Mino-Niibi Fund

Mino-Niibi Fund is sponsored by The Cultural Conservancy. Provides small grants to Indigenous-led organizations in the Americas and the Pacific working to revitalize their cultures, traditions, lands, and livelihoods.

Mino-Niibi Fund — The Cultural Conservancy Supporting Native-led organizations with small grants Since 2012, the Mino-Niibi Fund for Indigenous Cultures has provided small grants through re-granting to Indigenous-led organizations in the Americas and the Pacific working to revitalize their own cultures, traditions, lands and livelihoods.

These funds support work to document and protect Indigenous knowledge, revitalize threatened languages, protect Native foodways and seed sovereignty, conduct youth-elder cultural exchanges, and empower Indigenous women. Mino-Niibi means "good water" in the Ojibwe language. As a vital resource and powerful spirit, we see making small grants as an honorable and life-affirming process, like sharing good water.

We hold reciprocity central to all our partnerships ; including reciprocal learning, sharing and respect, and honoring the right to self-determination. The Mino-Niibi Fund helps connect our grantees with one another, other like-minded organizations doing similar work, and additional sources of funding and support through our Te Ha Alliance for Indigenous solidarity.

The Mino-Niibi Fund is governed by an all-Indigenous council from the TCC board of directors and senior staff. These individuals are connected to their local Native communities and to communities in the regions we fund. We have approximately one grant cycle a year.

The Mino-Niibi Fund is by invitation only In 2021-2022 we awarded 18 grants serving Indigenous groups in 9 countries . We are honored to have supported these partners and to amplify their work.

Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival Project : AICLS Family Language Program Communities : Indigenous California Tribes Region : Topanga, California, Turtle Island Project: Hana Ku and Noenoe Nights Communities: Kanaka Maoli Project: Advocacy and restoration of Felix Cove Coast Miwok ancestral lands Communities: Coast Miwok, Tamales Bay Miwok Cooperativa de Tejedoras Ixbalamké – Ixbalamké Weaving Cooperative Project: Los Hilos Hablan – The Weavings Speak Communities: Maya Q'eq'chí Region: Samac, Cobán, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala Project : Ancestral Ink: Tattoo revitalization with Native Women, Identity, Health, Relationship to place and land Communities : California Indians, Kanaka Maoli and Intertribal Region: Santa Fe NM, Oakland, CA Turtle Island Maalob Kuxtal ich Abal Ha’ Project : Maalob Kuxtal ich Abal Ha’ (Healthy Living in Abala) Region: Mani, Yucatan, Mexico, Abya Yala Communities : Yucatec Mayan Mingas de la Imagen: Red de Creación Intercultural Project: Intertribal/Intercultural Gatherings to share Indigenous knowledge, Native Languages, Native Art and Media Communities: Iku/Arhuaco, Pasto Cumbal, Embera, Curripaco, Misak-Guambiana y Camëntsá Region: Bogota, Colombia, Abya Yala Morning Star Leaders / Twila Cassadore Project: Traditional Western Apache Foodways & Foraging Communities: San Carlos Apache, White Mountain Apache Region: Arizona, Southwest USA Nā Hoa Aloha o ka Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau Project : Makahiki Ohana Day Communities : Kanaka Maoli Region : South Kona, Kealakekua, Hawai‘i, Moana RAVEN: Respecting Aboriginal Values and Environmental Needs Country : Canada, Beaver Lake Cree Nation (BLCN) Communities : Cree and Neighboring communities Grants awarded : 2016, 2017 Project: Strengthening the Kawsak Sacha Declaration Communities: Pueblo originario Kichwa de Sarayaku (Original Kichwa People of Sarayaku) Swiilawiid Sustainability Society Project : Building Community Power Region : Skidegate, Haida Gwaii, BC, Turtle Island Project : Vaka and Moana: Tongan Voyaging/Guardians of the Ocean Communities : Native Tongans Region: Tu'anuku Village,Vava'u, Tonga, Moana Grants Awarded : 2018, 2019 Project : Wallunk'as Program Communities : Quechua, Aymara Region: Cochabamba, Bolivia, Abya Yala Since launching the Mino-Niibi Fund for Indigenous Cultures in 2013, The Cultural Conservancy is proud to have awarded over 70 grants supporting more than 33 Indigenous partner organizations in 14 countries .

Please select any image below to learn more about our past partners and their powerful work.

