Can Non-Native Funders Embrace a Native Worldview?

Less than 1 percent of philanthropic dollars in the United States explicitly benefit Native Americans, and Native-led organizations receive only half of that.

When Nicholas Banovetz joined Better Way Foundation as executive director in 2022, he helped to steer a shift in its grantmaking. The family foundation, guided by Catholic values and devoted to early childhood education, opted to focus 100 percent of its giving on Native communities.

“We are a foundation that is striving to be a good ally, and for us, that means total resource activation—an approach I learned from the Russell Family Foundation,” Banovetz told NPQ.

In its total commitment to Native communities, Better Way Foundation is an outlier. Less than 1 percent of philanthropic dollars in the United States explicitly benefit Native Americans, and Native-led organizations receive only half of that. Moreover, only 20 percent of large foundations give to Native communities and causes at all.

How might this change? Native Americans in Philanthropy recently partnered with The Bridgespan Group on a report, The Impact and Opportunity of Investing in Native Communities, that interviewed more than 40 Native leaders to investigate this question. One theme we heard repeatedly is that truly transformative change begins when non-Native philanthropy embraces Indigenous values and ways into its own work.

Scholars such as LaDonna Harris (Comanche Nation), founder and president of Americans for Indian Opportunity, have identified and documented characteristics of Indigeneity, which she defines as being centered on the values of reciprocity, responsibility, relationships, and redistribution. Native Americans in Philanthropy, building on the work of International Funders for Indigenous Peoples, has adapted these hallmarks into its philanthropic framework. We call them the five Rs (adding “respect” to the four Rs set forth by Harris).

“The five Rs are what make Native philanthropy so different than non-Native philanthropy,” Dana Arviso (Diné), director of Indigenous programs at Decolonizing Wealth Project, told NPQ.

What Are the Five Rs?

Respect begins with recognizing the rights, worldviews, and self-determination of Indigenous peoples. This means approaching partnerships with humility, honoring sovereignty, and making space for Indigenous ways of knowing and being. Respect is the foundation of all meaningful and lasting collaboration.

For instance, on a site visit to learn more about the land-based learning curriculum of the NACA (Native American Community Academy) Inspired Schools Network—a group of Native-led, Native-serving charter schools—a non-Native funder participated in a buffalo harvest, rolling up her sleeves to help clean and process the animal. “That kind of walking the walk matters,” said Anpao Duta Flying Earth (Lakota, Dakota, Ojibwe, and Akimel O’odham), the school’s executive director.

Reciprocity is linked to humility and means being open to learning, unlearning, and receiving. It means sharing resources and knowledge in equal measure and honoring what is offered with meaningful and sustainable support. True reciprocity creates balance and ensures that relationships are grounded in mutual benefit.

This can involve reconsidering the fundamentals of a dominant worldview and restructuring internal frameworks to facilitate investment in Native communities. NDN Collective, for example, has helped reframe the idea of wealth for non-Native philanthropy.

“To many Native Peoples, wealth means something very different from our foundation’s initial definitions of it,” John Fetzer (White Earth Ojibwe Nation), a program officer at the Northwest Area Foundation (NWAF) explained to NPQ. “It was important that we moved away from concepts focusing on finances and poverty toward those that support prosperity as Native communities understand it. It means we’re strong in our culture, our languages are thriving, and generations are connected again.”

Responsibility calls on partners with Native communities to act with integrity, transparency, and intention. It means including Indigenous Peoples in decision-making, designing accessible and flexible processes, and staying accountable to Indigenous communities. Upholding this value requires more than good intentions—it demands consistent action and care in every part of the philanthropic relationship.

“If I have any advice for funders, it’s show up—that’s how relationship is built.”

“What I’ve learned in working with Native organizations, getting into a real relationship means showing up again and again, listening before you talk, leaning into their strategy and their vision instead of imposing yours,” said Kevin Walker (non-Native), president and CEO of the NWAF. “All of these things that many of us would say, ‘Well, that’s just good philanthropy.’ It’s even more important in a Native context.”

Relationships, of course, are the heart of all movement work, including meaningful philanthropy. Building trust takes time and it means listening deeply, showing up consistently, and collaborating with authenticity. Relationships thrive when you invest in long-term connection over short-term outcomes.

RJ Martinez (Santa Clara Pueblo) of the Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation related to NPQ a story that encapsulates this idea. He was helping with a small event at the Kha’p’o Community School in Santa Clara Pueblo, NM. Martinez, a singer and dancer, works with young people in the community, passing along Native traditions taught to him when he was a boy.

The third graders were excited to perform. Around the same time, a fellow funder came to Martinez expressing interest in investing in the community. Martinez suggested the place to start was coming to the dance. “If I have any advice for funders, it’s show up—that’s how relationship is built,” Martinez told NPQ.

Redistribution, the last of the five Rs, asks people with resources, especially in philanthropy, to shift both money and power into Indigenous hands. This includes removing barriers to funding eligibility, funding Native-led work directly, and creating space for self-determined solutions. When you invest in Native leadership, you ensure that Native Peoples are decision-makers, not just grantees.

All of this is rooted within a broader justice framework. It’s no secret that much of the wealth of the United States has its origins in the exploitation of land, labor, and natural resources—and that includes the wealth that created today’s foundations.

Of course, the land that is today the United States was once occupied entirely by Native peoples, who stewarded the land’s resources. Native leaders urge funders to reckon with that reality.

“Philanthropy needs to be reframed as redistributing resources to us from the economic gains made from what has been taken deliberately from us,” Alvin Warren (Santa Clara Pueblo), vice president of policy and impact at the Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation, told NPQ.

Putting the Five Rs into Practice

The five Rs can be a recipe for, as Kevin Walker of NWAF called it, “good philanthropy.” The ideas of trust-based philanthropy, power shifting, and proximity that have animated conversations across the field in recent years are all certainly resonant with the five Rs.

In its embrace of Native values and the five Rs, Better Way Foundation commits to a nine-year grant cycle, providing the long-term funding that so many have called for. “We don’t dictate outcomes,” said Banovetz. “We’re very hands off, but as much as they want help around technical assistance, we pitch in. But we’re not going to dictate how they go about doing the work, or what success looks like.”

Banovetz believes it is this long-term commitment, along with a posture of humility and a learning orientation, that helps Better Way cultivate authentic relationships where a grantee can feel comfortable enough to reach out for help in the face of a potential crisis. For instance, last year, a Native-led school in New England that serves children ages three to nine with culture and language revitalization education reached out to Banovetz with a problem—the school was facing a significant budget shortfall.

“You said you want to partner differently,” the head of the school told Banovetz. “Help me with funders.”

Banovetz took the challenge seriously, landing 17 meetings with peer funders in the state that helped the school develop a whole new set of relationships. Over the course of those conversations, not only did the school erase its 2024 budget shortfall, but it raised its entire 2025 budget. In a span of five months, they secured over $1 million.

Now the board wants Banovetz to replicate this practice. “They’ve talked about me spending 25 percent of my job just doing funder mobilization,” he said.

Leaning into his funder mobilization role, Banovetz is looking forward to a gathering next year that he’s hosting at the University of Notre Dame for Catholic funders to explore how they can support Native communities.

His key advice will be similar to what so many leaders we interviewed in the course of our research also urged: Just do it. Start making grants. As Banovetz said, “You can do your learning, acknowledge where you are in that journey, and get investments into Native communities at the same time.”