Good Relatives Collaborative Grants

We are guided in this process by the Native worldview of the life cycle and we recognize that every organization or group seeking funding may be at different stages of development. We see a priority need for development of new and exploring Native-led and serving organizations who need guidance in their stage of growth. We also hope to support more established and mature Native-led and serving organizations through their ongoing growth and encourage sharing of knowledge and wisdom. We encourage applicants at all stages of growth to apply and evolve through the process of learning and teaching. The application period for the Good Relatives Collaborative Grants begins on Friday, May 16, 2025 at 8 am MT / 9 am CT, and closes on Monday, June 16, 2025 at 5 pm MT/ 6 pm CT.

Grant Amounts

We will be awarding $50,000 grants for emerging organizations and $100,000 grants to more established organizations.

Grant Reporting

All grantees (at least one person from each organization) will be required to attend an annual 2-day convening for collaboration and learning.

• Instead of a written final report, all grantees will give a verbal share out of learnings and dreams at the convening.
• More details about the convening date and travel logistics will be shared in the award letter.

Timeline

• Grant opens Friday, May 16, 2025 at 8 am MT / 9 am CT
• Grant closes on Monday, June 16, 2025  at 5 pm PM / 6 pm CT
• Awards will be announced by early fall.

What’s New in 2025

For 2025, the Good Relatives Collaborative grants will be making several key changes:

•       Four grant categories will be combined into two – exploring and maturing.

In 2022, the Good Relatives Collaborative grants began with four categories – emerging, exploring, growing, and maturing – that mirrored the life cycle of infancy, adolescence, adulthood, and elder. The intent of these categories was to assist new Native-led non-profits to grow incrementally and manage progressively larger grants. However, the feedback we received was that many organizations had a need for larger base funding to provide the ability to hire foundational leadership in the early years to drive development.

In response, we have moved to form two categories instead of four. The emerging and exploring categories will now be combined into one “EXPLORING” category. This category will be for newer organizations that are seeking to launch efforts but have limited experience with larger grants. The growing and maturing categories will now be combined into one “MATURING” category. This category will be for more established organizations that have staff in place to administer grants and are seeking to build capacity for next-level work.

•  Grant funding limits for each category will be increased to $50,000 for the exploring category and $100,000 and maturing category.

The feedback received from grantees is that larger investments in organizations allows them to leverage funding into more grants and partnerships and build capacity faster. In response to this need, the Good Relatives Collaborative grants will increase funding limits for both categories.

•       Grants will be targeted toward new and unfunded Native-led organizations. Organizations that have received two years of funding will not be eligible for additional funding, unless they have received less than $49,999 in total funding over the two years.

This change has been the most difficult to make as we understand the need for continued funding. However, this change also came from direct grantee feedback and from the need to be more inclusive and extend funding in the growing Native-led nonprofit sector. The overall goal of the Good Relatives Collaborative grants – as the Bush Foundation’s pilot project in serving Native Nations as a separate region – has always been to locate Native-led organizations typically unfunded and build reach into areas of the region that have been overlooked. To meet this goal, it is necessary to limit repetitive funding to allow new organizations the opportunity to access funding and support. Native-led organizations that have received at least two years of Good Relatives Collaborative funding* will no longer be eligible to apply for additional funding. We hope that Native-led organizations that have received repeated funding will, as former grantees, continue to serve as mentors and partners as we continually seek to be good relatives with the developing Native-led nonprofit sector in ND, SD, and MN.

•  Organizations applying for funding must have operating budgets under $2.5 Million.

Good Relatives Cooperative grants previously used the benchmark of organizations with operating budgets under $500,000. The rationale for this requirement was to ensure that smaller Native-led nonprofits that are typically underfunded would have more opportunities for funding. However, as we have learned more about the landscape of Native-led organizations, it is apparent that the operating budget benchmark was far too limiting. We hope this change will help us identify more Native-led organizations in need of funding and expand our network.

• Organizations applying for funding will be required to have fiscal sponsorship agreements in place prior to applying for funding.

One of the primary areas of improvement that has been identified through the Good Relatives Collaborative grantmaking process is the need for effective, culturally-competent fiscal sponsorship for Native-led organizations. We are working with partners and the Bush Foundation to build capacity and identify solutions to this need. However, in the interim, it is necessary to require that fiscal sponsorship agreements be executed and in place prior to receiving funding so that we can move funding efficiently through the process.