Who We've Funded

Native Nations Rebuilders Program (cohort 7) - Josh credits his father with passing along valuable life lessons. Today, he has the confidence and motivation to do anything he puts his mind to. Josh believes in the importance of working with open

As a college student, Chris Francis learned personally the power of one effective teacher to inspire a student as both an artist and community member. Today, he is an artist, advocate and administrator deeply embedded in his South Dakota community

Amelia Franck Meyer has learned a fundamental truth serving youth in the child welfare system: it takes healthy leaders to heal those they serve. She has transformed a small treatment foster care agency into an award-winning enterprise known for

In her community-based work, Elena Gaarder finds herself returning over and over to the same questions: What mix of policies, investments, partners and initiatives truly would shift the balance so that disadvantaged neighborhoods become opportunity

When Latasha Gandy was struggling to help her third-grade daughter with reading, she came to an important realization: not only was the system failing her child, but it had also failed her years before. Despite graduating with a 4.2 GPA from high

John Glover understands dichotomies. He is Indian and non-Indian, traditional Native and Americanized Norwegian Lutheran, academic and non-academic. Given those realities, he seeks to be a bridge and facilitator between the various constituencies he

R. Scott Gray learned early what happens when someone invests in you. Growing up as an only child of a single mother, he was watched over by his next-door neighbor who kept him focused on school and church. When the man died, he willed his life

Native Nations Rebuilders Program (cohort 7) - Eric was born and raised in Fort Yates, North Dakota, on the Standing Rock Reservation. He attended Sitting Bull College, where he received a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He works as the

Native Nations Rebuilders Program (cohort 7) - Jess is a third generation engineer raised on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. His work as an electrical engineer for Montana-Dakota Utilities helped make the region’s electrical grid more

Predicting the future is something many sectors try to do—the government, military, and private sector, especially. But Trista Harris has learned futurism is not at the heart of the nonprofit world. As president of the Minnesota Council on Foundation

Ty Hegland closes every presentation to young people with these words: “There are two things you never get back in life: Time and opportunity. Do not waste either.” He has learned the truth of these words through his own personal and business

As the youngest Native American ever elected to the South Dakota Legislature, and one of only two tribal members in the state’s House of Representatives, Kevin Killer is entering what must be his final term with his eye on the next generation. Who