Deadline: 16-Feb-23
The Na’ah Illahee Fund (NIF) is inviting applications for Food Sovereignty Grant Opportunity to provide resources for Native Communities across the Greater Northwest who are located in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming and British Columbia.
As Native people, Na’ah Illahee seeks to support the alignment of their relationship with Mother Earth. NIF sees the land as a living entity and tailors their grantmaking to support this concept – working in relationship with Mother Earth to strengthen her living systems in acts of support, reciprocity, and respect.
Food Sovereignty is something that they as Native people must protect and support because of the history of an oppressive culture forcibly removing the inherent rights of Natives to pray, grow, gather, harvest, hunt, fish, feed, share, and care for ourselves in their usual and accustomed lands. NIF is looking to provide grants to Native people who are leading community based food sovereignty and sustainability efforts in their communities.
NIF continues to support the treaty rights and other legal ways that their ancestors ensured their Native rights to care for ourselves and their right to choose their own foods into the future.
This Food Sovereignty Grant seeks to support their hunter, gather, grower way of life by funding Native organizations and individuals who are working to achieve food sovereignty in their communities as a fundamental right. NIF places a high value on sharing old teachings of growing and harvesting their own foods and medicines, how to gather legally, knowing their food gathering rights and most importantly how to create a unified voice to speak up for these food sovereignty rights and boundaries.
They Seek to Support
- They seek to fund projects led by Indigenous people that aim to increase or create access to traditional foods and medicines through community programming, workshops, and skill sharing. Their goal is to fund those uplifting food sovereign nations that revitalize Indigenous lifeways that prioritize people and the environment over profit.
- Examples of funding requests & projects that qualify:
- Networks that provide opportunities to tend the land and interact with their traditional gathering sites, share gathering techniques, stories and protocols of foods and medicines
- Teaching hunting skills, lifeways of animals, hunting safety, and shared wisdom of respect for game brought to tables, protocols and preparation
- Installation of community kitchens to can and process food from gardening, hunting or fishing to feed community
- Community gardens, family gardens and food forests to provide fresh food, increase community education on gardening practices and harvesting skills
- Community skill-sharing, hands on workshops and program development, designed around Native food system sand medicine gathering, processing, preparation and preservation of food
- Projects that are revitalizing traditional farming and traditional food system practices and lifeways
- Seed harvesting, seed saving, seed sharing and plant harvesting of traditional Native foods
- Creating local sustainable food systems that is based on Traditional Ecological Knowledge
- Resurgence in traditional trade/commerce culture and food cooperatives between communities
- Food sovereignty assessments and community project planning & design
- Creating educational materials geared towards traditional food sovereignty and traditional food gathering rights, tribal sovereignty and field trips to gather
- Traditional breastfeeding trainings to support their first food and nutritional care for birthing families.
Funding Information
- Grant awards up to $25,000.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicants must be located in the Greater Northwest region: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming and British Columbia, and are eligible for funding under this program.
- Indigenous or First Nation-led nonprofit organizations: 501(c)3 or Canadian Registered Charities; or community groups with Fiscal Sponsor (Sponsorship Agreement must be included in the application)
- Indigenous Individuals, Alaska Natives or First Nation Individuals with Tribal Affiliation
- Native American Tribes, Alaska Native Corps, First Nation Bands or Departments of Tribal Governments/First Nation Bands
- For Na’ah Illahee Fund, Indigenous includes anyone who holds tribal affiliation/identifies with Indigenous nations in North, Central, or South America or identifies as Native Hawaiian. Grantees are only eligible to receive one Na’ah Illahee grant per calendar year, as funding is limited and they wish to touch as many Native communities as possible.
What types of groups are they unable to support?
- They are passionate about their beliefs and they want to be sure that the organizations that they support match their ethics.
- As a result, their Food Sovereignty grant does not provide grants to:
- Indigenous Applicants are required to complete the online application, Non-Indigenous people completing applications for others will not be reviewed or accepted
- Groups that practice or promote racism, sexism, homophobia, or any form of oppression or exploitation of other humans or the natural world
- Promote or support violence, aggression, or oppression or any infringement on other people
- Force, coerce or exclude others based on religious or spiritual beliefs
- Are not making an effort to be environmentally responsible
- Are connected to political parties, political rallies or otherwise partisan in their work
For more information, visit NIF.
