During the first quarter of 2025, the Northwest Area Foundation approved 20 grants worth $1,311,785.
Our grantmaking supports organizations building racial, social, 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.
This year is proving to be uniquely challenging for the communities and causes that are central to our mission. We’re stepping up by doubling our funding for 2025—investing more deeply in our priority communities with funding for dynamic solutions to challenges that arise suddenly. One of the primary ways we’re doing this is by amending many current grants to include more funding. These additional funds are considered new grants, and you’ll find them noted as such in our quarterly grants listing.
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.
Appetite For Change Inc. of Minneapolis received $150,000 to support its efforts to use food as the basis for building health, wealth, and social change in its community. Grant term: March 1, 2025 – Feb. 28, 2026
Center for Worker Justice of Eastern Iowa of Iowa City, IA, will receive $200,000 over two years to support its efforts to use organizing, training, and advocacy to ensure that workers are paid what they are owed and can advocate for their labor rights. Grant term: Feb. 1, 2025 – Jan. 31, 2027
Comunidades Organizando el Poder y la Acción Latina (COPAL) Education of Minneapolis received $100,000 to support development and expansion of the Immigrant Defense Network through public outreach, rights education, mental health training, emergency response services, and regional collaboration across the Upper Midwest. Grant term: Feb. 1, 2025 – Jan. 31, 2026
Idaho Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence Inc of Boise, ID, will receive $250,000 over two years to support its efforts to continue expansion of the Idaho Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) Initiative: enacting a comprehensive plan to enhance law enforcement response, improving support systems for victims and families, and fostering greater inter-state collaboration to address MMIP issues. Grant term: Jan. 1, 2025 – Dec. 31, 2026
Mano a Mano of Salem, OR, received $50,000 to support Radio Poder, a community-rooted Spanish- and Indigenous-language radio station serving Oregon’s Latino and Indigenous populations with culturally relevant news, resources, and storytelling. Grant term: March 1, 2025 – Feb. 28, 2026
Native CDFI Network of Washington, DC, will receive $300,000 as a cost amendment to the existing $200,000 general operating grant it received to help sustain advocacy efforts and plan next steps after its $400 million EPA grant for renewable energy in Native communities was recently terminated, prompting legal challenges and uncertainty. Grant term: July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025
Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN) is a project for the fiscal sponsor Willamette Valley Law Project, both located in Woodburn, OR. Willamette Valley Law Project received $250,000 to support PCUN’s efforts related to the Oregon for All Coalition, a new statewide coalition focused on protecting immigrant rights in Oregon. Grant term: Jan. 1, 2025 – June 30, 2025
