• • Nonprofit organizations with IRS Section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, or if such status has not yet been achieved, such organizations may apply for funding through a Fiscal Sponsor that has received such 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status;
  • Educational organizations described in Section 170(b)(1)(A)(ii) of the Internal Revenue Code;
  • Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), including Certified Native CDFIs and Emerging Native CDFIs, provided, however, that such CDFI is a tax-exempt organization described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code
  • An instrumentality of a state or federally recognized Tribe, including a non-profit organization chartered under the Tribal law of a state or federally recognized Tribe, that furnishes assistance designed to further Native farming and ranching activities, provided, however, that 1) the use of any grant funds by such grant recipient is restricted exclusively to charitable and educational purposes; 2) the grant recipient is required to annually provide NAAF with audited financial statements and reports as required by NAAF; 3) if the grant recipient is a governmental entity, it is required to provide a limited waiver of sovereign immunity with respect to the NAAF’s right to enforce the terms of the grant (i.e. the amount of funding awarded); and 4) if the grant is awarded, the recipient must agree to comply with all expenditure responsibility requirements designed by NAAF. (NOTE: The limited waiver of sovereign immunity will not be required when the application is submitted; instead, applicants can wait until successful award notifications have been received. The waivers must be submitted to NAAF prior to any award funding distribution.)

In addition, organizations must:

• • have provided and plan to provide business assistance, agricultural education, technical support, or advocacy services to Native farmers and ranchers
  • base their work in the United States
  • propose projects that will provide assistance designed to further Native farming and ranching activities that will directly benefit Native farmers and ranchers
  • use any award made exclusively for charitable and educational purposes described in Section 170(c)(2)(B) of the IRS Code

Organizations applying must provide adequate eligibility documentation. NAAF conducts an external survey of eligibility status. If your entity is not in good standing, the application will not be eligible for review. Please check your IRS status before submitting your application. If you have questions regarding your entity status, please contact [email protected] at least one week before the application closing date.

• • Is a member of a Tribe, band, nation, or community, including any Alaska Native village or regional or village corporation (as established in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act) which is recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians, also known as a “federally recognized Tribe,” or
  • Is a member of any Indian group that has been formally recognized as an Indian Tribe by a State legislature or other similar organization vested with State Tribal recognition authority, also known as a “state recognized Tribe,” or
  • Is a member of any Indian Tribe or “Native group” (according to 43 U.S.C. § 1602(c) and (d)) that asked the United States government for Federal recognition
  • NAAF also recognizes that otherwise eligible entities serving the needs of Native Hawaiian farmers and ranchers should be considered eligible for funding through NAAF.

• Entities that do not provide business assistance, agriculture education, technical support, or advocacy services to Native farmers and ranchers
• Work based outside the United States or its territories
• Projects that do not provide assistance and/or resources designed to impact and further assist in the success of Native farmers and ranchers
• Projects that seek funding predominately to provide outreach on USDA programs and services; resources for those types of activities are already provided by USDA, therefore use of NAAF funds to provide redundant activity support is unallowable
• Projects that assist individual Native farmers and ranchers, but the services are not agriculture-related
• Projects that identify an individual or individuals who will be served by the proposed grant activities. References to those in the service population should not include personally identifiable information.
• Use of funds that are not restricted exclusively to charitable and educational purposes described in IRS Section 170(c)(2)(B)
• Use of funds for litigation; however, offering of legal services important to Native farmers and ranchers is allowable and can include (but isn’t limited to): estate planning, land purchase agreements, understanding of legal rights, contract negotiation, assistance with administrative appeals, and other typical legal or advisory services important to those engaged in agriculture
• Use of funds for lobbying, political activity or influencing legislation as defined by the IRS (other forms of public issues education and public issues advocacy may be eligible activities)

Note: Only Tribal governments may apply for industrial hemp project funding. All applications including requests for industrial hemp support are required to strictly follow the guidance on page 16  of the 2024 RFA Overview. Non-profit, educational, or CDFI organizations are not allowed to submit proposals for funding in this subject matter area.

Yes. The RFA describes the types of national disruption-related activities for which NAAF is seeking project proposals.

