Fourth Quarter Grants 2020

During the fourth quarter of 2020, the Northwest Area Foundation approved 100 grants worth $2,002,412—including 9 grants totaling $720,000 designated as crisis response emergency grants.

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

Our crisis response emergency grants are part of a new comprehensive grant initiative our Board approved in August 2020. These grants acknowledge the extent of the crises many of our grantees faced this year—from COVID-19 relief to addressing challenges brought on by additional 2020 crises such as racial unrest—and provide our grantees 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 crisis response emergency grants.

Grants to Provide Access to Capital

Association for Black Economic Power of Minneapolis will receive $100,000 over two years to establish a Black-owned, Black-operated financial institution in North Minneapolis.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2020 – Dec. 31, 2022

Grants to Support Enterprise Development

The Center Pole of Garryowen, MT, received $200,000 to actively engage 20 trainees on the Crow Reservation in the redesign of Center Pole’s campus and the development of culturally relevant work skills, including community building, environmental sustainability, and food sovereignty.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2020 – Oct. 31, 2021

Grants to Support Work Opportunity

Coeur d’Alene Tribe Department of Education of Plummer, ID, will receive $170,000 over two years to support its workforce advancement project, which offers temporary employment opportunities and stipends to its reentry program clients in need of employment and workforce training. Grant funds will also support creation of a formal intake and referral system and completion of an evaluation plan.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2020 – Sept. 30, 2022

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.

*American Indian College Fund of Denver received $100,000, to be regranted to Tribal Colleges and Universities in response to impacts from COVID-19.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2020 – May 31, 2021

Chief Seattle Club of Seattle received $200,000 for Sovereignty Farm & Good Medicine Café, a seed-to-table traditional foods project for urban Indians in King County. These social enterprises will be staffed by apprentices and will educate patrons about indigenous foods and host a monthly Indigenous food market.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2020 – Oct. 31, 2021

*Des Moines Area Community College Foundation of Ankeny, IA, will receive $150,000 over two years to support Evelyn K. Davis (EKD) Center’s conversion from face-to-face classes to virtual classes and to provide the Center’s clients with access to technology. The second year of the grant will focus on operational costs for the Center’s financial empowerment center.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2020 – Oct. 31, 2022

First Nations Development Institute of Longmont, CO, received $100,000 to support its COVID-19 Emergency Response and Resiliency Fund that makes grants to Native American-controlled nonprofit organizations and tribes in rural and urban areas to help meet urgent daily needs, coordinate access to services and supplies, and coordinate with other local service providers and state agencies.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2020 – Oct. 31, 2021

*Immigrant Development Center of Moorhead, MN, received $20,000 to support its loan fund for immigrant entrepreneurs, helping New American-owned businesses affected by COVID-19.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2020 – Oct. 31, 2021

*McKenzie River Gathering (MRG) Foundation of Portland, OR, received $100,000 for the Oregon Workers Relief Fund, which supports Oregon individuals and families who are disqualified from receiving unemployment insurance or stimulus benefits to replace wages lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2020 – Sept. 30, 2021

Montana Nonprofit Association of Helena, MT, received $30,000 to support its diversity, equity, and inclusion assessment and strategic planning.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2020 – Oct. 31, 2021

*Native American Community Development Institute of Minneapolis received $50,000 in general operating support.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2020 – Sept. 30, 2021

*NDN Collective Inc. of Rapid City, SD, received $100,000 to support phase II of its COVID-19 Response Project, which distributes resources to Native American frontline organizations, tribes, and individuals to provide gap services during the health crisis, and to artists and entrepreneurs who are suffering from the economic impacts of the pandemic.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2020 – Oct. 31, 2021

North Dakota Native Vote of Fargo, ND, will receive $100,000 over two years to support Native American civic engagement work.
Grant term: Dec. 1, 2020 – Nov. 30, 2022

*Northwest Native Development Fund of Coulee Dam, WA, received $25,000 in general operating support in response to the wildfires in the state of Washington.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2020 – Sept. 30, 2021

*Opportunity Link of Havre, MT, received $25,000 to support its work helping the Fort Belknap Indian Community respond to the impacts of COVID-19.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2020 – March 31, 2021

Return to the Heart Foundation of Washington, DC, received $50,000 to support regenerative strategies and address urgent safety needs of Indian Country.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2020 – Oct. 31, 2021

Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment of Minneapolis received $25,000 in general operating support.
Grant term: Nov. 2, 2020 – Oct. 31, 2021

Rural Organizing Project of Cottage Grove, OR, received $75,000 to support grassroots, community organizing to build justice in rural Oregon.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2020 – Oct. 31, 2021

Social Justice Fund NW of Seattle received $50,000 in general operating support to help move resources to frontline groups, promote donor organizing, and address systemic, institutional anti-Blackness.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2020 – Oct. 31, 2021

Tanka Fund of Kyle, SD, received $40,000 in general operating support.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2020 – Oct. 31, 2021

Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network of Burien, WA, will receive $100,000 over two years for its advocacy and community organizing efforts to protect undocumented immigrants from unjust deportation and detention policies.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2020 – Sept. 30, 2022

*Working Partnerships Inc. of Minneapolis received $150,000 for its Minnesota Labor Innovations for the Twenty First Century (LIFT) fund, which supports efforts to deepen collaborations between worker centers and labor unions in the Twin Cities in order to strengthen the ecosystem of low-wage worker advocates.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2020 – Oct. 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 fourth quarter of 2020). For information on sponsorships of less than $10,000, please visit our grants database.