Our Programs

Strengthening Tribal & Community Institutions

A Navajo Woman Looking Down Outdoors In Bright Sun

Program Overview

Through grant support, technical assistance and training, First Nations provides tribes and Native communities with the tools and resources necessary to create new community-based nonprofit organizations and to strengthen the capacity of existing nonprofits and tribal agencies or departments. For more than 35 years, First Nations has supported hundreds of model projects that help revitalize Native communities, while integrating social empowerment and economic strategies. First Nations believes that by bolstering tribal and community institutions, we are helping to build economically stronger and healthier Native communities for the long term.

Current Projects

Justice Through the Lens of Native Artists

First Nations is committed to examining and calling out long-standing misconceptions, deficits-based frameworks, and inequities facing Native communities that have…

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Native Arts Initiative

First Nations works to build healthy economies in Indian Country based on strategies that emphasize Native communities' control of their…

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Reclaiming Native Truth

Reclaiming Native Truth is a national effort to foster cultural, social and policy change by empowering Native Americans to counter…

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Luce Indigenous Knowledge Fellowship

Featured artwork by 2020 Luce Indigenous Knowledge Fellow Hanna Sholl  (Sun’aq Tribe of Kodiak, Alaska)

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Native Fundraisers Community of Practice

At the back end of every organization is the development component -- the internal system of fundraising, donor engagement, and…

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Strengthening Native American Philanthropy

A key strategy toward Strengthening Tribal & Community Institutions is to invest in their long-term community and economic development. This…

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Racial and Economic Equity

In this evolving project, First Nations continues to explore and advocate for solutions and actions for racial and economic equity…

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Western COVID-19 Response Grant

Indigenous communities continue to respond to challenges surrounding COVID-19, in terms of budgets, demands on staff, and resources overall. With…

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Native Language Immersion Initiative

Language is a vital asset for Native people and communities. It defines who we are, where we come from, and…

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Improving Tribal Broadband

  Getting Funding and Getting Started on the FCC 2.5GHz Rural Tribal Network So far, tribes throughout Indian Country have…

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Native American Fund for Health Equity

First Nations' Native American Fund for Health Equity launched in 2022 to increase philanthropic investment in Native American organizations and…

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Passing Down Art and History at the Tulalip Tribes

Generations ago, art was everywhere in the Tulalip culture, represented in its tools, clothing, food and ceremony. After years of outside stressors chipping away at the tribes’ artistic soul, the Hibulb Cultural Center is working to bring art back. Since 2011, the center has invested in culturally-significant educational programming. And now with funding from First Nations’ Native Arts Initiative, it is bolstering its classes, reaching more people and fostering even more pride in the craftsmanship and elegance of Tulalip art.

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Meet the Doctor Bringing Peace and Improved Health to the World

For more than 30 years, Dr. Norbert Goldfield has worked at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts, as a board-certified internist, caring for the “poorest of the poor” in his city. As a valued, annual donor to First Nations, Dr. Goldfield has always had a special interest in empowering marginalized groups and facilitating their access to quality medical care.

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New: California Tribal Fund

As part of First Nations’ overall mission to invest in and create innovative institutions and models that strengthen asset control for American Indian people and communities, the newly launched California Tribal Fund addresses both the unique circumstances of California Native communities and the lack of philanthropic support for California Native causes. The California Tribal Fund supports California-based, California-Native-led nonprofits and tribal programs in controlling and protecting their food systems, water, languages, traditional ecological knowledge, and land. Learn more.

View Our Current Grant Opportunities

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