Strengthening Native Communities Through the Native Fundraisers Community of Practice

First Nations Development Institute’s Native Fundraisers Community of Practice (or NFCOP) is a community of Native fundraisers, trainers, and facilitators who come together with a collective purpose of peer learning. The result is a network of individuals working within their own communities, who now have opportunities for sharing and collaborating, while building skills in fundraising, communications, and strengths-based storytelling.
In this video, NFCOP Program Associate AJ Garcia explains how the community approach makes the concept and practice of fundraising easier and less daunting for Native nonprofit professionals, which ultimately increases capacity of their respective nonprofits, along with overall philanthropic giving to Native-led organizations.
“There's a lot of limited funding in Indian Country,” AJ says. “A program like this really celebrates the work that folks are doing on the ground with and around their own cultural assets and lifeways. Building capacity for Native fundraising takes a little bit of weight off these 501c3s and tribal programs so that they can really focus on the real work that they're doing.”
The most recent cohort of the NFCOP gathered in Tucson, Arizona, this summer to hear from guest presenters and also receive trainings on delivering pitches and grant writing. It was also an opportunity for participants to meet in person to make lasting relationships and allyships with one another, further solidifying this important network.