There are six categories in the 2024 RFA – General and one category in the 2024 RFA Process – Youth. You may apply for as many categories as you are eligible but can only submit one project budget for each category. 

Smaller project budgets can be just as impactful as larger project budgets. The work you want to do should match the budget you think is necessary to reach your goals and outcomes. All requests should follow the minimum and maximum request guidelines for each category.

No. Cost share, in-kind or matching funds is not required for NAAF funding. However, while not required, these funds can be noted in the grant application. In-kind, third party contributions are encouraged but not required. An application will be reviewed to see if the entity applying has the capacity to responsibly manage an award. An organization should seek funding commensurate with its capacity. Please note that NAAF funds, if awarded, are not considered federal funds and as such may be used to meet federal matching funds required, as appropriate.

Please see pages 22-24 of the 2024 RFA Overview for details.

The maximum and minimum grant size depends on the eligible grant recipient type. Please see the 2024 RFA Overview for more information. 

Funding for specific, eligible programs may be requested for expenditures expected to be made within 24 months (2 years) of receipt of a grant. NAAF will consider future requests for no-cost extensions of time to complete the funded project deliverables/activities. Applicants are free to request projects of a less than 2-year time frame (12 months). Your application and related documents (budget and budget narrative) must be clear as to the length of time your project will utilize for implementation.

NAAF will host 2024 RFA Webinars on the following five (5) dates. Each webinar will start with a one-hour overview of the application process and then transition to a question-and-answer period. All webinar recordings will be posted and archived on the NAAF website. The dates for each webinar are found below and registration is required to participate. The webinars will offer technical assistance to applicants and provide clarification concerning applicant eligibility or focus areas for applications during this grant cycle.

Register General: 

General Webinar 

Register Youth:

Youth Webinar

• Thursday, March 14 at 2 – 4 pm CT (General and Youth Programming)  
• Thursday, March 21 at 2 – 4 pm CT (Youth Programming Only)  
• Thursday, March 28 at 2 – 4 pm CT General and Youth Programming)  
• Thursday, April 11 at 2 – 4 pm CT General and Youth Programming)   
• Thursday, April 25 at 2 – 4 pm CT General and Youth Programming) 

a) After the webinars, a recording will be archived and will be accessible from the NAAF website at https://nativeamericanagriculturefund.org/2024-rfa/ or located on our NAAF YouTube channel.

b) Assistance by email is available by sending your question(s) to [email protected].

c) Assistance by phone is available by leaving a voicemail at 479-445-6226; a team member will return your call with answers.

They would be for both one year and two year projects. 

You may apply for the special emphasis areas, such as Regenerative Ag, via the 501c3 general portal. The app will walk you through to get to the appropriate section. 

Hydroponic projects are eligible for a NAAF grant. 

NAAF is prohibited through our Trust Agreement to fund individuals. (d) Grants to Individuals. The Trust shall not make grants to individuals; however, the Trust may make grants to Eligible Grant Recipients that make grants to individuals, provided that the Trust not earmark the use of the grant for any named individual and there does not exist an agreement, oral or written, whereby the Trust may cause the selection of the individual grantee by the grantee organization. 

If they are two unique projects, yes. 

You will have the option to select a 12 month or 24 month project period. 

It sounds like in this instance the family-run company is being fiscally sponsored by the non-profit. Organizations can be fiscally sponsored by 501(c)(3)’s as long as the sponsored company (the family run business in this case) is also pursuing its own 501(c)(3) certification. Please see the top of Page 5 of the RFA overview for more info on fiscal sponsorship. 

The project start date is the effective date. Once awarded, the effective date can be found on your executed grant agreement.  

To be eligible for fiscal sponsorship, the sponsored grantee must be attempting 501(c)(3) status. Otherwise, that organization is not eligible to apply. 

You can review past successful grantees on our website: https://nativeamericanagriculturefund.org/2023-grantees/. We include a lot of information on regions as well, and links to successful grantees websites. 

Examples of access to capital are activities such as business planning, market planning and training, financial education, credit education, record keeping, credit repair activities, risk analysis, etc.  

If they are unique projects applications may be submitted for both. 

