Welcome to the Summer Edition of E-News from Native Americans in Philanthropy!

Manoominikie-giizis - is the Ricing Moon. As many Anishinaabe prepare to gather the wild rice, the NAP office is gathering the resources that promote and support you and the network of Natives in Philanthropy. We are gathering stories of leadership for the Circle of Giving newsletter and will be telling these stories and advocating for your support at many conferences and gathering through the fall and winter.

The Board of Directors and staff met in Retreat in July to review the growth and development of Native Americans in Philanthropy. We refined our 18 month priorities:

• Promote leadership development in philanthropy
• Develop resources for members and with members
• Strategically use communications about Native philanthropy as a tool for self-determination
• Bolster our cultural and philanthropic vision internally and externally
• Build and strengthen partnerships in philanthropic and Tribal communities

We will very shortly be announcing the date and location of the Native Philanthropy Institute. Watch your email box! In the coming year we encourage you to engage with us around these priorities as there will be many ways to work together to build Native philanthropy. Than you for your commitment and enjoy these last beautiful days of summer!

Joy Persall, Executive Director

Memberships

Boozhoo/Greetings from your Membership & Program Coordinator,

As summer slowly starts to turn to fall, Native Americans In Philanthropy looks towards our future and fiscal year 2007. Our future is our membership, our people and our allies. Memberships run from July through June each year. Native Americans in Philanthropy provides program services and opportunities to network with others working in the field of philanthropy, building relationships, gain access to information regarding philanthropy, but most importantly, Native Americans in Philanthropy supports and advocates for increasing funding and access of resources for Native communities.

It is through your support and commitment that Native Americans in Philanthropy will continue to provide premier events, continue to bolster Native leadership, and most importantly broaden and deepen our philanthropic network. Native Americans in Philanthropy and its membership will continue to promote and utilize philanthropy as a tool for self-determination and an expression of our sovereignty.

Renew your membership today or become a new member and learn more about:

• The history and accomplishments
• News from across the Philanthropic Network
• Media Resource Center that provides information and research to benefit Native philanthropy
• Conferences, Regional Gatherings and other important events
• Job Postings
• Links to other Native and non-Native philanthropic organizations across the Nation
• List of Members

Native Americans in Philanthropy membership more than doubled last year to 199 members!
Your support is important to continue this most important growth!

Carrie Day Aspinwall, Membership & Program Coordinator

Headwaters Walk For Justice

Another way to support Native Americans in Philanthropy is to contribute through our Walk for Justice on September 17th! The Walk is an annual fundraising event sponsored by Headwaters Foundation for Justice. It's truly a unique opportunity for groups to raise much needed funds for the community building work they do.

We are raising money for Native Americans in Philanthropy. The money we raise will go towards Leadership Development and the Native Philanthropy Institute training conference.

Just so you know, I will be emailing you until the walk in mid-September to update you on my progress!

If you can donate right now click on the link, WALK FOR JUSTICE and go to the organization list and find Native Americans in Philanthropy then make your contribution - or come and Walk with us!

Miigwetch.

reimaginemoney.com Launches Website

reimaginemoney.org announces the public launching of the website www.reimaginemoney.org.

A project of RSF and the Transforming Money Collaborative.

You are invited to join an ever widening circle of individuals and organizations in a transformative dialogue and reflection about money and to reimagine your role as a consumer, investor or donor. In the resources section you are encouraged to discover initiatives and organizations that are collaborating to reimagine money - to bring consciousness to how people view and relate to their financial resources to help them make financial choices that promote social, environmental, and economic sustainability.

Resources and Opportunities

Fundraising Tip of the Day...
Once you have identified your needs, you can begin researching foundations. The primary goal of your research is to identify foundations you can approach for grant funds. To research foundations try the Foundation Finder, a free lookup tool from the Foundation Center that provides brief facts on private independent foundations, corporate foundations, and community foundations.

Start by identifying foundations that:

• Fund projects in your subject area. If your project is a childhood immunization project, compile a list of foundations that fund healthcare projects.
• Fund projects in your geographic area. Most foundations give to local organizations. Identify foundations that fund programs in your city, state or region.
• Provide the type of support you need. If you are starting an immunization program, identify foundations that provide start-up grants.

Most foundations were created to address an unfilled need; therefore, most foundations have special interest areas to which they dedicate most of their grants. No matter what you are interested inÑ-education, health, or construction-you can usually find a foundation with an interest in line with your own. However, unanticipated events can reshape our thinking and our lives. When these events occur, new foundations sometimes emerge to address the challenge, and/or established foundations create a new priority area.

To find out what new and emerging areas foundations are funding visit the Foundation Center's Philanthropy News Digest (PND) site. There, along with general news and information about philanthropy, you will find a list of the most recent Request for Proposals (RFPs) foundations are seeking. While the normal grant process is for grantseekers to solicit grantmakers, RFPs are the preferred method foundations use to solicit new grantees.

Tools You Can Use Newsletter...
W.K. Kellogg Foundation Cultures of Giving/Tools Connecting Meeting resulted in the development of the "Tools You Can Use" .html and .PDF newsletter - these tools help increase transparency, program efficiency, and fundraising capacity across the nonprofit sector.

HTML: Download the HTML file now.

PDF: Download the PDF file now.

We hope that you will benefit from information in the newsletter developed by Network for Good.

Making Measures Work for You - Outcomes and Evaluation...
The guide is the latest in our Evaluation Techniques Series, which moves beyond evaluation jargon to help grant makers understand some of the newer evaluative approaches and weigh their advantages.

