Organizations which receive Three-year Capacity Building Grants are awarded $25,000 the first two years and $15,000 in the third year, with all funds devoted to the internal strengthening of the organization.
Native Action is a 22-year-old, nationally renowned, grassroots Native American organization, based on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in southeastern Montana. It has long filled a critical niche in our region, fighting the environmental injustices of energy development on tribal lands, coordinating a statewide nonpartisan Indian voter empowerment project, and confronting anti-Indian racism in federal, state, and local government. Native Action is widely credited for stemming the damage of energy development to the environment and the people of the Northern Cheyenne, including coal bed methane development, coal strip mining, coal-fired power plants, etc. It has also been on the cutting edge of other social justice issues, with accomplishments that include: successfully challenging bank red-lining and establishing the first local bank on the Reservation; winning litigation requiring that all federal environmental impact statements on or near Indian reservations include a cultural impact analysis; working within tribal government to create precedent-setting tribal traditional burial laws, and tribal sexual assault and domestic violence laws; and providing the infrastructure to a youth-led initiative to get the first public high school on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. Native Action will use its Capacity-Building Grant to support a five-year development plan to increase fundraising capacity; to develop a communications strategy; and to engage in long-range strategic planning. (2006-2008)
Oregon Action is a multiracial, membership-driven, community-based organization created by and for low-income people. It supports broad-based, grassroots participation in the democratic process, with a focus on building power among traditionally disenfranchised sectors of society. It is not a single-issue organization. Rather, it supports people and communities to organize on their own behalf, shifting the balance of power to win concrete policy changes. Oregon Action intentionally reaches out to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community members; the elderly; young people; and people who have been affected by the criminal justice system. A significant number of the organization’s leaders are former prisoners and/or have family members who have been incarcerated. Last year, OA won a landmark victory on campaign finance reform in Portland, passing the first local system in the country for public financing of elections. Oregon Action will use its Capacity-Building Grant to support a long-range development plan — to build fundraising leadership within the organization, to double its membership dues, to build a systemic donor program, and to increase its capacity to raise foundation dollars. (2006-2008)