On Our Terms: Letter From The Executive Director

Letter From the Executive Director

In response to the continued underfunding of Native-led nonprofits, Native Ways Federation and Melvin Consulting PLLC collaborated to create a report that identifies what it takes for Native nonprofits to not just exist but to thrive within the philanthropic sector.

On Our Terms: Supporting a Thriving Native Nonprofit Sector was born from a series of these conversations with Native nonprofit and philanthropic leaders. The essential questions posed were: What does a thriving Native nonprofit sector look like, on our terms? And, what will it take to get there?

Over the past three years, we have aspired to answer these very questions and, in doing so, five main themes arose: Living Your Values, Self-Determination, Relationships and Interconnectedness, Financial Resources, and Adaptability and Capacity Building. Through use of these themes, this report also underscores the urgency and necessity for mainstream America’s thinking to encompass a more inclusive and truly Indigenous way of viewing community to see fruitful, widespread, and inclusive growth.

The universal misunderstanding that the current, traditional, and largely exclusive philanthropic model is successful is erroneous, at best, considering major research highlights BIPOC people, largely Native people, as being severely ignored—if not outright overlooked.

This report allows those within the philanthropic sector to get a glimpse into the everyday reality of the struggles endured by Native nonprofits who routinely live in “response-mode,” reacting to systems and practices put into place by others. Continuous, yet commonly overlooked struggles such as only four-tenths of one percent of private foundation funding goes to Native causes, but only half of those funds are allocated to Native-led nonprofits.

Ultimately, it is our hope that that this report serves as a framework for the expression of the unique needs and contexts of Native nonprofits, to initiate potentially challenging but honest conversations that improve relationships, to help Native nonprofits find strength in community, and to spark action that supports Native-led nonprofits to thrive.

We, at Native Ways Federation, humbly call upon you and your organization to help us in uplifting our efforts to promote this report and the importance of what it signifies and stands for. We urge you to share these findings with a broader audience, with the goal of encouraging collective accountability and action that supports this vision.

Wopida (With gratitude),