Minnesota Council on Foundations Blog – Philanthropy Potluck

Just over five billion dollars is awarded each year in the United States, yet less than 1 percent of these funds is targeted toward Native American communities. A new report released by One Fire Development Corporation examines this disparity.

Created with the support of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, an MCF member, and the San Francisco Foundation, “Context Is Everything: Reflections on Strengthening Partnerships Between the Philanthropic Community and Native Americans,” includes interviews from Native American nonprofit leaders, as well as experienced foundation staff who reflect on the gap and what strategies are needed for grantmakers to work effectively with Native communities.

It finds that the causes of underfunding are complex, but much can be attributed to lingering negative stereotypes about Native people, as well as grantmakers’ lack of cultural competency and predilection for narrow, targeted funding emphasizing individual achievement, a focus that is often discordant with Native problem-solving strategies that value a collaborative, democratic approach emphasizing building meaningful relationships.

The report concludes that the journey to successful grantmaking in “Indian Country” starts first with building respectful relationships with members of the community and continues through a process of co-creation and cultural understanding.

The spirit of the report’s recommendations for effective funding are summarized well by the words of June Noronha, strategic planning officer at the Bush Foundation (an MCF member), who has worked for many years with Native people:

• Listen, don’t talk;
• Don’t proscribe, collaborate;
• Have infinite patience;
• Don’t define success in a linear or quantitative fashion;
• Acknowledge the rich intellectual and expertise capital in Indian Country;
• And, always remember that relationships matter.

In addition to this more general advice on grantmaking in Native communities, the report also contains some very concrete recommendations on next steps that need to be taken to further the cause of strengthening Native communities in the United States. The report can be downloaded for free at the OneFire Development website.

- Cary Lenore Walski, MCF web communications associate

This entry was posted on Friday, August 6th, 2010 at 12:33 pm and is filed under collaboration, diversity, ethnic philanthropy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.