Third Quarter Grants 2020

During the third quarter of 2020, the Northwest Area Foundation approved 51 grants worth $8,058,250—including 12 grants totaling $910,000 for COVID-19 relief and to support work addressing challenges brought on by additional 2020 crises such as racial unrest.

This quarter’s grant funding focuses on work being done in two of our four interlocking portfolios—Access to Capital and Enterprise Development, as well as work related to general projects that are not designated to a specific portfolio.

Through mid-August, we continued to award COVID-19 emergency grants; beginning in mid-August, we incorporated COVID-19 emergency grants into our new comprehensive grant initiative—crisis response emergency grants. Crisis response emergency grants more fully acknowledge the extent of the crises many of our grantees are facing this year and provide them with essential support. The grants also strengthen financial efforts by foundations providing critical emergency assistance to community-based nonprofits helping underserved communities in our region.

Overall, our grants support organizations anchored in the culture of the people they serve across our region of eight states and 76 Native nations. Our grantees are dedicated to expanding economic opportunity in under-resourced communities by advancing good jobs and financial capability. They build on the untapped potential within our priority communities: Native Americans, communities of color, immigrants and refugees, and people in rural areas.

We include grants of $10,000 or more below. For information on grants of less than $10,000, please visit our grants database.

*Indicates COVID-19 or crisis response emergency grants.

Grants to Provide Access to Capital

Black Hills Community Loan Fund Inc. of Rapid City, SD, will receive $375,000 over three years to provide trauma-informed training and culturally tailored financial education and loan products to Native Americans and low-income individuals living in or near Rapid City.
Grant term: Sept. 1, 2020 – Aug. 31, 2023

Latino Economic Development Center of St. Paul, MN, will receive $200,000 over two years to support services for the Latinx community in workforce development, small-business lending, business technical services, and COVID-19 recovery support.
Grant term: Aug. 1, 2020 – July 31, 2022

Mazaska Owecaso Otipi Financial Inc. of Pine Ridge, SD, will receive $375,000 over three years to support general operations and costs of deploying training services and lending activities.
Grant term: Aug. 1, 2020 – July 31, 2023

NACDC Financial Services Inc. of Browning, MT, will receive $450,000 over three years to assist entrepreneurs with training, business incubation, and access to capital (leading to business development) and financial education and homebuyer training (leading to improved financial literacy and improved standards of family housing).
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2020 – Sept. 30, 2023

Native CDFI Network Inc. of Washington, DC, will receive $500,000 over two years to bring together Native community development financial institutions (CDFIs) to share best practices, advance their collective priorities, and advocate for policies and resources to support culturally grounded community and economic development in Native communities.
Grant term: Aug. 1, 2020 – July 31, 2022

NDN Collective Inc. of Rapid City, SD, as fiscal sponsor for Makoce Agriculture Development, of Porcupine, SD, will receive $155,000 over two years to establish a regenerative, local food system rooted in Lakota culture and Indigenous ecology on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Grant term: July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2022

NDN Fund of Rapid City, SD, will receive $375,000 over three years to create access to large-scale, low-interest, patient capital for Indigenous community developers and sovereign Nations.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2020 – Sept. 2, 2023

Northwest Native Development Fund of Coulee Dam, WA, will receive $450,000 over three years to assist in the development of its clients’ personal assets through financial and entrepreneurial education and by providing its clients with access to capital through creative lending products.
Grant term: Sept. 1, 2020 – Aug. 31, 2023

Rural Community Development Resources of Yakima, WA, will receive $375,000 over three years to provide business assistance for the vitality of microenterprises in rural immigrant communities in Central Washington State.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2020 – Sept. 30, 2023

Taala Fund of Pacific Beach, WA, will receive $450,000 over three years to support its response to increased requests for training and technical assistance, an increased demand for working capital loans for businesses to restructure or offer innovative products and services, and the development of flexible and responsive consumer products to rebuild credit.
Grant term: Aug. 1, 2020 – July 31, 2023

Tacoma Urban League of Tacoma, WA, will receive $150,000 over two years to support COVID-19 response efforts and comprehensive programming to advance racial equity and systems change in Tacoma.
Grant term: Aug. 1, 2020 – July 31, 2022

Grants to Support Enterprise Development

Ethnic Minorities of Burma Advocacy and Resource Center of Des Moines, IA, will receive $450,000 over three years to build organizational effectiveness and sustainability and develop a coalition of ethnic-based community organizations.
Grant term: Aug. 1, 2020 – July 31, 2023

Nexus Community Partners of St. Paul, MN, will receive $750,000 over three years to continue expanding its community wealth building ecosystem strategies across sectors and geographies.
Grant term: Aug. 1, 2020 – July 31, 2023

Northwest Indian Community Development Center of Bemidji, MN, will receive $300,000 over three years for programming that focuses on a regenerative and holistic integration of community with economic and workforce development.
Grant term: Aug. 1, 2020 – July 31, 2023

Sicangu Community Development Corporation of Mission, SD, will receive $300,000 over three years for strategic planning and development of its infrastructure, enhancing programming in the areas of food sovereignty, education, health, and housing.
Grant term: Aug. 1, 2020 – July 31, 2023