Go to www.grantcraft.org

Diversity Fellowship and the Emerging Leaders Program
The Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (The Graduate Center at The City University of New York) is pleased to announce that it is accepting applications for its 2007 Emerging Leaders International Fellows Program Diversity Fellowship.

The Diversity Fellowship is for young scholar/practitioners of color under-represented in the United States grantmaking sector. The Fellowship is intended to widen the circle of young leaders engaged with community foundations in the U.S. The deadline for receipt of applications is September 15, 2006. Find out more about the Diversity Fellowship and the Emerging Leaders Program.

Activists of Color are encouraged to apply for the Alston/Bannerman Fellowship Program
The Alston/Bannerman Fellowship Program is committed to advancing progressive social change by helping to sustain long-time activists of color. The program honors those who have devoted their lives to helping their communities organize for racial, social, economic, and environmental justice, and provides resources for organizers to take sabbaticals for reflection and renewal. Each year, ten organizers of color are awarded the Alston/Bannerman Fellowship and receive $15,000 to take sabbaticals of three months or more. Find out more about the Alston/Bannerman Fellowship Program.

Upcoming Conferences

Annual Gathering of Progressive Grantmakers to Highlight Criminal Justice Reform - October 14-17, 2006
National Network of Grantmakers (NNG), the association of funders supporting progressive social change and economic justice, has opened registration for their upcoming Annual Conference in Chicago. Criminal justice, a nexus of funding priorities including the economy, health care, public education, employment, housing, and the environment, is the theme of this year's conference.

NNG's Annual Conference welcomes individual donors and foundation representatives who are interested in exchanging strategies for solving the root causes of social and economic problems and in learning from activists, grassroots leaders, and fellow practitioners. The 4-day conference will include site visits, workshops, working group sessions, the documentary photography of Harvey Finkle, and a closing keynote from Harry Belafonte. Current working groups include International Funders, Media Funders, Indigenous People's Funders, and Funding in the South.

Ron McKinley, Executive Director of NNG, says of the October gathering: "We'll arrive here with a new challenge: to see our work through a different lens, a criminal justice lens. This is not a typical criminal justice conference. It is a social justice conference. It's time for us to take off the blinders of our individual funding areas to broaden our analysis-to examine the impact of the criminal justice system on all of our work. It's time for us to shift policy away from punishment toward the root causes of community problems and inequities that leave people few viable economic options for sustaining their families.

The 2006 Conference will be held in downtown Chicago at Loyola University's Water Tower Campus. Conference info and registration.

2006 Community Investment Network Conference "The Debt and The Reckoning: What Do We Owe Each Other?" - October 6- 8, 2006
The Community Investment Network Conference is an annual gathering where individuals, families, neighborhood associations, community groups, civic groups, foundations, and giving circles can come together to discuss various strategies of investing time, talent, and treasure to build communities by design and not of crisis. This year's conference is being held in Raleigh, NC 27602.

We live in a time where collective giving and social networking for social change is on the decline. The sponsors of this conference envision a gathering that provides hope and renews the spirits of individuals, groups, and organizations seeking to make some kind of difference in the neighborhoods, communities, and cities where they live.

The Community Investment Network is a Fund of the National Heritage Foundation. Find out more at: thecommunityinvestment.org.

Cobell Settlement and Trust Reform Bill Released

Senate Committee to Meet with Tribes to Discuss Bill and Fractionation Problem - (Corrected)

On Friday, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs released a new discussion draft of S. 1439, the Indian Trust Reform Act of 2006. The bill would settle all claims of Individual Indian Money account holders for $8 billion. The bill also creates a voluntary process for Indian tribes to take over greater control of the trust assets on their reservations. The bill would phase out the Office of Special Trustee, and create a single line of authority under an Under Secretary for Indian Affairs. The bill would give the Secretary new authority to consolidate fractionated Indian lands, and add incentives for sale of fractionated lands.

The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs delayed the mark up of the new legislation after Chairman McCain and Vice Chairman Dorgan met with Secretary of Interior Kempthorne and Attorney General Gonzalez. Read Chairman John McCain's statement about the delay.

It is clear from Senator McCain's statement that the Administration has additional concerns with the legislation that the Committee will need to address. In addition to the settlement figure, the Secretary of Interior and the Attorney General appear to have concerns about the future of Indian trust management. The heavy fractionation of Indian land is a significant factor. With over 3.2 million ownership interests in existence and the number continuing to grow, the Administration is concerned about investing in a settlement if the trust management problems for Individual land and accounts are likely to reoccur. Senators McCain and Dorgan are seeking "a full and complete resolution to the entire issue of trust management that has plagued the Department and Indian Country, including resolution of the fractionation of land ownership - a problem at the root of much of the problems that gave rise to the litigation."

The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs would like to receive further input on the bill. The staff of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs will be reaching out to Indian Country during the August recess to discuss the legislation. Our understanding is that they will hold meetings on these tentative dates, more info to follow:

August 15 - Seattle at Muckleshoot - (SCIA will host meeting on gaming legislation on 8/16)
August 18 - Phoenix
August 21 - Bismarck
August 31 - Tulsa

The Cobell litigation began ten years ago. Three years ago NCAI passed a resolution stating that it is in the best interests of tribes and individual account holders that tribal leaders participate in the resolution of trust related claims and the development of a workable and effective system for management of trust assets in the future. See NCAI Resolution PHX-03-040. While tribal leaders have supported the correction of trust funds accounting at Interior, tribes have grown increasingly concerned about the impacts of the litigation on the federal budget, the trust responsibility, and that the litigation creates an atmosphere that impedes the ability of tribes and the DOI to work together and address other pressing needs confronting Indian country.