New Report Details Trends – and Significant Unmet Funding Needs – in Programs Aimed at Native American Youth

LONGMONT, Colorado (July 29, 2015) – First Nations Development Institute (First Nations [ http://www.firstnations.org ]) today published a new report that details some of the recent trends in grantmaking for programs and projects aimed at Native American youth. The report also reveals a significant unmet funding need for such programs.

Titled "Investing in Native Youth: Grantmaking Trends from the Native Youth and Culture Fund," the report analyzes data from the five most recent years (2010-2014) of its grantmaking activities under its Native Youth and Culture Fund (NYCF). Although the NYCF began in 2002, the recent years were studied to give a more timely indicator of various trends. Since the fund's inception, First Nations has specifically granted more than $5 million to 305 Native youth and culture projects.

During the five years from 2010 through 2014, First Nations received 999 grant requests totaling more than $18.4 million from Native communities. However, First Nations was only able to fund about 11 percent of these requests ($2 million), meaning that 89 percent of the applications went unfunded ($16.4 million).

"The significant number of requests underscores that Native youth are an important cultural asset that many tribes and community organizations are actively seeking to educate and empower by developing innovative programs and project that will prepare future leaders and build stronger communities," noted Raymond Foxworth, First Nations' vice president of grantmaking, development and communications, and one of the report's authors. "Further, the sheer number of requests received when compared with those we could actually fund highlights a huge gap, and that gap represents a prime underwriting opportunity for funders from across the U.S."

Some of the other key findings include:

* Most requests for support for Native youth and culture programs come from Native community-based nonprofit organizations, followed by tribes or tribal departments. This illustrates that the nonprofit sector in Native communities is a substantial institutional anchor for pursuing youth and cultural advancement.

* The northwestern region of the U.S. generates the most requests (defined as Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming), followed by the southwestern (Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado) and Northern Plains (North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota) regions.

* The top focus areas for these projects include cultural, ceremonial and spiritual connectedness and revitalization; multi-generational learning; youth leadership and education; language acquisition and revitalization; and regalia and cultural arts and crafts.

The full report is available as a free download in the First Nations Knowledge Center at http://www.firstnations.org/knowledge-center/strengthening-nonprofit/reports [ http://www.firstnations.org/knowledge-center/strengthening-nonprofit/reports ]. (Note: You may have to create a free user account if you don't already have one, in order to download the report.)

About First Nations Development Institute

For 35 years, using a three-pronged strategy of educating grassroots practitioners, advocating for systemic change, and capitalizing Indian communities, First Nations has been working to restore Native American control and culturally-compatible stewardship of the assets they own – be they land, human potential, cultural heritage or natural resources – and to establish new assets for ensuring the long-term vitality of Native American communities. First Nations serves Native American communities throughout the United States. For more information about First Nations, visit http://www.firstnations.org [ http://www.firstnations.org ].