News & Updates

Niibin (Summer) 2025

Boozhoo! (Hello & Welcome!)

We hope you will enjoy hearing about the good work happening.

Maada'ookiing (“the distribution” in Ojibwe) is a Native-led program of the Northland Foundation designed to strengthen relationships with and offer support to Native American community members doing individual or small group work outside of formal nonprofit organizations or Tribal nation entities.

A grant opportunity is offered three times per year, awarding up to $5,000 per grant for Tribal citizens, descendants, or individuals with kinship ties or affiliation to Native American communities for projects happening within the foundation’s geographic service area. Grant applications are accepted any time.

BONUS ROUND

Summer 2025 Pop-up Maada'ookiing Grant Round

The Maada’ookiing Advisory Board and the Northland Foundation are pleased to announce that this summer we are offering an additional round of grants! Apply by July 30, 2025.

As many as ten grants of up to $5,000 each will be awarded in the Fall. If more than ten strong applications come in, proposals that do not receive funding in the special round may be considered for funding by the Board in the September grant round.

Maada'ookiing Grants Awarded

Congratulations & Miigwech Spring/Summer Grantees!

Laura Winter, Duluth: $5,000

To create a graphic novel written in Ojibwemowin in collaboration with first language Ojibwe speakers.

Ruth Porter, Orr: $5,000

To host online beadwork classes and gatherings that reduce isolation by bringing socialization and learning to people in their homes.

Savannah Pemberton, Cass Lake: $4,500

To host beadwork classes that promote cultural knowledge and community in Leech Lake District 1.

Tashia Hart, Duluth: $5,000

To support the creation of a feature film and TV pilot screenplay based in the Duluth Native American community.

Jonathan Thunder, Duluth: $5,000

To support the production of a short film shot and based in the Duluth Native American community.

Sarah Agaton Howes, Cloquet: $5,000

To support a canoe and waterway navigation training and cultural reconnection to Anishinaabe canoeing on the Fond du Lac reservation.

Devon Northbird, Bemidji: $5,000

To support the creation of traditional ribbon skirts and shirt graduation regalia for the class of 2026 at North Woods High School near Bois Forte reservation.

Caitlyn Taylor, Duluth: $5,000

To support a collaborative intergenerational art workshop that promotes healing and connection through language and cultural teaching.

Keep in Touch - Photos Wanted!

Are you a current or former Maada'ookiing grantee? We would love to hear from you and possibly share your project with others!

Please contact us at grants@northlandfdn.org with stories or photos of your experiences doing your project work.

Celebrating Four Years of Grassroots Grantmaking

Click Here for the 2021-2025 Maada'ookiing Outcomes & Impacts two-page publication (pdf).

Next Grant Round

Apply by September 8, 2025

To be considered for the next regular round of funding, applications are due by September 8. Please note this Fall's deadline is one week earlier than normal.

Do you have a great community project idea? You can submit your application at any time, using the website portal, and now can request a grant up to $5,000.

Since the program began in May 2021, 103 Maada’ookiing grants totaling more than $291,000 have been given to a diverse range of projects that:

• Support Native American youth.
• Strengthen use of or access to Native American language (including also digital apps, dictionaries, video, and other creative projects).
• Share Native American culture/spiritual practices.
• Sustain Tribal civic engagement, sovereignty, and self-determination (including non-partisan get out the vote or civic education). 
• Shift the narrative and increase visibility of contemporary Native American communities.
• Promote Native American leadership and experiences (projects that provide training, networking, and education opportunities).
• Engage in Native American grassroots organizing (projects that strengthen community well-being and/or respond to Native American community issues).

Funding Eligibility

This opportunity offers grants to individuals or groups (not official nonprofit organizations). Applicants must be citizens, descendants, or have kinship ties or affiliation to Native American communities.

The project or work to be supported must take place within the Northland Foundation's service area: the Tribal lands of the Zagaakwaandagowininiwag (Bois Forte Band of Chippewa), Gichi Onigaming (Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa), Nagaajiwanaang (Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa), Gaa-zagaskwaajimekaag (Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, District I) and Misi-zaaga'igani Anishinaabeg (Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, District II) as well as the Minnesota counties of Aitkin, Carlton, Cook, Itasca, Koochiching, Lake, and St. Louis.

Questions? Need assistance? Email us at grants@northlandfdn.org.

Ojibwemowin-Ojibwe Language Vocabulary

Zhoomiingweni

(vai) s/he smiles

The Northland Foundation’s geographic service area rests on ceded territory established by the Treaties of 1837, 1854, 1855, and 1866 between the Anishinaabe/Ojibwe Nations and the United States government. This region is the traditional homelands of the Ojibwe, Dakota, Northern Cheyenne, and other Native nations, and Indigenous people continue to live here. We humbly acknowledge that we are on traditional Indigenous land that holds a long history that continues to grow. Our relationships today shape and define our ongoing shared history. Together, we are actively building mutual respect based on trust and understanding. See a more detailed acknowledgement of this land and its history.

Follow Maada'ookiing on social media

northlandfdn.org