indian people who live in the Twin Cities and Minnesota.

We sat in deep reflection with elders and grantees as we redeveloped our organizational practices.

This allowed us to start from a place of our traditions, values, and dreams versus trying to “Indigenize” the field of philanthropy.

We receive guidance from elders and our earliest founders, known as the Wisdom Council. The Wisdom Council has brought the way we gather in alignment with Dakota and Ojibwe calendars (equinoxes/solstices). This alignment creates sacred spaces for sharing teachings throughout the year, which has sharply increased our engagement with community.

Our return to a culturally-centered approach catalyzed a fourfold increase in the number of American Indian Family Empowerment Program (AIFEP) grants we now deliver.

This success means our small community-funded endowment no longer meets demand. AIFEP is not fully funded, let alone operations, or other programs such as Oyate Leadership Network, and our ambitious goals for systems change.

On Native Nonprofit Day, we ask for your help raising $200,000 to meet the increasing community demand for AIFEP. Achieving this goal would fully fund 80 projects across education, economic independence, culture & language and health & wellness.

Your support creates pathways for Native people to reach their goals. This is a critical moment for defining how Native cultures, languages, and ways of being will live and grow in the coming generations.

Give today and donate what you can. Every $2,500 brings one AIFEP project closer to reality. Every dollar counts.

Chi-miigwech for your work supporting the movement for Indigenous leadership.

Nikki Pieratos (Bois Forte Band of Chippewa) , Executive Director