Premier Edition of Circle of Giving

This is the first edition of a regular newsletter from Native Americans in Philanthropy. To complement our e-news, this printed edition will spotlight member news, trends, and promising practices.

Native Americans in Philanthropy was founded in 1990 as a national nonprofit membership organization with a mission to engage Native and non-Native peoples in understanding and advancing the role of philanthropy through practices that support Native values for current and future generations.

Primary goals:

• advocating for increased resources and Native leadership
• supporting the development of Native philanthropy
• advancing philanthropic competence of grantmakers and fundraisers committed committed to Native philanthropy
• expanding the network of institutions and individuals committed to the organization's mission
• In order to strengthen Native communities, Native Americans in Philanthropy builds bridges between funders and Native organizations, and it also supports development of emerging nonprofit leaders.

For more information
Visit: www.nativephilanthropy.org
E-mail: info@nativephilanthropy.org
Phone: (612) 724-8798

Profiles in Giving: Hopi Foundation

Hopi Foundation is a member of Native Americans in Philanthropy and serves as an exemplary model of the strength of Native philanthropy.

"Doing the work ourselves"
The Hopi Foundation was founded in 1985 by Hopi tribal members as one of the first independent foundations in Indian Country. The foundation promotes social and economic development on the Hopi reservation in northeastern Arizona through the Hopi principle of Itam naap yani, or "doing the work ourselves." Through this brand of self-determination and empowerment, the foundation has developed and cultivated Hopi solutions and Hopi leaders.

"I've always believed my people have capacity," says executive director Barbara Poley. "We started our organization with that frame of mind: each one of us bring something to the table, then we become equal. Nobody has more ideas than the other, and that [partnership] has worked for us."

Seeds for the future
The foundation is based in Hotevilla, Arizona, one of 12 villages on 2.8 million acres that form the Hopi nation. About 7,000 tribal members live here, about 100 miles from Flagstaff and a 4 hour drive from Phoenix.

Barbara Poley and Loris Ann Taylor accepted management responsibility in 1993. Both women are great-great-granddaughters of Chief Loololma of Oraibi Village, who championed education in early 1900s as a path to Hopi survival.

Poley and Taylor have adapted community foundation practices to reflect Hopi cultural values. The foundation has almost $1 million in endowed assets, even though putting money aside for the future is not a traditional Hopi custom.

The women compared savings to seed corn - that part of the harvest set aside for the future. The comparison resonated. Another success has been the Hopi Education Endowment Fund, a separate $10 million endowment that uses coal-mining royalties to fund college scholarships for Hopi youth.

"What they have accomplished in one of the most tradition-bound Native communities in the United States, in just over a decade, is an inspiring model of perseverance," says Carla Roberts, vice president of the Arizona Community Foundation. "They have moved a community that did not know the meaning of the word philanthropy into one engaged in community-controlled philanthropy. But on their own terms!"

Two foundation projects are economic initiatives: Native Sun produces solar energy systems on both the Hopi and Navajo reservations; and Gentle Rain, where Hopi women incorporate traditional Hopi designs into fleece clothing sewn from material made of recycled plastic. In 2000, the foundation helped launch the first Hopi radio station, KUYI, which has become an integral part of tribal life through broadcasting Native language, culture, and traditions. Loris Taylor is the station's general manager and director of the Center for Native American Public Radio.



Re-defining philanthropy and leadership
Taylor's and Poley's work is guided by Hopi culture. For example, the Hopi traditionally hold nayas, or work parties, to help one another with weddings, farming, building, and ritual practices. "Hopi people share resources and practice reciprocity with bartering as the basis of our economic system," Taylor and Poley say.

These historic practices inform all of our work and it is our job to perpetuate, enhance, and expand them in the context of today's world.

Leadership is a complex topic in a culture that values humility and where calling attention to oneself is considered inappropriate. Poley and Taylor are respected for their achievements but have retained a humility that is an intrinsic part of their effectiveness.

"We made a pact to never place our professional ambitions above our Hopi cultural values and relationship," they say. "This pact serves to keep us focused on our daily and long-range priorities. Our greatest service to the Hopi people is to practice the principles of our culture and leadership every day."

Poley and Taylor are strong believers in tribal self-determination. "We see our people as strong people, not as weak, deficient people that need to be fixed," they say. "The Hopi have a rich living culture that has sustained us for over a thousand years, and it is this very foundation that will sustain us for another thousand years."

In 2005, the Hopi Foundation received a Leadership for A Changing World Award of $115,000 from the Ford Foundation. For more information: www.hopifoundation.org and www.leadershipforchange.org

Effective Leadership

The Foundation's most effective leadership is made up of Barbara Poley and Loris Taylor. When asked to describe their leadership structure the women replied, "We rely on one another for support, leadership, advice, and focus. We made a pact to never place our professional ambitions above our Hopi cultural values and relationship. This pact has served to keep us focused on our daily and long-range priorities. As a team, we offer a broader range of strengths thus offsetting each other's weaknesses. Our greatest service to the Hopi people is to practice the principles of our culture and leadership every day."

Be respectful of all people, plants, animals, and the earth. Maintain a good heart. Think positive thoughts and don't speak with anger.

The Hopi concept of giving, maqa, permeates all of Hopi social and ritual culture. Poley's Hopi teachings and regard for others has become an essential ingredient to the success of The Hopi Foundation leadership structure. It works and because it does, it has become a unique and effective model.

Poley was asked what would the award would mean to the Native American community? Poley's response was, "To the larger philanthropic Native community, I hope that an award such as this means the other people I am associated with and working in this field continue to raise awareness, continue building best practices in leadership to advance Native Philanthropy. This can mean increasing dollars to native communities and also increasing accountability to native people as well as increasing our accountability to others. Like the commitment made by the organization, Native Americans in Philanthropy (NAP), The Hopi Foundation has strived to serve as a bridge between Native communities, Native leaders, nonprofits and the established field of philanthropy.

As native people, we place great importance in the telling of stories for not only do we learn from them, they serve to illustrate the true nature of our humanity. Recognizing this, Barbara Poley's contributions and value, can only be measured by her capacity for helping others and that is great.

By Rowena Dickerson (Navajo)

Relevant Web Sites

Hopi Foundation

Leadership For Change Awards Page

Hopi Education Fund

Native Sun

Gentle Rain

Arizona Community Foundation

The Center for Native American Public Radio

KUYI

John Running Photography