Sarayl Y. Shunkamolah

Sarayl Yellowhorse Shunkamolah is a member of the Navajo Nation and is the Associate Director of Institutional Development at First Nations Development Institute. She is originally from Allentown, Arizona, and grew up in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. Her maternal clan is Dibelzhini (blacksheep) and her paternal clan is Honaghaahnii (one-walks-around).

Sarayl joined First Nations in January 2019 as a Program and Operations Officer and transitioned to the Development program. She is responsible for overseeing the Development team’s Institutional Development program and highly involved in all aspects of institutional giving and managing institutional donor relationships with foundations and corporations. Sarayl focuses on identifying, soliciting, and stewarding foundation and corporate funders and gifts as well as providing the administrative management of grant submissions and the oversight of reporting of grants to First Nations’ supporters.

Prior to joining First Nations, Sarayl spent four years with the Community Outreach and Patient Empowerment (COPE) Program in Gallup, New Mexico, as administrative director. While at COPE, she provided administrative oversight for program and finance operations, led special projects, and assisted with the strategic development of the nonprofit organization.

With a background and a passion in working with nonprofit organizations, Sarayl has worked with AISES as a higher education coordinator, with the University of Montana as a scholarship coordinator with the School of Business Administration, as the assistant director of annual giving for the University of Montana Foundation, and as a database administrator with the Alzheimer’s Association in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Sarayl has also worked with local and tribal governments, such as assisting the Hospital Project Feasibility Study with the San Carlos Apache Tribe and assisting the county manager with the Gila County of Arizona.

Sarayl received an Associate degree in computer information systems from Haskell Indian Nations University, a Bachelor of Arts degree in Southwest studies from Fort Lewis College, and a Master’s degree in public administration with a focus on nonprofit management from the University of New Mexico. Sarayl was selected and participated in Arizona State University’s American Indian Policy Institute Fall 2022 Cohort of the Indigenous Leadership Academy and currently serves as a board member with Groundworks New Mexico, a preeminent nonprofit membership organization uniting New Mexico’s social sector through collaboration, strategic partnerships, and capacity building services.