Potlatch Fund

Potlatch Fund is focused on promoting diversity and addressing inequality by educating foundations about Tribal communities, introducing them to Native nonprofits, and holding funder briefings specific to Indian Country. At the same time we are working with casino Tribes to improve their giving practices and increase their own giving to Native projects and their own communities. Concurrently tribe

s are realizing that they cannot fill all the gaps in their community, and thus we work with Native individuals both on reservations and in metropolitan areas to set up, fund, and manage Native nonprofits. Potlatch Fund has also worked with three cohorts of younger leaders to build a pool of qualified and networked talent to help drive a robust Native nonprofit sector here in the Northwest. We work with Tribal leaderships, Native community, nonprofit leaders and Native artists to bring the idea that, with the help of the money that comes from mainstream philanthropy, they can become the master’s of their own destinies. We also train groups about financial management, governance, strategic planning, media management and how to start up a nonprofit. Each training focuses on removing the barriers that exist to stop Native applicants receiving grants from mainstream foundations. Our trainings tend to be small, they are culturally appropriate and always occur within Native communities. There are other trainers who provide the same kind of material as Potlatch Fund; however no one else travels to Indian Country. We do this because we are painfully aware that even the cost of gas for some of our participants can prove to be an insurmountable barrier. Potlatch Fund also holds several grant programs: InterTribal Canoe Journey, Community Building, Native Arts, we work with Tribes to purchase old growth cedar trees (for cultural purposes) though our Cedar Tree Fund, and we provide mini grants to first time applicants. Our Intertribal Canoe Journey grants, Community Building grants, Mini grants and a number of our Native Arts grants, serve large numbers of individuals. Many of the participants who attend a Potlatch Fund training go on to write a successful application to one of our grant programs. These grants act as a positive reinforcement of skills learned, and can also be leveraged for further funding from their Tribes and other foundations.