Fourth Quarter Grants 2023

During the fourth quarter of 2023, the Northwest Area Foundation approved 60 grants worth $7,236,582.

Our grantmaking supports organizations building social, racial, and economic justice—helping communities within our region of eight states and 76 Native nations thrive on their own terms. They’re advancing long-overdue change in deep connection with the land they inhabit and communities they serve—Native Americans, communities of color, immigrants, refugees, and people in rural areas.

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

Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians Economic Development Corporation (ATNI-EDC) of Portland, OR, as fiscal sponsor for Northwest Native Lending Network, will receive $200,000 over two years to support the network’s members, focused on building a robust system of support for Native entrepreneurs.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2023 – Oct. 31, 2025

APANO Communities United Fund of Portland, OR, will receive $250,000 over two years to support efforts to fulfill its mission of creating long-term, systemic solutions.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2023 – Oct. 31, 2025

Awood Center of Minneapolis will receive $150,000 over two years to support its efforts to advocate for the rights and welfare of East African immigrant and other workers employed primarily in large warehouses.
Grant term: Dec. 1, 2023 – Nov. 30, 2025

Build Wealth MN Inc. of Minneapolis will receive $900,000 over three years to enhance its infrastructure to engage in systems change and advocacy, deliver culturally grounded services, and make progress toward its 9,000 Equities Fund campaign.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2023 – Oct. 31, 2026

Center for American Indian Research and Native Studies of Martin, SD, as fiscal sponsor for Unceded Films, received $50,000 to support screenings of Lakota Nation vs. United States and to host local forums about the issues raised in the film. The documentary tells of the theft of the Black Hills (He Sapa) and the century-long fight to reclaim them.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2023 – March 31, 2024

Cheyenne River Youth Project of Eagle Butte, SD, will receive $250,000 over two years to support a youth internship program and establish a new job training program for internship graduates who want to work full time for Cheyenne River Youth Project.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2023 – Oct. 31, 2025

Ecotrust of Portland, OR, will receive $250,000 over two years in general operating support to help the organization through a significant leadership change and strategic planning efforts.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2023 – Oct. 31, 2025

Ethnic Self-Help Alliance for Refugee Assistance (ESHARA) of St. Paul, MN, will receive $250,000 over two years to support increased staffing for the central ESHARA office and a new strategic plan for the coalition.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2023 – Oct. 31, 2025

Food Access and Sustainability Team (FAST) Blackfeet of Browning, MT, will receive $250,000 over two years to support its efforts to improve food security, provide nutrition education, and reclaim food sovereignty within the Blackfeet Nation.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2023 – Oct. 31, 2025

Front and Centered, as fiscal sponsor for People’s Economy Lab, both of Seattle, will receive $250,000 over two years to support efforts to build People’s Economy Lab’s organizational infrastructure and staffing so it can take on more projects to advance economic, environmental, and racial justice in Washington.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2023 – Oct. 31, 2025

Funders Together to End Homelessness Inc., as fiscal sponsor for Workforce Matters, both of Boston, received $125,000 to support increased workforce grantmaking to Native-led organizations in our region.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2023 – Sept. 30, 2024

He Sapa Otipi Inc. of Rapid City, SD, will receive $250,000 over two years to support general operations and predevelopment work for its community center building.
Grant term: Dec. 1, 2023 – Nov. 30, 2025

Hopa Mountain Inc. of Bozeman, MT, will receive $150,000 over three years to support Strengthening the Circle (STC), its Native nonprofit capacity-building program.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2023 – Sept. 30, 2026

Idaho Black Community Alliance Inc. of Boise, ID, received $50,000 to support staff, technology, program expenses, and consultant fees related to recruitment, outreach, organizational policies and procedures, relationship development with funders, and program development and delivery for Black entrepreneurs and community members in Idaho.
Grant term: Sept. 1, 2023 – Aug. 31, 2024

Idaho Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence Inc., as fiscal sponsor for Black Liberation Collective, both of Boise, ID, will receive $250,000 over two years to support its work on community healing and collective care.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2023 – Sept. 30, 2025

Inquilinxs Unidxs Por Justicia–United Renters for Justice of Minneapolis will receive $250,000 over two years to support sustained organizational capacity as it develops and supports organizing efforts focused on affordable, safe, stable, and dignified housing in Minneapolis for low-income; Black, Indigenous, or people of color (BIPOC); and immigrant renters.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2023 – Oct. 31, 2025

