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- By Native News Online Staff
A giving campaign aimed at highlighting Native-led nonprofits will take place throughout May, supported by the Native Ways Federation.
The idea around the campaign—which will begin May 1 and end on May 20— is to raise awareness about the importance of supporting Native-led non-profits for the month of May, culminating in Native Nonprofit Day.
Large foundations have allocated less than half a percent of their total annual grantmaking to Native communities since 2006, according to a report from the Investing in Native Communities Project. The group identified three solutions to the funding discrepancy: replacing false narratives around Native communities; expanding historic understandings through a Native lens; and supporting solutions led by and for Native communities.
Native Ways Foundation, themselves a group comprised of seven national Native-led nonprofits dedicated to expanding information giving in Indian Country through donor education and advocacy, seized upon the third solution.
“Native-led organizations have the solutions to the issues our communities are facing,” Native Ways Foundation Executive Director, Carly Bad Heart Bull, JD. (Flandreau Santee), said in a statement. “We know our strengths and are best positioned to help our people. The Native Nonprofit Day campaign is an opportunity to celebrate the work being done by Native-led nonprofits while also supplementing our organizations’ ongoing fundraising efforts.”
Founding members of Native Ways Foundation include: the American Indian College Fund, the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, the Association on American Indian Affairs, the First Nations Development Institute, the National Indian Child Welfare Association, the Native American Rights Fund, and Running Strong for American Indian Youth.
Native-led organizations that want to participate in Native Nonprofit Day can sign up to receive campaign materials, and visit NativeNonprofit.Day to learn more.
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