Indigenous Lifeways Fund

Status: CLOSED. Proposals will be accepted through March 5, 2025. 

We Seek To Support

The Indigenous Lifeways Fund seeks to support Indigenous-led projects and activities that:

• Promote healing and wellness in Indigenous communities
• Transfer Traditional Knowledge to future generations
• Address barriers to community-led problem-solving
• Advance environmental justice and regenerative economies                                                                                                                                   

Examples of funding requests and projects that qualify:

• Environmental Justice: Projects addressing pollution, land restoration, water quality, or environmental degradation in frontline communities.
• Indigenous Food Security and Food Sovereignty: Initiatives focused on traditional gathering, hunting, farming, and food system practices, as well as community gardens, seed saving, and food sovereignty education.
• Green Infrastructure: Clean energy projects, recycling programs, composting, and other sustainable practices aligned with Traditional Ecological Knowledge.
• Youth Leadership: Programs that engage youth in traditional knowledge transfer, leadership development, and cultural practices.
• MMIR (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives): Campaigns and educational projects raising awareness and supporting justice for MMIR.                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Tiers of Funding:

Type 1: $1,000-$10,000 for costs associated with short-term needs such as community outreach, a gathering, etc. 

Type 2: $10,000-$25,000 up to 1-yr general operating support for new or existing projects.

Type 3: $25,000-$50,000 up to 1-year green infrastructure or restoration projects

Who Should Apply?

• The community project must be located in the Greater Northwest region (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, and British Columbia).
• The applicant must be an Indigenous-led nonprofit organization: 501(c)3 or Canadian Registered Charity; OR a Native community group with a fiscal sponsor.
• Tribes and First Nations are eligible. 
• We accept Indigenous Individuals on a per case basis. Please call or write us first to talk through your project!

* 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, but you are able to return if you were funded in previous years!

What Types of Groups Are We Unable to Support?

NIF does not provide grants to groups that:

• • Practice or promote racism, sexism, homophobia, or any form of oppression or exploitation of other humans or the natural world
  • Force, coerce or exclude others based on religious or spiritual beliefs
  • Are not making an effort to protect Mother Earth
  • Are connected to political parties, political rallies or are otherwise partisan in their work