The Tiwahe Foundation

“The draft of the 990 will be reviewed by the board and voted on by the members.”

“Officers and staff are asked to disclose annually, in writing any interest that could give rise to conflicts. At each board meeting, members are asked to disclose any potential conflicts of interest.”

“In determining the salary, the board reviewed salaries from the minnesota council of nonprofits " minnesota non profit salary and benefits report and the minnesota council on foundations "grantmaker salary survey reports."”

“The organization makes its governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements available to the public upon request.”

“Tiwahe means having a relative wherever you go. As a native-led organization, we are more than a community-run foundation. We serve as a connector of people, organizations, resources, knowledge, and opportunity. Tiwahe challenges systemic barriers for american indians to reach their goals, on their own terms. In this critical moment for native cultures, languages, and ways of being we invest in our community and the coming generations. We invest in and honor american indian people in minnesota by supporting them to reach their goals in the areas of education, economic independence, cultural traditions and language, health and wellness, and leadership grounded in sovereignty and indigenous worldviews. We do this through our flagship micro-granting program (aifep) and through our oyate leadership network, a network weaving and leadership development program that has been re-envisioned to provide our current and future leaders with the cultural teachings, relational tools, and social infrastructure to reach success as they define it. Tiwahe challenges systemic barriers to the goals our people pursue. The dominant culture approach to philanthropy is one of those barriers. Tiwahe offers a new model for philanthropy that centers indigenous voices and values in every decision from planning through evaluation, and we help other organizations let go of dominant culture practices that hold them back. Our primary tool for supporting individuals is the american indian family empowerment program (aifep). This microgranting program serves peoples from over 100 native nations living in minnesota by providing direct access to funds that help bridge systemic disparity gaps in four key program areas: health and wellness, education, culture and language, and economic independence. Aifep fills a gap left by white philanthropy, which rarely makes direct microgrants to native individuals or families (they focus on other native non-profits or larger grants). And, even in those spaces, their giving is less than 0.4% of their dollars to native communities. 100% of our endowment goes to re-granting to native individuals. Since 2022, we quadrupled our aifep grantmaking through this intentional centering of native culture and values. Our success means our small community-funded endowment no longer meets demand for aifep regranting, let alone operations, or our other programs and ambitious goals for systems change. This is why we are building a community of supporters who share and help realize our vision that the brightest days for native people are ahead of us. Tiwahe's oyate leadership network (oln) builds on tiwahe's existing aifep grantmaking program by offering opportunities to community leaders who are developing indigenous leadership practices across diverse professional and cultural fields in minnesota. Oln has been reinvigorated to respond to the call for programs created within a framework that starts with our own definitions and practices of leadership, not adapting those from dominant culture. Since we have started in 2024 with our new sessions, participants have self-reported that they are "transformed and that they feel their mental health is much stronger, as is their readiness to embody our cultural values as businessowners and leaders in our communities. We also established a wisdom council of key native leaders who founded tiwahe over 10 years ago to actively guide us in centering cultural practices and native voices in program design so that it is contemplative of a future vision that values and uplifts native people and their talents. These voices have illuminated a collective desire for tiwahe to continue growing into a more active hub for indigenous leadership networks and resources, and to further develop an indigenous model for evaluation that is not separate from program activities but fully embedded within the organization, nurturing living feedback loops between tiwahe and community. In many ways, tiwahe is a living database of”

“Other consulting fees: program service expenses 112,168. Management and general expenses 21,908. Fundraising expenses 48,278. Total expenses 182,354.”