Native Communities Grant Program

Strengthening Communities for the Changes Ahead

Historically, less than 0.5% of foundation funding goes to support Native issues. This is a level of support that is inadequate to address the historic harms that Native people have experienced and the current need.” - Native Voices Rising

"Over the past decade, U.S. foundation support benefiting Native Americans declined from 0.5 percent to 0.3 percent of total foundation giving. According to Foundation Funding for Native American Issues and Peoples, total grant dollars targeting Native Americans dropped 30.8 percent in the latest year, compared to a 14.1 percent overall downturn in foundation giving. This report was prepared by the Foundation Center with Native Americans in Philanthropy." - Report - Foundation Funding for Native American Issues and Peoples - http://foundationcenter.issuelab.org/resource/foundation-funding-for-native-american-issues-and-peoples.html

For questions email or call 218-375-3200

Native Communities Program - Addressing Disparities in Philanthropy

Honor the Earth is excited to invite your organization to submit a grant proposal. Our priority area of focus is in the protection and revitalization of sacred ways, rivers, and places. We are passionate in supporting the opposition to extreme extraction and the transition to an Indigenous economy. At this time, our funding is limited to indigenous-led organizations only.

From remote villages in the Arctic across the prairies of the Dakotas to the mountains of the northeast, Native communities are struggling to protect land, water, ecosystems, and ways of life through forward-thinking initiatives grounded in indigenous wisdom. The success of Native peoples to heal and strengthen our communities remains invisible to mainstream American society.

Native grassroots groups remain on the front lines of environmental protection in America – mitigating climate change, restoring biodiversity and bringing back local food economies – but this work remains unseen and either unfunded or under-funded. Today, only .07 of 1% of philanthropy in America goes to Native groups, and the majority of that funding is directed to non-Native organizations working on Native issues.

To address disparities in philanthropy and infuse increased resources into Native environmental work, Honor the Earth created the first and only grant-making partnership between a Native organization and a national charitable institution: the Native Communities Program. Joining in this collaborative are a set of partnering foundations, including Solidago Foundation, Hill-Snowdon Foundation, Frances Fund, and Kalliopeia Foundation.

The Native Communities Program is rooted in two key principles:

Decisions about funding in Indian Country need to be made by Native peoples. We remain committed to promoting a model that offers funders and donors a meaningful way to participate in Native-directed grant-making.

Indigenous wisdom is a powerful tool to create enduring, systemic change and must be recognized as a legitimate and strategic component of Native organizing models.

2018 Grantees Map