• The Kalliopeia Foundation
• 2010 Gala Silent Auction Proceeds

Center Pole at Wellknown Buffalo
Garryowen, MT $2,160

Funding to create Wellknown Buffalo Cultural Art Center and Market to expose reservation youth and the general public to Crow traditional arts

Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts
Pendleton, OR $2,160

Funds for supplies used in three different traditional arts workshops.

David J Wilson
Olympia, WA $4,000

Funding to purchase the log used in the carving of a welcome figure.

Elizabeth Swanaset
Auburn, WA $2,160

Funding for the production of a traditional foods cookbook.

Eugene “Gordon” Henry
Harlem, MT $250

Funding for an art display case.

Helena Indian Alliance
Helena, MT $1,700

Funding for the supplies used in a regalia and dance workshop.

James Old Coyote
Suquamish, WA $1,550

Funding for recording and creating CDs of coastal drumming. .

John T Williams Memorial Totem Pole Project
Seattle, WA $5,000

Funding allocated to the construction of the foundation for the totem pole.

Leslie Louie
Worley, ID $1,700

Funding to aid in the production of 15 mini digital stories.

Lillian Pitt
Portland, OR $2,160

Funding for the kiln used for a clay mask and tile making workshop in Celilo, OR.

Margaret Nation
Seattle, WA $250

Funding for the supplies involved in the creation of an art installation at the Chief Seattle Club.

Melissa Joy Streun
Kingston, WA $1,700

Funding for the production of 15 educational videos, documenting basic and intermediate cedar weaving skills.

Northwest Native American Basketweavers Association
Covington, WA $2,160

Funding for the 17th Annual Northwest Native American Basketweavers Association Gathering in Suquamish.

Pauline Hillaire
Bellingham, WA $250

Funding to aid in the production of digital storytelling.

Portland Inter-Tribal Canoe Club
Happy Valley, OR

Funding to aid in canoe gathering.

Quileute Tribal School
Forks, WA $1,500

Funding to purchase materials, tools, and workspace for Quileute Tribal school students, their families, and community members to facilitate learning about traditional Northwest Coast Native art styles and carving techniques.

Quinault Indian Nation
Tahola, WA $2,160

Funding for a project designed for the members of the Julas and Canoe Clubs to teach the next generation of youth and children to create the various types of capes and jewelry traditionally worn by the tribe.

Shirley Criqui
Wapato, WA $250

Funding for the oral dictation software for a Yakama elder to write her memoir.

Theresa Parker
Neah Bay, WA $2,160

Funding for the supplies for a basketry workshop.

Tina D Ray
Spokane, WA $2,160

Funding for the supplies used in hand drum, basketweaving, and jewelry workshops for Native children in Spokane.

Tor Parker
Port Angeles, WA $2,160

Funding for the creation of a creative writing anthology.

William Murphy
Newport, OR $2,160

Funding to aid in the purchase of a glass grinder for a glass artist.

For More Information on Potlatch Fund Giving, Please Visit

http://potlatchfund.org/grants/index.html

We offer these tours to introduce individuals to both the successes and challenges faced by Tribal communities and aim to intentionally show the diverse nature of the Tribal communities and Native organizations that comprise Northwest Indian Country.

We had the opportunity to see three distinctly different Tribal communities. Tulalip was created as a reservation as a result of the treaties of the 1850’s when a number of different Tribes and Bands were relocated to the land we toured. Tulalip has the most generous land base of the three Tribes we visited, and is also the largest community overall. The overall size of the community and the ongoing issues of trying to become one distinct Tribal entity as opposed to an imposed confederation are major issues for Tulalip. Stillaguamish, re-gained federal recognition in 1976, and has had to purchase the vast majority of its land back through private land sales in order to best serve its members. We also heard that once land has been acquired there is the additional complexities involved in bringing the lands into “trust” so that they can be preserved in perpetuity. Swinomish has more of a village feeling to its 2 square mile reservation which allows people to be able to easily move around, but also severely limits options for growth. The surrounding communities of Marysville, Arlington and La Conner are, likewise, very diverse with different economic bases and history of development.

