Native Americans in Philanthropy (NAP) recently received an unsolicited generous contribution of $150,000 from a close partner, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation.

These types of contributions help bring to life our mission of Indigenizing philanthropy, which includes developing relationships between philanthropy and Tribal Nations to support sovereignty, Indigenous knowledge, and self-determined development.

The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and Chairman Rodney A. Butler are valued partners who consistently use their platform to advocate for Tribal self-determination across the country. Chairman Butler has a history of organizing with local communities in Connecticut and has championed Indian Country in broader spaces through his work at the Department of Treasury, Native American Finance Officers Association, and his engagement with United South and Eastern Tribes. 

“Every investment in our work makes a big impact in our communities, but investments from our Tribal Nation partners carry important meaning, said Erik Stegman, Chief Executive Officer of NAP. Mashantucket’s ongoing philanthropic work is a demonstration of their values as Indigenous people and we are proud to call them partners in our work to support other tribal communities across the country.”

The investment is supporting three areas of programming:

Tribal Nations White House Summit

Since 2021, Native Americans in Philanthropy has been a strategic partner for the e Tribal Nations White House Summit. This annual meeting with the President and his cabinet officials brought hundreds of tribal leaders together for Nation-to-Nation dialogues about federal programs. This investment helped fund Indigenous catering and travel to and from Washington, D.C. for tribal leaders. 

Tribal Community Vision Partnership

The Tribal Community Vision Partnership is a national public-private partnership to drive a large-scale infusion of capital into Indian Country to promote Tribal self-determination. As we set the early groundwork to scale this project, this investment will help us build capacity to take begin work on several tribal pilot community development projects.

NAP Programs and Services

Part of this investment will NAP’s capacity for our regular programming and events in 2025, including Native youth leadership events, education events, and membership education series. This will also support the Native Youth Grantmakers Program, which strengthens the leadership and advocacy skills of emerging Native youth leaders in philanthropy and connects them to key Indigenous leaders in the space.

Contributions like this support our work with Tribal partners and make programming throughout the year possible.