Native American Community Development and Philanthropy
By Dagmar Thorpe

Two decades ago, I began to engage in the process of Native American community and philanthropic development. I constructed a set of questions as a framework for thinking about community development. The key question was, “How do we as Native Americans renew Native belief systems as the framework for revitalizing our communities and apply these systems to solving contemporary problems?” Since then, I have been involved in a national, regional and local process to answer the questions I posed and to articulate the answers to foundations.

In November 2001, Akwe:kon Press, Indian Country Today and LifeWay of the Tides Center conducted a Native American Millennium Forum at Cornell University. The purpose of the forum and resulting community education was to support nation building within the context of indigenous intelligence so that communities are able to determine their own futures. Indigenous intelligence as defined by Ojibway participant James Dumont “is the wise and conscientious embodiment of exemplary knowledge and the use of this knowledge in a good, beneficial and meaningful way.” Thirty-three participants, including elders and youth, engaged in an in-depth discussion addressing the seventh generation, those future children, families, communities and nations seven generations in the future. The discussions addressed the areas of: land, resources and economics, education and socialization, sovereignty, leadership and governance, health and reproduction, and psycho-spirituality. The participants presented their personal stories of growth and development, assessed Indian world realities today, and stated what they wished to communicate to their future children, families, communities and nations.

It was clear from the collective experience of the Native American Millennium forum that:

(1) Native American people and communities are at the threshold of synthesizing decades of efforts toward asserting, reaffirming and revitalizing Native languages and ways of life;

(2) Mature and seasoned Native American people within our communities have been successful in a variety of these efforts;

(3) There are young Native American people who have hope for the health and well-being of our communities and who are dedicated to the future of Native people and their ways of life;

(4) Native people, families and communities, grounded in traditional values and beliefs, have the capacity to bring about the nations, institutions and organizations that are required in this millennium.

During the past 20 years, there has been a significant increase in tribal community services, including housing, health, economic development, governance, social services and reservation infrastructures. This has resulted in the expanded ability of tribes to provide for the needs of community members. Simultaneously, the number of Native American non-profit organizations has increased. These organizations have focused on many areas that tribal governments have not had the time or resources to work on. These organizations have been leaders in technology, housing, rights, environment, women, children and family issues, language, cultural revitalization and sovereignty. Non-profit organizations have provided an alternative to federally mandated programs. They provide important services on many reservations, but may not offer the opportunity for innovative, traditionally based approaches to community development.

Some reservation-based studies being conducted by Native people show that there is a direct correlation between the spiritual, emotional, mental and physical well-being of Native families and communities and the active practice of traditional ways of life that have been adapted to the contemporary Native world. Most of the 554 federally and 100 non-federally recognized American Indian tribes have cultural and language programs. In addition, the First Nations Development Institute unpublished report The Emerging Sector; Non-Profits in Indian Country has identified 2,200 non-profit organizations serving Native Americans; of these 60 percent serve rural and urban populations; 42 percent are located in rural communities or traditional Indian lands; and 31 percent work to support traditional Native culture.

Those who work to regain the health, vitality and well-being of our communities seek an entry through some aspect of our way of life.

The entry could be housing, wellness, traditional agriculture or language. Revitalization of Native communities requires an all-encompassing approach that takes into account history, philosophy, current status and future vision. The cycle of renewal begins with individuals and extends to encompass the family, community and nation.

The process of community renewal is based upon traditional belief systems and values from which all decisions relative to a community are made. Over the past several years, the deculturalization of our people has expanded at an alarming rate. Efforts are underway to revitalize those aspects of our lifeways that remain.

There are many Native individuals, tribes and organizations that are working on projects based on Native traditions. Taken together, these projects represent what Native nations can become through regaining the spiritual, mental, emotional and physical well-being of Indian people and homelands.

Native people are engaged in:
• developing language and cultural immersion projects;
• constructing culturally and technologically appropriate homes that are adapted from traditional materials and designs;
• reintroducing traditional agriculture;
• revitalizing traditional governing, educational, economic, spiritual and socio-cultural systems;
• protecting existing ways of life, homelands and environment;
• reinstating traditional land management and use practices
• regenerating indigenous species of plants and animals;
• instituting community healing processes, which have substantially increased healthy lifestyles;
• adapting Native principles to tribal judicial, environmental, ethical and other governing laws;
• revitalizing processes of consensus building and conflict resolution;
• taking advantage of the diversity of Native people to collaboratively explore and develop solutions for community renewal.

There are several characteristics that define Native community development

Native communities are self-contained, possessing social, cultural, health, governance, economics and educational elements. A traditional agriculture project, for example, integrates language, health, nutrition, youth, environment, sustainable land management, community organizing and education. Participants learn about such things as improving diets, acquiring traditional seeds, the significance of these plants to our people, and the nutritional and health value of these foods. The planting of mdamen the Potawatomi word for corn, requires a request for spiritual assistance through prayer, mental discipline to insure proper care of the corn, physical stamina and an open and loving heart. This produces healthy mdamen. All of these aspects are an integral part of reintroducing traditional foods into contemporary Native life.