Links: New York Times article and photos of the funder tour.

Special thanks to First Nations Development Institute, which provided the funding for this tour.

7 Journeys Forward/ Communication 4 Communities
Union, WA: $1,500
Funding for the development of an interactive website that builds capacity and access for Native people and communities.

Alternative Solutions
Polson, MT: $3,000
Funds for operating program initiatives including creating Salish LAnguage Living Books, producing community wide theater production in Salish and delivering a youth symposium.

Burns Paiute Tribe
Burns, OR: $2,500
Funds for Culture Camp for children, elders, and other adults from the Burns Paiute Tribe.

Chief Seattle Club
Seattle, WA: $5,000
Funding for general operations.

Coeur D’Alene
Plummer, ID: $1,500
For the development of a minipark and playground.

Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation
Nespelem, WA: $5,000
Funding for an intensive intermediate Salish language training program for staff of the Inchellum Child Care Center and community members.

Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
Pendleton, OR: $3,000
Funding to support Camp Miyahishma, a four day long youth culture camp.

Kalispel Tribe of Indians
Usk, WA: $4,000
Funding for a covered cargo trailer for the Kalispel Language Program outreach and educational activities.

Ke Kukui Foundation
Vancouver, WA: $3,500
Funding for the Ke Kukui Arts and Culture Center.

Makah Cultral and Research Center
Neah Bay, WA: $5,000
Funds to train a new grant writer.

Natibe American Rehabilitation Association of the Northwest
Portland, OR: $4,000
To support the Portland Indian Elders Support Group which continues to address the short term and emergent needs of urban American Indian and Alaskan Natibe Elders.

Natives of the One Wind Indigenous Alliance
Ashland, OR: $3,500
Funds to support the expansion of an alliance of indigenous peoples in Southern Oregon.

Nez Perce Tribal Youth Cultural Enrichment Academy
Lapwai, ID: $5,000
Funding for the five of the forty students of the Youth Cultural Enrichment Academy that employs forty youth during the summer that focuses on developing workforce skills, reinforcing tribal traditions, and enchanding and protecting fisheries.

Nisqually Tribe
Olympia, WA : $3,000
Funding for afterschool youth programming for Native and community youth.

Northwest Indian College
Bellingham, WA: $2,500
Funds to support the Annual Native American Women and Girls, Men and Boys Conference.

Painted Sky
Portland, OR: $3,000
Funding for their new home, building space lease and operational costs.

Red Eagle Soaring
Seattle, WA: $5,000
Funding for the 2011 SIYAP performing arts camp for 30-40 urban Native youth ages 11-19.

Rocky Boy Native Arts & Crafts Co-op
Box Elder, MT: $4,000
Funds to suppoert the ‘Moccasin Trail’ project, which teaches the lost art of processing deer hide.

Salish School of Spokane
Spokane, WA: $3,000
Funding for general support to continue to offer the higest quality of language immersion serveices to children and families in the city of Spokane.

Sho Ban News
Fort Hall, ID: $2,500
Funding to complete the video editing of the 140th Anniversary of the Fort Bridger Treaty Project.

Shoshone Bannock Tribe
Fort Hall, ID: $2,500
Funding for the Return of the Boise Valley People event.

The Confederated Tribes & Bands of the Yakama Nation
Toppenish, WA: $1,800
Funding for the marketing purposes and printing.

The Museum at Warm Springs
Warm Springs, OR: $5,000
Funds to enhance the museum’s Annual Tribal Member Art exhibit by publishing an exhibit catalog.

The People’s Center
Pablo, MT: $2,500
Funds to support the Native American Awareness Week allowing students to learn about and play Native games, make crafts, and taste fry bread and dry meat.

