Philanthropy needs to move more resources and power to Indigenous-led groups. In honor of Native American Heritage Month in November, here is a list of Indigenous-led organizations you can fund today and every day. This list was compiled by NFG teammate Stephan Cheney, who is Lakota of the Kul Wicasa Oyate located in Lower Brule, South Dakota.

Let us know what other Indigenous-led groups you would add to this list by emailing us at hello@nfg.org.

 

  • Native Justice Coalition
    • The Native Justice Coalition is a grassroots, community-based, and progressive Anishinaabe Native-led coalition. They emphasize working in rural, remote, and reservation communities where little grant or philanthropic dollars go to, with a focus on healing justice, racial justice, restorative justice, and gender justice.
  • Montana Two Spirit Society
    • The Montana Two Spirit Society advocates and educates the Montana LGBTQ community and general community about Two Spirit issues, histories and traditions.  They promote health, wellness, and spiritual well-being, and collaborate with other community based organizations to increase visibility of the Two Spirit & Native LGBTQ community and restore their traditions.
  • Wicahpi Koyaka Tiospaye  
    • WKT's mission strives to re-establish and foster the understanding of indigenous cultural traditions. WKT nurtures, cultivates and reinforces Native American spiritual values and traditions in native communities. They work with and support organizations and individuals who promote social justice and sustainable economic development & practices.
  • Indigenous Environmental Network
    • IEN was formed by grassroots Indigenous peoples and individuals to address environmental and economic justice issues. Their activities include building the capacity of Indigenous communities and tribal governments to develop mechanisms to protect sacred sites, natural resources, and health of all living things, and to build economically sustainable communities.
  • Coharie River Initiative
    • Starting in 2015, volunteers have been working on the Great Coharie River by removing fallen trees, beaver dams, and other debris. The volunteers come from several tribes (Coharie, Waccamaw Siouan, Lumbee, Haliwa-Saponi, Eastern Band of Cherokee, and others) along with non-tribal affiliated locals.
  • Sogoreate Land Trust
    • Sogorea Te’ Land Trust is an urban Indigenous women-led land trust based in the San Francisco Bay Area that facilitates the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous people. Through the practices of rematriation, cultural revitalization, and land restoration, Sogorea Te’ calls on native and non-native peoples to heal and transform the legacies of colonization, genocide, and patriarchy.
  • Friendship House
    • Friendship House is the oldest social service organization in the United States run by and for American Indians. They help residential clients overcome substance abuse, empower youth, and provide community events. One of Friendship House’s projects, The Village San Francisco, will be a social services, cultural, and spiritual center run by and in service of over 9,000 American Indians living in San Francisco.
  • Homey
    • Homies Organizing the Mission to Empower Youth (HOMEY) is a grassroots, non-profit organization rooted in San Francisco, CA. They work directly with youth and young adults in schools, on the street and in jails to deliver workshops, services, and empowerment activities to their community. ​HOMEY has led or been part of some of the most significant initiatives or policies to reduce violence or decriminalize youth in San Francisco over the last two decades.
  • Bay Area American Indian Two Spirts
    • BAAITS is a community-based volunteer organization offering culturally relevant activities for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Native Americans, their families and friends. They restore and recover the role of Two-Spirit people within the American Indian/First Nations community by creating a forum for the spiritual, cultural and artistic expression of Two-Spirit people.
  • Rural America Initiatives
    • RAI serves Rapid City, South Dakota, and partners with the whole family for educational programs that help American Indian children and youth acquire tools to thrive in the contemporary environment and to support cultural values.
  • CIELO 
    • Comunidades Indígenas en liderazgo (CIELO) is an Indigenous women-led non-profit organization that works jointly with Indigenous communities residing in Los Angeles. Their fight for social justice includes ending gender-based violence, providing language access rights, cultural preservation, and reproductive justice.
  • Changing Woman Initiative 
    • Changing Woman Initiative’s work centers around cultural birth knowledge to empower and reclaim Indigenous sovereignty of women's medicine and life way teachings to promote reproductive wellness, healing through holistic approaches and to strengthen women's bonds to family and community.
  • Urban Indigenous Collective
    • UIC devotes its advocacy and support of quality accessible and affordable health and wellness services grounded in cultural humility for federal and state recognized tribal members along with self-identified Urban natives living in the tri-state area.
  • Rising Hearts
    • Rising Hearts is an Indigenous-led grassroots organization committed to the heart work in elevating Indigenous voices and promoting & supporting intersectional collaborative efforts across all movements with the goals of racial, social, climate, and economic justice through strategic and targeted advocacy.
  • Centro Del Pueblo
    • Centro Del Pueblo is a community organization that unites diverse members of the immigrant Indigenous population in Humboldt County, California, with practices of political and cultural self-determination.
  • Tiny House Warriors: Our Land is Home 
    • Tiny House Warriors is a part of a mission to stop the Trans Mountain pipeline from crossing unceded Secwepemc Territory.
  • Native American Health Center
    • NAHC provides comprehensive services including COVID-19 support to improve the health and wellbeing of American Indians, Alaska Natives, and residents of California’s Bay Area Native Population.
  • IllumiNative
    • IllumiNative supports contemporary Native voices, stories, issues and ideas in popular culture and influential social institutions to increase the visibility of – and challenge the negative narrative about – Native Nations and peoples in American society.
  • Seeding Sovereignty
    • Seeding Sovereignty, an Indigenous-led collective, works to radicalize and disrupt colonized spaces through land, body, and food sovereignty work, community building, and cultural preservation.
  • NDN Collective
    • NDN Collective is an Indigenous-led organization dedicated to building Indigenous power. Through organizing, activism, philanthropy, grantmaking, capacity-building and narrative change, they are creating sustainable solutions on Indigenous terms.
  • Native Voices Rising
    • Native 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.
  • Liberated Capital at the Decolonizing Wealth Project
    • Liberated Capital grantee partners are Indigenous, Black and other people-of-color led initiatives working for transformative social change. Grants are offered monthly to support BIPOC-led organizations with unrestricted funds to support general operating costs, on a trust-basis.

NFG member Chinook Fund compiled this list of Indigenous-led groups based in Colorado:

Additional Resources

Posted 11/23/2021 in

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