The following elements are characteristic of Native community development projects:
(1) Projects are defined and structured by Native beliefs and world view
(2) The underlying motivation is to continue the way of life of a band, tribe or nation of people. These projects are long term in their vision and implementation. Development is an inter-generational process, which occurs over many years. It represents a series of efforts taken over time by individuals with shared values working towards common goals. The actions of small groups of individuals over time can affect an entire community.
(3) Goals are broadly defined and specific objectives, activities and methods to achieve them are determined through a naturally evolving process.
(4) Most community development efforts are multi-dimensional and integrate many aspects of community.
(5) Natural systems of organization in Native communities are by families, clans and religious affiliations. People are simultaneously independent and inter-dependent with family and community. The impact of internalizing oppression and the resulting dysfunction affects the entire community, as does the healing of that dysfunction.
(6) The net that holds a Native community together is people helping people. This can be expressed in words, prayers, gifts of time, energy or love.
(7) To be effective, a project addresses spiritual, emotional, mental and physical elements of the individual and community. This holistic approach to community development recognizes that to create whole healthy communities, we must be whole healthy individuals.
(8) The most successful community projects are those that reflect the way Native people do things, the way they live and the values they hold.

The challenge for foundations is to understand how best to concentrate resources at those critical points of change within Native communities that will ensure our survival as unique peoples and nations.

Philanthropic support can make a significant difference in renewing the health and vitality of Native communities, if it is approached in ways appropriate to these communities. Most Native communities do not have access to sufficient resources to develop community-based projects that strengthen and enhance our ways of life, languages and appropriate uses of our land. Through supporting Native nations, institutions and organizations, foundations can provide resources for community projects that arise from and are directed by Native peoples. In a paper I wrote for the Tides Foundation several years ago, I made the following recommendations regarding foundation grantmaking to Native Americans:
• Foundations must take direction from Native people in defining our needs and how we address them in our communities. Most foundations recognize that community problems must be solved by the people themselves. Grantmaking to Native Americans should be advised by the people whom those resources are intended to serve. The gap must be closed between what Native communities define as their needs and what foundations will support;
• Foundations should invite Native people to advise them in the grantmaking process. Foundations should engage in an in-depth process of collaborative decision making with Native people. The advantages to a foundation are clarification of grantmaking strategies with regard to Native Americans; and deeper conversation, which expands the vision and thinking of all participants;
• To be better informed of leading-edge developments and concepts in Indian country, foundations could convene Native individuals working across the spectrum of community revitalization efforts. These individuals could collaboratively define the field; discuss philosophy, vision and implementation of renewal strategies; and consider the implications of indigenous thinking for global social change. Such meetings can assist foundations to clarify and formulate parameters for grantmaking priorities, guidelines and criteria;
• Foundations are encouraged to expand their priorities to incorporate funding for language and cultural revitalization in Native communities. They should also find ways in which grants can be given to such projects.;
• There are numerous grantmaking opportunities for foundations. They include providing direct support to grassroots Native American community-based projects or indirectly through grantmaking intermediaries, including Native foundations; Native national, regional and local technical support organizations that design, develop and implement innovative strategies for community renewal; Native American individuals or institutions that accomplish community-based research, analyze and publish works that embody the renewal of Native lifestyles; and support for regional, national or issue-based Native American networks working on these issues;
• Native American initiated, directed, managed and controlled organizations serving Native Americans should be supported by foundations. Native Americans in Philanthropy reported that significant foundation dollars go to non-Native controlled institutions. Organizations that purport to represent Native interest should have a controlling majority of Native Americans on their boards.
• A collaborative process could be initiated to insure the greatest impact and the best investment of a foundation's resources. This could include convening focus groups for foundation programmatic areas and directly experiencing Native reality through site visits to a select number of projects. Throughout this process, foundation staff and board would be developing a strategic plan for Native American grantmaking;
• Foundations must explore their attitude toward grantmaking to Native Americans. Foundations might consider the Native view of giving as a way of reexamining their perspective about grantmaking. As Native people, we believe that we give through showing respect and love. The goodness we share with others is returned within the natural cycle of our way of life.
• Foundations should view Native organizations as partners. The foundation that provides the grant is in partnership with those who accomplish good work in their communities. The giving of money in and of itself does not make positive change happen. It is people in the communities who make things happen; the resources strengthen the capacity of people to actualize their visions;
• Philanthropy does not move toward grantmaking to Native Americans without advocacy and education. Active advocacy within philanthropy is essential to securing support for Native American projects, especially those that address community development, language and cultural revitalization, and traditionally appropriate uses of lands and resources;
• Foundations should consider networking with other foundations to develop strategies to increase the overall grant pool for Native people.

The value to foundations of these recommendations is not just an enhanced understanding of how to better assess a Native American proposal. Embracing them also will lead to an expanded world view of Native communities.

The author, Dagmar Thorpe, Sacred Heart Band of the Potawatomi Nation, Sac and Fox, Menominee, and Kickapoo is the Executive Director of LifeWay of the Tides Center, which was founded in 1992 to "advance Native thinking as the element necessary for the healing of Native communities and revitalization of Native traditions through connecting human and financial resources to individual organizations, and institutions.” It serves as a resource to foundations and individuals interested in working in partnership with these issues. Thorpe is the author of “People of the Seventh Fire.”

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