Blog
Announcing $1 million in grants through Fund of the Sacred Circle
Today we are honored to announce a historic $1 million investment into Native-led organizations through the Fund of the Sacred Circle.
Founded in 1999, the Fund of the Sacred Circle is a community-led grantmaking fund driven by Native values. The Fund supports Native-led organizations and projects that advance culture and language, land and environmental justice, treaty rights and sovereignty, and self-determination and human rights of Native Nations and Communities throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin.
This $1 million investment will support 20 Native-led organizations throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin for 2 years to lead critical work addressing systemic injustices affecting Native Nations and Communities. Each grantee received a 2-year general operating grants of $25,000 per year, for a total of $50,000. This year’s grantmaking total of $1 million is the largest investment in Native-led organizations in the Fund’s history.
This year’s grantees are:
These grantees are doing critical work that includes language and cultural revitalization; reclamation of traditional lifeways; protection of environment, waters, foodways, and land; community investment and cultivation and more. We are grateful to learn from the leadership of these grantees, who combine deep knowledge and powerful visions for their communities.
Grantees were selected by the Native Community Grantmaking Circle (NCGC), an intergenerational assembly of Native leaders from diverse Native Nations and Communities throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Wakinyan LaPointe, Headwaters’ Program Officer for Native Communities, shares, “At the heart of the NCGC is a commitment to uphold Native values at every turn of the decision-making process and grantmaking journey. These community members how powerful work can be when Native values are at the center.”
Grantamkers were guided by the FSC Native Community Grantmaker Guide. This guide, created by LaPointe, grounds Native community grantmakers to Native-led grantmaking practices, policies, history, and theory as they come together to read grants and make funding decisions. LaPointe shares “The guide serves as a compass and resource that honors Native perspectives in philanthropic grantmaking.”
This year’s Native Community Grantmaking Circle was:
- Brittenany Gillespie
- Liberty Greene
- Hieu Nguyen
- Micah Prairie Chicken
- Kelsey Scares The Hawk
- Whitney Spears
As we announce our newest grantees and grantmakers, we also invite you to join us in reflecting on the 25-year legacy of the Fund of the Sacred Circle. Now in its 25th year, the Fund remains rooted in the founding vision of Native elders, activists, leaders, and allies who sought to push back against the historical disinvestment of Native communities.
The FSC was founded during a period of American Indian activism in philanthropic spaces in the 1990s that sparked a wave of proposals for change aimed at strengthening investment and support of Native-led organizations. A key recommendation from activists was to establish funds controlled by Native people. This, they believed, would ensure lasting financial support and wealth for future generations of Native people and increased Native representation in philanthropy nationwide.
The Fund of the Sacred Circle was established at Headwaters in this context, envisioned by its founders as a culturally responsive fund that centered Native values. One of the Fund’s founders, an American Indian activist, explained the significance of its name, saying:
“In Native traditions, the ways of being—of life—reflect the circle. Native Americans have always known that gifts, like life, move in a circle. When we are open to the spirit of giving, our gift travels in a great arc and is returned to us, increased a hundred-fold. To give is to contribute to values of balance and harmony—equity and justice. A true gift moves in a circle”
LaPointe, a Sicangu (Burnt Thigh) Lakota citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, who stewards the Fund says, “The Fund of the Sacred Circle is not just a programmatic approach, but a cultural approach.”
Central to LaPointe’s work is ensuring that Native grantee perspectives on Native values and best practices guide the Fund of the Sacred Circle programming. In the spring of 2023, LaPointe, in partnership with Dr. Nicole Martin Rogers, embarked on an Indigenous evaluation of the HFJ Fund of the Sacred Circle. Their approach was grounded in Indigenous methods, emphasizing storytelling and relationship-building. Their goal was to deepen the Fund’s connection to its generational story, relationships, and strengths. This involved interviews, conversations with grantees, founders, and elders, a review of literature, and an analysis of historical records.
The result is the recently published “Strengthening the Sacred Circle: Native-Led Community Grantmaking and Philanthropy.” The report, available in full on our website, tells the story of the Fund of the Sacred Circle from 1999 to now from the perspective of former FSC staff, founders, grantees, community grantmakers, and elders. To read the full report and learn more about the Fund, visit the Fund of the Sacred Circle webpage.
At its core, the Fund aims to support Native-led organizations and projects across Minnesota and Wisconsin, focusing on culture, land rights, sovereignty, and human rights. The Fund of the Sacred Circle is more than just a grantmaking fund—it’s a testament to the power of Native-led philanthropy, rooted in community, culture, and vision. We hope you’ll join us in celebrating this exciting milestone.