Lakota Fund of Kyle, SD, will receive $200,000 over two years to support its efforts to expand and strengthen its lending, technical support, and training programs for Native-owned businesses on the Pine Ridge Reservation, including increasing its staff and expanding its loan products to meet the increase in demand for business loans.
Grant term: Dec. 1, 2023 – Nov. 30, 2025

Latino Community Fund of Washington State of Seattle, as fiscal sponsor for Firelands Workers United / Trabajadores Unidos of Aberdeen, WA, received $120,000 to support base building, rural leadership development, issue campaigns, and narrative change, as well as preparations for becoming an independent nonprofit.
Grant term: Dec. 1, 2023 – Nov. 30, 2024

Lavender Rights Project of Seattle will receive $250,000 over two years to support its efforts to achieve gender and racial justice through its approach to achieving liberation for Black and trans communities that is rooted in community organizing, client-informed policy advocacy, base building, and strategizing with Black communities.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2023 – Oct. 31, 2025

Mahchiwminahnahtik Chippewa and Cree Language Revitalization (MCCLR) of Box Elder, MT, will receive $250,000 over two years to support its efforts to revitalize, promote, teach, and perpetuate the languages of the Chippewa and Cree People of the Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2023 – Oct. 31, 2025

Minnesota Museum of American Art of St. Paul, MN, received $25,000 for general operating support and for expansion of their facility.
Grant term: Dec. 1, 2023 – Dec. 31, 2023

MN8 of St. Paul, MN, will receive $200,000 over two years to support its efforts to develop community leaders, provide intergenerational programming, and advocate on policies and systems change.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2023 – Oct. 31, 2025

Montana Two Spirit Society of Missoula, MT, received $75,000 to support its efforts to raise awareness of the issues, histories, and traditions of the two-spirit community in Montana and beyond. Grant funds will also support work to protect the rights, safety, and well-being of two-spirit and Native LGBTQ+ people within the policy environment in Montana and nationally.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2023 – Oct. 31, 2024

Native American Community Board of Lake Andes, SD, will receive $250,000 over two years to support its core work and goals to strengthen food sovereignty, Dakota language and culture, and the safety of Native women in the Yankton Sioux community in eastern South Dakota.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2023 – Oct. 31, 2025

OneAmerica of Seattle will receive $250,000 over two years to support its core work, including grassroots organizing, coalitions, communications, advocacy, and a long-term platform for change called Our Thriving Home.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2023 – Oct. 31, 2025

Rondo Community Land Trust of St. Paul, MN, received $250,000 to support its efforts and those of its collaborative members to move strategies and projects that will shift the paradigm of community development through a reparative economic development framework.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2023 – Oct. 31, 2024

Rural Community Development Resources of Yakima, WA, will receive $250,000 over two years to support its efforts to strengthen its infrastructure to offer high-touch services and products that empower entrepreneurs to thrive on their own terms.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2023 – Oct. 31, 2025

South Dakota Education Equity Coalition of Rapid City, SD, will receive $250,000 over two years to support its efforts to amplify the educational needs of Indigenous students in South Dakota.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2023 – Oct. 31, 2025

Tacoma Urban League of Tacoma, WA, received $100,000 to support its education, health, and economic development services and help the organization grow its advocacy work in partnership with the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2023 – Oct. 31, 2024

United Vision for Idaho of Boise, ID, will receive $250,000 over two years to support its work at the grassroots level focused on places of growing generational and racial division to find solutions to problems of common interest.
Grant term: Dec. 1, 2023 – Nov. 30, 2025

Uniting Resilience of Rapid City, SD, will receive $100,000 over two years to support its efforts to reclaim the role of two-spirit communities in the tribes located in South Dakota through education, advocacy, and healing spaces for two-spirit individuals to come together and thrive.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2023 – March 31, 2025

Whiteswan Environmental (WE) of Bellingham, WA, will receive $250,000 over two years to support its efforts to restore Indigenous cultures and ecologies across the ancestral homelands of Coast Salish people.
Grant term: Dec. 1, 2023 – Nov. 30, 2025

Yellow Bird Life Ways Center of Lame Deer, MT, will receive $250,000 over two years to support its efforts to offer a range of services to the community grounded in Cheyenne culture and teachings.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2023 – Oct. 31, 2025

YWCA USA of Washington, DC, received $10,000 as a vice president discretionary grant.
Grant term: Oct. 5, 2023 – Oct. 5, 2023