Tierra Madre Fund
Seattle, WA: $5,000
Funding for the Northwest Native Green Jobs Corps for Western Washington tribes in summer 2011.

Tlingit & Haida Washington Chapter
Seattle, WA: $2,000
Funding for the Southeast Alaska Native Culture Fair to be held September 10th and 11th 2011.

United Indians of All Tribes
Seattle, WA: $2,500
Funding for the continued tradition of the Annual SeaFair Powwow at Daybreak Star.

Wiconi International
Vancouver, WA: $2,500
Funding for the 7th Annual Mini Wiconi Wacipi “Living Waters Intertribal Traditional Powwow” July 30,2011.

Separately Funded Grants

Kalispel Tribe of Indians
Usk, WA: $20,000
Funding for the Tribal CASA Program.

The Confederated Tribes & Bands of the Yakama Nation
Toppenish, WA: $20,000
Funding for the Tribal CASA program.

Spokane Tribe of Indians
Wellpinit, WA: $20,000
Funding for the Tribal CASA program.

The Confederated Tribes & Bands of the Yakama Nation
Toppenish, WA: $5,000
Funding to support fire relief.

Lower Elwha S’Klallam Tribe
Port Angeles, WA: $5,000
Funding to support youth activities.

GiveBIG is a community-wide giving challenge created by The Seattle Foundation that will increase the size of your donation to Potlatch Fund. This new, one-day, online charitable giving event will rally together our community on behalf of the amazing nonprofit organizations in King County.

GiveBIG will grow your generosity in several ways:

• Grow your gift! The Seattle Foundation and local businesses will match a share of every contribution made through The Seattle Foundation’s online Giving Center between 7 a.m. and midnight only on June 23.
• Win a Golden Ticket! During the day, you could be chosen at random to have your charity of choice - POTLATCH FUND - receive an additional $1,000 from GiveBIG’s sponsors.

We encourage you to join all our supporters in giving big this Thursday, June 23. Your gift will help support our Capacity Building and Re-granting programs.

As a direct result of the support of our donors, for 2011 Potlatch Fund is on track to hold over 40 trainings and unique learning experiences and give out our millionth dollar.

Follow this link to GiveBIG to Potlatch Fund on Thursday, June 23!

Our hands are raised up to you in the spirit of the potlatch!

Heather Miller and I are running the second day of a workshop in Yakama for three of Washington’s Tribal CASA programs.

The Tribal CASA programs find and train volunteer advocates to support their Tribal children as the progress through the foster care system.  This is such important work as Native American children are brought into the foster care system at a rate that is 160% higher than non-Native children.  In some communities up to 1 child in 10 is in the foster care system!!

The causes for this are various, and yesterday we learned about the impact of racism.  Native children are being kept in foster care for spurious reasons - such as too many children sharing a room, or too many people sharing a home.  One child was kept in CASA because CPS did not like the door frames in a house!!!

These amazing programs fight this head on, ensuring that their children can be brought back into their community in a safe and responsible manner.

Today Heather is running a session on how to use social media.  We all know that social media is ever present and this training helps to let people know what is going on and how to manage it. 

Nicole Surber from the Yakama CASA program also hosted a function to honor her volunteers as part of this training.

We love working with this group, and are committed to helping these programs become stronger over a three year period.

Naku noa

Ken

  First Nations Development Institute

  Kalliopeia Foundation

  Eulalie Bloedel Schneider Foundation

  Jeffris Wood Foundation

In total $38,500 was disbursed: $28,500 to 19 canoe applications, with another $10,000 designated to the Swinomish Indian Community, the 2011 host nation, and Canoe Nations Support Consortium, a new nonprofit formed to foster and facilitate families, organizations and Tribes with future journeys. The funds are for the purchase of safety equipment, general support, regalia and supplies.

