Aboriginal Philanthropy in Canada: A Foundation for Understanding

6.2 FOUNDATIONS
The following recommendations are directed to foundations that are interested in funding
Aboriginal communities. As this report has demonstrated, a new paradigm of philanthropy is needed
to work successfully with First Peoples. These recommendations provide direction to establish that
new framework.
• Be open to innovations and paradigms that support sustained change: develop true partnerships
and commit to long term investments. Develop relationships with First Peoples’ communities and
nurture them: do what is asked, consult with the community and support community ownership.
• Build the amount of support to Indigenous-led initiatives, as distinguished from the amount of
money given to issues; this can include increasing support for arts, economic development, culture
and other projects that are led by Aboriginal people, not NGOs.
• Stop pathologizing Indigenous people. There is an opportunity for foundations to change the
perception of who Aboriginal people are.
6.3 CONCLUSIONS
The final words are given to a foundation representative who has been working on forging
relationships with First Peoples:
“We have to work on systemic change rather than services and programs. The old school model
of philanthropy is just trying to ‘do good’ and they sometimes end up throwing good money after bad.
For example, our foundation gets a lot of requests for programs to go north for suicide prevention,
but we don’t know anything about how successful they’ll be in that setting. They might have a
proven track record in an urban setting, but will they work in the north? We don’t know. We have
more success when programs come from the community. When it is driven by them, the change
comes from inside. A related broader national question is the way in which Aboriginal public policy
is fashioned; we’ve had a century of it being driven by one dysfunctional government department.
Foundations have a moral obligation to invest in public policy work and a responsibility to promote
alternative policy and systems. Foundations can help liberate us from the Indian Act. There is fertile,
fruitful ground for philanthropy.”
The Circle on Philanthropy & Aboriginal Peoples in Canada 48