Tribal Funding Registry

Hozhonigo Instititute

Tribal Funding Registry

The TFR a first-of-its-kind free searchable grants database and TA provider for Tribes and Native serving organizations

Las Vegas, NV, USA

USA

Nonprofit

Native communities face systemic exclusion from public and private funding. Despite experiencing the highest poverty rates in the U.S., they receive just 0.4% of all philanthropic dollars out of $557 billion in 2023. In federal funding, the challenge is growing: according to our Tribal Funding Registry (TFR) data, nearly $1 billion in Tribal-relevant grants have been canceled so far in 2025. These cuts threaten vital services like housing, education, and infrastructure. Before the TFR, Tribal governments and Native nonprofits lacked access to a centralized, culturally grounded tool for navigating funding. Many also lack the in-house capacity to monitor opportunities or write competitive grants—especially for private philanthropy, where transparency and access are limited. The Tribal Funding Registry addresses this gap. It’s a free, searchable platform built by and for Native communities, offering visibility into nearly $22 billion in opportunities. It also connects users with Indigenous grant experts who understand Tribal governance and Native-led work. With over 574 federally recognized Tribes in the U.S., and thousands of Native-serving nonprofits, this tool meets a pressing need. Our aim is to close the funding gap and empowering communities to access resources on their own terms.

The TFR uses AI technology to scrape data sources such as grants.gov and individual funder websites sourced using Candid’s API to aggregate federal, state, foundation, and corporate funding opportunities into one centralized platform. What sets the TFR apart is that technology meets culturally competent grant experts who manually vet opportunities to help determine what grant opportunities are relevant to our TFR community and, this marriage of tech and cultural competence, has helped to create our inclusion and exclusion list that helps to train the tool. Once in the TFR, users can search for grants by keyword, eligibility, focus area, region, or funder type. Each listing is tailored to the unique needs of Native-serving organizations with plain-language descriptions and deadlines. Beyond search, TFR offers access to a network of Indigenous grant experts for application support, training, and strategy and we offer all of this entirely 100% free. Ultimately, TFR simplifies the grant discovery process, builds Tribal grant capacity, and opens doors to both public and private funding that Native communities have historically been excluded from. Not only is the TFR free but the opportunities as always the most up-to-date information and our Resources tab provides

The Tribal Funding Registry (TFR) serves Tribal governments, Native nonprofits, and Indigenous changemakers working to strengthen Native communities across the U.S. These organizations are often operating with limited resources, small teams, and an overwhelming need for funding to address housing, education, health, infrastructure, language revitalization, and more. Despite these needs, Native communities remain deeply underserved: they receive just 0.4% of all philanthropic dollars and face mounting barriers to federal funding—especially as more than $1 billion in federal grants were canceled in the past year alone. TFR directly addresses this by simplifying access to over $25 billion in active funding opportunities through a free, centralized platform tailored specifically for Native-serving entities. It removes the guesswork and time burden from searching for grants and connects users with Indigenous grant experts for support in applying. This solution will help Native leaders secure more funding, build organizational capacity, and shift the balance of power in grant making. By increasing both visibility and access, TFR is a tool for economic sovereignty that is empowering Native communities to fund their own futures on their own terms.