Summit Academy OIC of Minneapolis, received $100,000 to support response efforts to COVID-19 and its impact on the African American community in North Minneapolis.
Grant term: June 1, 2020 – Dec. 31, 2020

Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation of Porcupine, SD, received $300,000 to strengthen its social enterprise, housing and homeownership, workforce development, and regenerative community development initiatives. Funds will also help Thunder Valley CDC adapt its services in response to the ongoing health, economic, and racial injustice crises facing community members.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2020 – Sept. 30, 2021

General Grants

When we fund projects that help organizations and communities in ways that aren’t specifically associated with one of our four interlocking portfolios, we include those grants in the “General” category.

*Dream of Wild Health of Minneapolis received $25,000 for general operating support in response to COVID-19.
Grant term: July 1, 2020 – Jan. 31, 2021

Equitable Food Initiative of Washington, DC, will receive $150,000 over two years to sustain efforts to engage major Washington and Oregon agricultural employers in its core certification program. Grant funds will also support expansion of the worker-management collaboration model to include smaller growers.
Grant term: Sept. 1, 2020 – Feb. 28, 2022

*Ethnic Minorities of Burma Advocacy and Resource Center of Des Moines, IA, received $60,000 to provide helpline assistance to Latino immigrants and refugees in Iowa.
Grant term: Aug. 1, 2020 – July 31, 2021

*Hmong American Farmers Association of West St. Paul, MN, received $30,000 for general operating support in response to COVID-19.
Grant term: July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2021

Homes of Oakridge Human Services of Des Moines, IA, received $95,000 to support the Oak Academy, youth programs, and adult and family services for primarily low-income refugees and immigrants.
Grant term: Aug. 1, 2020 – July 31, 2021

*Hopa Mountain Inc. of Bozeman, MT, received $50,000 for its COVID-19 Response Fund, which supports citizen-led initiatives to keep rural and tribal communities in the Northern Rockies healthy during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2020 – Sept. 30, 2021

*Interfaith Action of Greater Saint Paul of St. Paul, MN, received $20,000 for general operating support in response to COVID-19.
Grant term: July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2021

*The Lakota Fund Inc. of Kyle, SD, as fiscal sponsor for South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition, received $50,000 to support a homeownership protection plan that provides resources to small business owners and Native homeowners who are experiencing financial challenges due to the pandemic.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2020 – Sept. 30, 2021

*Metropolitan Economic Development Association of Minneapolis will receive $150,000 over two years to support five Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC)-led organizations and their efforts to increase the quantity and quality of support for BIPOC and immigrant small-business owners in the Twin Cities and throughout Minnesota.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2020 – Sept. 30, 2022

Native Governance Center of St. Paul, MN, received $30,000 for We Are Still Here: Minnesota, an ongoing initiative that continues the planning work and grows and strengthens the network of people and organizations committed to the Reclaiming Native Truth research and its findings. (Reclaiming Native Truth is a national effort to foster cultural, social, and policy change by empowering Native Americans to counter discrimination, invisibility, and the dominant narratives that limit Native opportunity, access to justice, health, and self-determination).
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2020 – Sept. 30, 2021

*NDN Fund of Rapid City, SD, will receive $200,000 over two years to use as reserves against loan losses that it may experience with loans in its relief and resilience loans program, which was created in response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Native Nations, tribal enterprises, and businesses.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2020 – Sept. 30, 2023

*Network for Better Futures of Minneapolis received $200,000 as bridge funding to sustain a path-breaking social enterprise and support the organization as it manages disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic while preparing to strengthen its service model.
Grant term: July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2021

Nexus Community Partners of St. Paul, MN, received $500,000 to support Seeding the Minnesota Holistic Black-Led Movement Fund, a long-term funding pool that will support Black-led efforts to advance racial justice in Minnesota.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2020 – Sept. 30, 2021

*Potlatch Fund of Seattle, WA, received $50,000 for its COVID-19 Relief for Native Communities Fund, which supports individuals and organizations as they seek to keep their Native communities in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Nevada healthy and safe through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2020 – Sept. 30, 2021

Seattle Foundation of Seattle received $300,000 to incorporate into a $25 million pool for grants and direct support for organizations investing in and supporting Black-led efforts across Washington.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2020 – Sept. 30, 2021

*Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples Inc. of Arcata, CA, received $50,000 for its Flicker Fund, which provides direct grant support to stressed indigenous communities on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2020 – Sept. 30, 2021

*Warm Springs Community Action Team of Warm Springs, OR, received $25,000 for general operating support in response to COVID-19.
Grant term: Aug. 1, 2020 – July 31, 2021

Sponsorships

Sponsorships support opportunities for grantees to participate in activities that advance their learning, build relationships, exchange ideas and resources, and collaborate in unexpected ways. When sponsorships of $10,000 or more are awarded, we list them here (however, no sponsorships of this size were awarded during the third quarter of 2020). For information on sponsorships of less than $10,000, please visit our grants database.