United Way of King County has been proud to support many of King County’s Indigenous groups, particularly over the last five years, when we established the Indigenous Communities Fund during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Much of that funding went toward Seattle Urban Native Nonprofits, a network of local Indigenous-led organizations that focus on improving health, housing, education, and cultural preservation. Seattle Urban Native Nonprofits was launched after United Way published a 2014 report about Indigenous and Alaska Native communities in King County.

The report detailed the challenges facing the Indigenous and Alaskan Native communities while highlighting the communities’ assets and opportunities.

Under the leadership of United Way’s Indigenous staff, our Indigenous Fund was launched in 2020. We provided nearly $1 million in restricted funding to Indigenous groups to address food and housing needs in the county during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, we’ve given millions in unrestricted funding to Indigenous groups to use as they see fit to address the needs in their communities that they know best.

“We’re doing some really exciting work, and one of the reasons we’re doing this work is to support Native resilience,” said Marlo Klein, United Way Senior Community Impact Manager for Housing Stability. She spoke about our Indigenous Communities Fund with Liahann Bannerman, United Way Senior Community Impact Manager of Housing Stability, during United Way’s recent Hourglass podcast.

Both have been key to guiding United Way’s funding to Indigenous communities.

“What I love about the term ‘Native resilience’ is that it refers to the enduring strength and cultural continuity of Indigenous communities,” Klein added.

Our approach to funding Indigenous Communities Fund groups is participatory grantmaking. Funders build relationships with organizations and then provide them with the resources, trusting that they will make the best use of the dollars without funder oversight or extensive reporting of progress.

“Participatory grantmaking ties into trust-philanthropy,” said Bannerman. “It means really trusting people in the community to know what is best for them, what they need, and who is doing that work.”

Through our Indigenous Communities Fund, United Way has partnered with about a dozen of our region’s most impactful organizations, including:

• Chief Seattle Club, whose services and programs include both permanent and transitional housing for its members.
• Native American Women’s Dialog on Infant Mortality provides advocacy, education, and support for American Indian and Alaska Native infants, moms, and families in Washington State.
• Native Action Network promotes Native women’s full representation, participation, and leadership in local, state, tribal, and national affairs.
• Urban Native Education Alliance offers culturally responsive and relevant support to Native youth and families through social, cultural, and educational support services.
• Red Eagle Soaring has mentored hundreds of Native youth, staged more than 180 productions, and supported youth access to the healing power of Native cultural traditions.

Recently, we’ve expanded threefold the number of Indigenous groups we partner with. We hope that our efforts will prompt other funders to do the same, as nationally, less than half of philanthropic dollars go toward Indigenous groups.

Our new partners in the Indigenous Communities Fund include:

• Mother Nation provides culturally grounded healing, advocacy, mentorship, and housing prevention services specifically for Indigenous and Alaska Native women.
• Hummingbird Indigenous Family Services supports families in King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties during pregnancy and early childhood.
• Unkitawa uses traditional art, culture, and ceremony to culturally and spiritually support Indigenous communities in Washington State and beyond.

Currently, we are funding 29 local Indigenous groups.

“We have so many organizations that are doing incredible work in the community,” said Klein. “We have organizations that are doing leadership development for Native women that are making an impact in public policy.

“There is also some exciting new work that’s happening, where we’re funding an organization that is providing spiritual support to Native Americans who are incarcerated.,” Klein added. “They focus on health and healing practices from a cultural perspective for inmates. That is pretty unique, and I’m not sure we would have been able to normally fund such an organization through our typical funding.”

To learn more about United Way’s Indigenous Fund, click here.