Potlatch Fund began as a tribally driven organization founded in December 2002 by Northwest tribal leaders to expand philanthropy in Northwest Indian Country.

Our History

A Tradition of Giving

Learn more about Potlatch Fund and the Potlatch Fund Gala, our touchstone with our community.

Potlatch Fund centers the traditional and ceremonial practice of gifting to a broad community. Philanthropists come in all shapes and wealth brackets. Sharing with our Relatives is how we show we care.

The Early Years

Grounded in the model of the ceremonial potlatch, a traditional gift-giving ceremony in which clans and families distribute wealth throughout their communities, and designed to raise funds and award grants to Native communities in the region, as well as providing technical assistance to build the capacity of grant makers and grant-seekers.

Those early years were spent in collaborative meetings and conferences among funders, tribes, and other tribally driven organizations to explore and assess questions such as:

Why do Native American communities only receive 1/20th of one percent of private grants?
Why do Native Americans have such disproportionately high rates of poverty, unemployment, and disease?
What can leaders from tribes and philanthropic organizations do to remove the barriers that limit effective grantmaking in Indian Country?

Two Native American dancers wearing traditional regalia, including feathered headdresses and fringed clothing, participating in a cultural dance outdoors.

Finding the Vision

Since the early founding years, Potlatch Fund has continued to pool resources and partnerships to fund and empower Native communities in the Northwest- across culture, environment, leadership, education, and well-being. When systems fall short, community steps forward. We have seen that when we turn inwards, we can lead our own change to improve funding disparities and support systemic change. When given the resources, our communities know best how to address their needs.

The vision was to build something rooted in the strength and wisdom of our ancestors. Because of them, we have access to serving our communities as a Native-led nonprofit, using cultural models that address challenges unique to our service areas. We approach this work aware of the historical and intergenerational traumas, focusing on our strengths, beauty, and joy.

Our Future

What our future holds is continuing to move wealth in all forms – financial dollars, resources, culture, food, knowledge, relationships - to our relatives across our region. A future where reciprocity, generosity, honor, and culture catalyze an economy of shared resources in the spirit of our ancestors.

Organizational Commitment

We remain committed to upholding Indigenous traditions of generosity, investing in Native communities, intentionality, uplifting matriarchs, centering community over productivity, honoring seasonality, and modeling a decolonized way of being.

Permission to come ashore at Canoe Journey Landing

Sarah Folden (Cowlitz), Grantee, working on mural in Long View, WA

Tulalip Canoe Family at the Tulalip Potlatch Fund Gala 2023

Child wearing a red traditional Indigenous dress braided with purple ribbons and beads, holding hands with adults dressed in traditional clothing, standing among tall grass and lush greenery.

Santana Sheldon (Tulalip) sharing stories at Tulalip Potlatch Fund Gala 2023

Cowlitz drum group at Potlatch Makes Possible Celebration 2025

Tulalip Canoe Family at Tulalip Potlatch Fund Gala 2023