Emmett Oliver, a Quinault Tribal Elder, revitalized the annual canoe journey among Northwest tribes when he organized the “Paddle to Seattle” for Washington State’s centennial in 1989. The Intertribal Canoe Journey revives the centuries-old traditions of transport and trade by the Coastal Tribes of the Northwest, many of whom traveled over open waters to meet and gather for festivities. The canoe journeys have become a major catalyst for Coastal Salish people to re-learn, strengthen and reinforce their canoe traditions. The journeys teach people about canoeing, living, working, and achieving in a community. The journeys create pride in, and respect for, Native Indian cultures.

2011 Grants

Groups receiving grants:
[# of canoes]

Swinomish Indian Tribal Community [Host Tribe], Swinomish, WA:  $5,000

B.R.I.D.G.E. [1], Lakebay, WA: $1,500

Blue Heron Canoe [2], Kent, WA: $1,500

Chinook Indian Nation [4], Bay Center, WA: $1,500

Coquille Tribe [1], North Bend, OR: $1,500

Cowlitz Indian Tribe [1], Longview WA, $1,500

Grand Ronde Canoe Family [1], Grand Ronde, OR: $1,500

Ha’y Tilixam Canoe Society [1], Pendleton, OR: $1,500

Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe [3], Port Angeles, WA: $1,500

Lummi C.E.D.A.R. Project [1], Bellingham, WA: $1,500

Makah Nation [1], Neah Bay WA: $1,500

Ohileqw-sen [1], Bellingham, WA: $1,500

Oliver Canoe Club [1], Kingston, WA: $1,500

One People Alaska Canoe Society [1], Juno, AK: $1,500

Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe [3], Kingston, WA: $1,500

Sacred Water [1],Suquamish, WA: $1,500

Snoqualmie Tribe [4], Snoqualmie, WA: $1,500

Squaxin Canoe Family [1], Shelton, WA: $1,500

Warm Springs [1], Warm Springs, OR: $1,500

West Shore Canoe Family [1], Ferndale, WA: $1,500

Canoe Nations Support Consortium, Seattle, WA: $5,000

In the culmination of a two-year transition process for Potlatch Fund, Board President Kirby Jock today announced the selection of a new Executive Director by the Potlatch Fund Board of Directors commencing on June 1, 2011. 

Ms. Dana Arviso, current Potlatch Fund Finance and Evaluation Manager, will replace current Executive Director, Mr. Ken Gordon, in August this year.

Mr. Jock said “The Potlatch organization has been working diligently toward this vital leadership transition for a long time.  We developed a plan with a definitive date where Mr. Gordon was going to step aside, and overlap his tenure with a new Executive Director for a three-month period. Our Board and Staff have consistently risen to meet the challenges posed by this kind of transition, and I am very proud of their work in making Potlatch Fund solid throughout this time of change.” 

As the outgoing Executive Director   during the three-month executive transition, Mr. Gordon will continue to serve Potlatch Fund in an advisory and consultative role to Ms. Arviso the incoming Executive Director.

“Our transition has been helped immensely by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which gave us an invaluable resource to plan for all aspects of this leadership change. The grant enabled us to carry out a national search and at the same time invest in our existing staff to improve their ability to competitively apply for the role.  We offer our most sincere thanks to the Gates Foundation.”

Ms. Arviso initially started working at Potlatch Fund as a volunteer while undertaking postgraduate studies at the University of Washington. Since then, she has become an alumnus of the First Nations Development Institutes LEAD Program, completed non-profit Executive Training programs at the UW Cascade Center, and is a current participant in Leadership Tomorrow. In addition to her non-profit work for Potlatch Fund, she is also a member of the Board of Native Americans in Philanthropy, co-chair of the Social Justice Fund Northwest, and an Ex-Officio Board Member for Longhouse Media.

