Native grantmaking boosts self-determination

Several NDN grants address historical Indigenous funding inequities

Anishinaabe traditional knowledge teacher Isaac Murdoch received a Radical Imagination grant for his community cultural center at the height of the 2017 Dakota Access Pipeline conflict. He used it to develop the now world-renowned “Water is Sacred” banner images of Thunderbird Woman that pipeline fighters wield in defense of treaty lands.

Chemehuevi photographer Cara Romero, a 2019 recipient of the Radical Imagination grant, showcased her images on billboards in Los Angeles and Southern California’s Coachella Valley. They remind motorists in the metropolis and the greater Palm Springs area of the local Indigenous cultural legacy.

In 2022, the national Native non-profit NDN Collective, which funded these projects, will give out $500,000 in Radical Imagination grants for Indigenous artists. What’s more, on Mother Earth Day April 22, the non-profit rolled out its new Community Action Fund, a rapid response grant for local organizations to take the lead in Indigenous activism.

It provides up to $30,000 for “a specific action that someone’s taking to effect change in a particular way,” NDN Collective Director of Grantmaking Tina Kuckkahn told Buffalo’s Fire. Coming on the heels of the collective’s 2021 launch of the Community Self-Determination grants, this growing Native-to-Native philanthropy work opens a whole world of opportunities for Indian Country.

NDN’s intention is “to focus on grassroots in particular communities and to look for those organizations that might not get funding anywhere else, you know, because they might not fit into a certain box,” the collective’s grantmaking director said.

With funds up to $200,000 awarded, the self-determination grant assisted 92 organizations from North America and nearby island nations, such as Puerto Rico, in its first year. This is all possible through the collective’s NDN Foundation, composed of professional grant makers who have been attracting millions of dollars since NDN’s 2018 launch in Rapid City, S.D.

Next in the funding pipeline is the Collective Abundance Fund. The Bush Foundation awarded $50 million to NDN Collective to back the Collective Abundance Fund. The grant will serve reservations and urban areas across North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota by addressing the wealth gap these Indigenous communities face.

NDN announced the grant’s committee members in April. It said the Regional Advisory Committee, made up of representatives from the three states, will supervise their communities’ engagement by supporting the relationships within wealth building activities that this regenerative movement will provide.

Committee members include Leroy Fairbanks III, Robert Lilligren and Mary LaGarde from Minnesota; Hillary Kempenich, Ruth Buffalo, and Cory Spotted Bear from North Dakota. Mike Peters, Tawney Brunsch, Lakota Vogel, Cheryl Crazy Bull, Kip Spotted Eagle and Candi Brings Plenty are all representatives from South Dakota. Elder Dakota traditional leader Faith Spotted Eagle is the honorary advisor.

The 2022 Radical Imagination grantees will be announced in August. They will reward 10 Indigenous artists and “culture bearers” with $50,000 each to support solution-oriented work that addresses social issues and structural racism. The chosen artists begin their work in September, according to the contest rules.

Another chance to apply is slated for early 2023. The program aims to encourage problem solving through creativity and expression. The nonprofit believes amplifying Indigenous voices will help fight inequality in entrenched systems and policies.

“As NDN Collective, we are unapologetically NDN. We believe in the power, the creativity, the audacity and the commitment of artists, culture bearers and designers to create and imagine new paths, new futures, and new worlds,” the organization proclaims.

It requires a Radical Imagination grant applicant to propose a one-year budget including housing, supplies, and equipment funding. The application process has one unusual facet: It mandates each artist to set aside 12 percent of the funding for personal well-being — prioritizing mental health.

“Oftentimes, artists are taking on the pain of their communities and so we want to be sure we are taking care of artists; it’s an amazing opportunity,” Kuckkahn said.

She shared that the new Community Action Fund provides a quick application response time of three-to-four weeks. With a mounting activity in the Landback movement for treaty rights, water and environmental protection, the fund offers a new source of support to people making changes for Indian Country.

All the grants reinforce NDN Collective’s mission to “Defend, Develop and Decolonize.” With their distribution in Indigenous hands, no one else decides where the money needs to go.

“It’s about us providing resources…,” Kuckkahn said. “We really think that self-determination is key, like we need to define for ourselves our own solutions.”

JoVonne Wagner is a journalism student at the University of Montana. She is also a 2022 intern at Buffalo’s Fire. You can reach her at jovonne@imfreedomalliance.org.

References:

"Meet the Collective Abundance Fund Regional Advisory Committee," NDN Collective, April 27, 2022. https://ndncollective.org/meet-the-collective-abundance-fund-regional-advisory-committee/

Dateline:

MISSOULA, Mont.