Expanding the Philanthropic Landscape in Support of Native Communities

By Kyle Reis, Senior Director, TechSoup

Native-led nonprofits and tribal entities are woefully underfunded by the philanthropic sector. As foundations respond to the call to increase giving in Native communities, many are grappling with how best to allocate funding so that it goes directly into the hands of Native Americans for work they deem most critical to their communities.

On behalf of TechSoup, I’ve had the honor of participating in a tribal entities working group composed of a consortium of funders, Native-led nonprofits, philanthropy support organizations, and others. We focus on the legal and operational side of the issue, our primary goal being to educate funders about what is possible and advocate for changes that strengthen this philanthropic ecosystem. In essence, we hope to increase grantmakers’ understanding of Native-led charitable entities, particularly those not classified as 501(c)(3) public charities. This includes grantmaking that goes directly to tribes and tribal entities.

If you would like to learn more, please read this blog post , originally published by PEAK Grantmaking. Afterwards, if you have questions, knowledge, or resources to share, I encourage you to contact me directly at kreis (at) techsoup.org to continue the conversation.