Jim Enote (Zuni) founded Colorado Plateau Foundation in 2012, in partnership with the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Christensen Fund, and Arizona Community Foundation. The Colorado Plateau Foundation emerged to address a regional need for a bridge between the Colorado Plateau’s Native communities and the national philanthropic community . The community-like foundation was created inin respo
nse to the observation that- the lack of philanthropic dollars were not reaching rural, Native communities on the Plateau, despite overwhelming need and the presence of established Native-led organizations who were leading game-changingtransformative work. The Colorado Plateau Foundation emerged to address a regional need for a bridge between the Colorado Plateau’s Native communities and the national philanthropic community. The power of Native American tribes as sovereign nations, as governments that oversee over a third of the Colorado Plateau’s lands, and as the original stewards of this landscape renders Native leadership necessary to achieve any meaningful and authentic change on the Colorado Plateau. Yet few philanthropic dollars are reaching native communities nationwide, much less on the Colorado Plateau where vast distances compound access challenges. Many funders are unfamiliar with how to partner with tribal communities. Analyses of philanthropic community data indicate that only .3% of funding dollars go to Native communities, while 68% of philanthropic dollars benefiting Native people are granted to non-Native led organizations. In addition, 74% of funding for Native Americans is directed to urban initiatives, leaving out the important work being done in rural communities. As a place-based and culturally-centered funderfoundation, the Colorado Plateau Foundation addresses this discrepancy by bringing philanthropic dollars to support the Native-led organizations driving the most compelling and vital work occurring on Colorado Plateau. As Native people of this place, CPF executive staff recognized that Native-led organizations were are already addressing these important issues in their communities and creating real and positive momentum in Indian country. CPF regularly gathered input from cultural and community leaders in order to identify key focus areas for work on the Plateau, including protection of water, protection of sacred sites and endangered landscapes, language revitalization, and sustainable, community-based agriculture. CPF gives grants in these priority areas to Native led-organizations and tribal entities on the Colorado Plateau in amounts between $1,000 and $25,000, directed towards enhancing organizational capacity so that recipients can do their best work. Since 2012 we have given $2,800,000 to over 100 Native-led initiatives. We have seen the immense power of Native people to catalyze change. The Colorado Plateau Foundation is committed to supporting Plateau communities in perpetuity. We are here to stay.