NAAF conducts bi-annual in-person grantee convenings. The next in-person convening will be in 2025. During the years when an in-person convening is not held we will do so remotely. 

Yes, all of those are eligible project activities. The best areas for this type of project would be Tribes – General and/or the Climate and Regenerative Ag focus areas.  

Yes, those are eligible project activities. The best areas for this type of project would be Tribes – General and/or the Climate and Regenerative Ag focus areas. 

NAAF distributes the funds through installments. The amount of installments varies based on the project length. There is no need to send NAAF any invoices. Awardees are required to complete their reports to receive their next installments.   

Yes, non-profit organizations that serve Native youth and/or Native farmers and ranchers are eligible for our funding.  

Yes, non-profit organizations that serve Native youth and/or Native farmers and ranchers are eligible for our funding.  

Yes, absolutely. The presentation deck will also be shared via email, and then archived on the 2024 Request for Applications webpage at NativeAmericanAgricultureFund.org 

There are no posted preferences or requires for the letters of support. Letters are reviewed within the context of the proposed project and should give a snapshot of your strongest supporters or communicate more strongly how your project makes a difference in your community/area. 

Those are allowable project types, you can apply for a project where byproducts are made into fertilizers.  

Unfortunately, only organizations that are currently in the process of applying for 501(c)(3) status may be fiscally sponsored. For more information, please see the top of Page 6 of the RFA Overview for more information. https://nativeamericanagriculturefund.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-RFA-Fiscal-Sponsor-Information-FINAL.pdf 

Creation of a new academic program is an applicable project outcome, as long as that program is focused on agriculture as defined by NAAF. Please note that NAAF grants require all grants to address access to capital. Please see the 2024 RFA Overview for more info on how Educational Organizations can apply. 

Yes, that would be an example of addressing access to capital in the agricultural education section. Another example would be adding a financial literacy component in an agricultural education program.  

Yes, this is an applicable topic for funding.  

 A reimbursement grant is when a grantee expends money and the funder reimburses those expenses. At NAAF, we send out a distinct number of installments. For example, if you have a 12-month grant, you will receive 90% of your grant amount up front, and then the remaining 10% will be dispersed after the final report is marked complete.   

We do not have an exact number, but it does happen. However, to receive NAAF funding, that waiver must be completed per our Trust Agreement. As you are going through the application, there is a section that you select whether you can provide the waiver or not. If you cannot provide that and select no, you will not be able to complete the application process.  

Yes, it is within our application documentation. It states that applicant describe how the organization integrates Native leadership into their decision-making processes and how they ensure that programs are responsive to need of Native farmers and ranchers. Essentially having Native representation in leadership.  

NAAF strives to be less like a federal program that includes a heavier amount of requirements. We strive to be more reflective of the needs of the producers and our grantees.  

Yes, we hope to see updates that are needed. NAAF has no issue reviewing a similar project that was not funded in the previous cycle. Applications that are not funded have an opportunity to meet with NAAF staff on what could have been done to strengthen their proposal. That feedback can be used to rolled into the application for the next cycle.  

NAAF takes a broad approach in defining the audience targeted in the Youth category and is interested in how various Native communities view it. Typically, participants in youth programs will be early childhood to 18 years old, but we encourage you to make a clear case on how your project will define youth. 

It sounds like the Tribal non-profit assisting the youth is asking about fiscal sponsorship. Per NAAF’s Fiscal Sponsor policy, only organizations that are attempting to secure 501(c)(3) non-profit status with the IRS may be eligible to be fiscally sponsored. In the context of this question, the Tribal youth group can apply for the youth grant IF they are eligible to be fiscally sponsored.

If the youth group is not attempting to secure 501(c)(3) non-profit status, they are not eligible to be fiscally sponsored and may not apply. 

www.sovereignequityfund.org — Click on Cultural Foodways Fund. 

As a fiscal sponsor, as long as the youth group is attempting to secure 501(c)(3) non-profit status, you would only be answering fiscal sponsorship questions specifically. The youth group can apply for the youth grant. However, if they are not attempting to secure 501(c)(3) non-profit status, they are not eligible to be fiscally sponsored and may not apply.  

Yes, this is an applicable topic for funding.