Ms. Arviso is a member of the Diné (Navajo), grew up on the Bishop Paiute-Shoshone Reservation and has also lived in Alaska. Ms. Arviso said “I am humbled by the faith placed in me by the Potlatch Fund Board and by the support that has been offered as I transition into this role. I look forward to continuing to build upon the success of Potlatch Fund, as we work to expand philanthropy in Indian Country”. 

Mr. Jock concluded by stating, “It is my hope that everyone out there in the Potlatch Fund community will take a moment to welcome Dana as our new Executive Director at Potlatch Fund, and also take a moment to express their gratitude to Ken for his outstanding efforts and commitment to Indian Country during his tenure as the Potlatch Fund Executive Director. We continue to be very fortunate to have such talented and dedicated people working to support our mission, on behalf of the Native peoples of the Northwest.”

Native communities tell us they love our trainings, and they also tell us they need more in-depth knowledge.  They want more information, more hands-on skill building, more trainings, more networking and more connections.  We believe that regional learning cohorts best fulfill these needs.  Cohorts that meet on a regular basis to discuss issues they face in their work, receive specialized nonprofit capacity building training of their choosing and network with other nonprofit organizations and Funders.  Potlatch Fund currently runs two very successful cohort groups.  For the past four years, we have managed the Seattle based LEAD program for emerging Native nonprofit leaders.  Over the course of a year 10-12 Native leaders learn how to more efficiently run and care for their nonprofit and Tribal organizations.  These trainings focus on Native leadership, values, culture and organizational development and give participants a well rounded view of Native nonprofit management. 

In addition to LEAD, Potlatch Fund begun a new cohort group, at the end of 2010. This second cohort consists of three WA State Tribal CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates).  This program is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation aims to increase the numbers of Native children who successfully transition out of mainstream foster care.  Potlatch Fund has partnered with these three groups in order to provide detailed capacity building training as well as manage some re-granting funds tailored to each individual program.  This cohort will spend three years together learning from Potlatch Fund staff as well as from each other.  We have used our time together to build up each program and learn more about their individual programmatic needs.  We have a vision that after three years these programs will have learned everything they need to know about running a successful and sustainable nonprofit organization.

Through our work with this CASA cohort we have already spent time developing their individual mission and vision statements; putting together the start of a multi-year strategic plan; introduced them to other funding opportunities and highlighted the extraordinary work they are doing in their respective communities.  We have stayed true to our belief that good work best happens from within “community” and, as such, we continue to take our trainings on the road, traveling to each one of the communities represented in the cohort. 

We know that Native communities feel this change in our programming is good and has the potential for new and exciting opportunities. Fortunately our Funders, too, are supportive of this new direction.  The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was very supportive of the CASA cohort and has provided tremendous support going forward.  The Marguerite Casey Foundation is another Funder that sees the value in this new direction as well.  Our fingers are crossed in hopeful anticipation that they will fund this exciting change in direction.  We believe that by strengthening our Native leaders, developing organizations and by being an intermediary between Foundations and nonprofit organizations, we can expand philanthropy to Northwest Indian Country.

Although we are disappointed with the decision not to fund Potlatch Fund in 2011, we understand that corporations need to cut back their funding during these times of economic uncertainty. Furthermore we are confident that as The Boeing Company fortunes improve they will be a position to, once again, support the important work Potlatch Fund undertakes.

When we met with our Program Officer earlier this year, the focus of discussions revolved around Native arts and our re-granting program. Since 2005, Potlatch Fund has given over $200,000 in funding specific to our Native Art Grant Cycle. We remain committed to supporting the Native arts, but without the financial support of The Boeing Company, we will have to redouble our fundraising efforts in this area.

Native Americans often state that they are the invisible minority. Raising the profile of Native art is but one way to ensure Native culture remains an integral component of American culture. To learn more how you can support our 2011 Native Art Grant Cycle, kindly contact Lawrence Leake at 206.624.6076 x13.

In the spirit of the potlatch, we raise our hands to you, our supporters, and The Boeing Company!