Food Sovereignty Fund

Status: Closed

Criteria:

We Seek To Support

We 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. Our 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 and projects that qualify:

• Networks that provide opportunities to tend the land, interact with our traditional gathering sites, and 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 will provide fresh food and increase community education on gardening practices and harvesting skills
• Community skill-sharing, hands-on workshops and program development are 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 are based on Traditional Ecological Knowledge
• Resurgence in traditional trade and 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 our first food and nutritional care for birthing families

Who Should Apply?

Applicants must be located in the Greater Northwest region (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, and British Columbia) and be eligible for funding under this program.

1. Indigenous or First Nation-led nonprofit organizations: 501(c)3 or Canadian Registered Charities; or community groups with Fiscal fiscal sponsor (a sponsorship agreement must be included in the application)
2. Indigenous Individuals, Alaska Natives or First Nation Individuals with Tribal Affiliation
3. 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 with or 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 we wish to touch as many Native communities as possible.

What Types of Groups Are We Unable to Support?

We are passionate about our beliefs, and we want to be sure that the organizations that we support match our ethics.

As a result, our Food Sovereignty Grant does not provide grants to:

• • Non-Indigenous people 
  • 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, 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 are otherwise partisan in their work