Project : Young Hunters Program Region : Arviat, Nunavut, Turtle Island ASITURSO: Asociación Integral de Turismo de Santiago de Okola Country : Lago Titicaca, Bolivia Grants Awarded : 2014, 2015, 2017 Project : Mni Wizipan Wakan S'Kopa Nagi Nakijicin: Defending the Spirit of the Sacred Water Bundle of the Missouri River Communities : Lakota, Nakota, Dakota Region : Missouri River, Lake Andes, South Dakota, Turtle Island Cabildo Mayor Indígena de Chigorodo / Guardianas de Sabiduría Project : Building the Ancestral Home for Teaching Cultural and Spiritual Knowledge of the Embera People of Chigorodó Region : Chigorodó, Antioquia, Colombia, Abya Yala Communities : Embera, Ayabida y Chami Grants Awarded : 2018, 2019 CHIRAPAQ Centro de Culturas Indígenas del Peru Communitites : 14 Quechua Communities Caminata Espiritual por la Paz y la Union de Los Pueblos (Spiritual Walk for Peace and Unity) Countries: El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico Communities : Many indigenous communities throughout MesoAmerica Okanagan Indian Educational Resources Society (OIERS) Region : British Columbia, Canada, Turtle Island Communities : Syilx Okanagan Grants Awarded : 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019 Region : Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, Abya Yala Communities : Maya Mam, Maya Kiché, Maya Tzutujil Grants Awarded : 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019 Project : Hoʻala Hou: Re-Indigenizing our Spaces Region : Holualoa, Hawaiʻi, Moana Communities : Kanaka Maoli Grants Awarded : 2017, 2018, 2019 Project: The House of Weavers Communities: Q’eqchi and Mopan Maya Communties of Southern Belize Humanities Guåhan (formerly Guam Humanities Council) Inuit Tattoo Revitalization Project Grants awarded: 2016 , 2017, 2018 Project : Annual Gathering of Indigenous Nations Region : Taray, Peru, Abya Yala Communities : Quechua and Intertribal Nations from throughout Abya Yala Grants Awarded : 2017, 2018, 2019 Communities : Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Grants Awarded : 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019 Nga Mata Whanau Trust & Movement Rights Communities : Maori and Native American communities Grants Awarded : 2016 (co-funded with Sacred Fire Foundation), 2017 Project : Strengthening Our Languages On the Land – Phase 2 Communities: Anishinaabe of Elliot Lake Ontario Region : Ontario, Canada, Turtle Island Grants Awarded: 2018, 2019 Organización Indígena de Antioquia Project : Bachelor’s Degree in Pedagogy of Mother Earth: Communication with Mother Earth Communities : 12 indigenous communities throughout Colombia Region : Antioquia, Colombia Grants awarded: 2017, 2018, 2019 Original Kichwa People of Sarayaku Communities : Sarayaku Audiovisual Department in Collaboration with Awá Community of Guadualito and Afro-ecuadorian Community of La Chiquita in the Esmeraldas Province Grants Awarded: 2016, 2017 Organización Payipie Ichadie Totobiegosode (OPIT) Country : Gran Chaco, Paraguay Communities : Ayoreo communities in three villages Grants Awarded : 2013, 2014, 2015 Country: North, Central, and South America (from Alaska to Argentina) Communities: Numerous Native American communities Pou Kapua Creations Trust Communities : Wanka, Chanka, Ashaninka, Ya’nesha Grants Awarded : 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019 Communities: Tzeltales Maya Communities Grants Awarded: 2016, 2017, 2018 Sna Jtz’bajom - Cultura de los Indios Mayas A.

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Project : Assertion, Preservation, Development and Dissemination of the Mayan Tseltal-Tsotsil Culture in the Highlands of Chiapas Communities : Tseltales and Tsotsiles Mayan Communities Region: Chiapas, Mexico, Abya Yala Grants Awarded : 2017, 2019 Teatro Trono / Comunidad de Productores en Artes Project : Teatro Trono - Warisata Mía Communities : Aymara, Quechua & Afro-Bolivian Region : Altiplano, Bolivia Grant awarded : 2018, 2019 The Tŝilhqot’in Culture Society (“Sadanx Jeni”) Communities : Tŝilhqut’in/ Yunesit’in Yakanal: Indigenous Youth Cultural Exchange Communities: Maya, Pueblo, Zapotec Regions: Guatemala, New Mexico, Mexico Grants Awarded: 2014, 2017, 2018 Wabowden Traditional Teachings Project: Wabowden Culture Camp Waikato-Tainui College for Research and Development Communities : Tainui Maori Grants Awarded : 2015, 2016, 2017 Our Current and Past Partners throughout the Americas and Pacific See full screen - select full screen icon in upper left Grantee and partner information - select blue points above Explore past grantee and partner information - select red points above We gratefully acknowledge our generous funder, Tamalpais Trust , who has enabled us to establish this Indigenous-led global re-granting program and support its growth.

We also acknowledge support from other funders that have helped expand this program: We are deeply grateful for these philanthropic partnerships to support Indigenous rights and eco-cultural revitalization. We also welcome individual funders to support this work!