How to Apply

The Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) utilizes a Request for Proposals (RFP) process which focuses on our mission and strategies. All projects must promote activities that directly benefit Native people and strengthen their relationship to their homelands.

For information on how to apply, see the specific RFP in which you are interested.

Open RFPs

Head Start & K-12 Curriculum Implementation

ILTF provides financial assistance to Head Start and K-12 educational institutions seeking to implement ILTF’s Lessons of Our Land curriculum in individual or multiple classrooms, school-wide or district-wide.

View RFP

State-Wide Curriculum Initiative

ILTF supports efforts that lead to state-wide implementation of the Lessons of Our Land curriculum. This may include comprehensive efforts to adapt the curriculum to Indian nations in that state and offer implementation support and teacher training state-wide. It may also include more strategic efforts that look to change state standards to include Native content, work to ensure that teachers receive training on native content, or work with tribal education departments to advance strategies to educate students about their land.

View LOI

College Curriculum Implementation

ILTF provides funds for adaptation and implementation of two college courses: the Native Land Tenure History course addresses historical to current Indian land tenure issues; and the Strategic Land Planning course speaks to community-based planning and development for Indian nations.

View RFP

Share an Idea

ILTF remains open to unique and innovative projects from the community that serve to enlighten our strategies (education, cultural awareness, economic opportunity and legal reform) and have a significant impact on land issues in Indian Country. Consideration is given to projects with a broad, positive and replicable impact for Indian nations, while at the same time respecting the differences among, and unique circumstances of, Indian communities.

Share an idea

Funding Guidelines

Entities eligible for funding include:

• Tribal, local and state governments
• Nonprofit organizations with a 501(c)(3) designation, including educational institutions

Activities that are not eligible for funding include the following:

• Advocacy and lobbying efforts to influence legislation
• Endowments
• Land purchases for individuals
• Benefits, fundraisers, walk-a-thons, telethons and galas
• Scholarships, tuition assistance or other direct funding to individuals
• Special events, except when the event is a key strategy in a continuum of efforts to achieve community goals in the Foundation’s strategy areas

As you might expect, we receive more requests than we are able to fund with our limited resources given the current economic times. As additional funding becomes available, grantmaking in our other focus areas will resume.

Application Process

The original proposal and attachments must be complete and follow the format established in the grant application and proposal checklist.  (See specific RFP for application and checklist details.)  Mail the completed proposal – only one copy is necessary – to:  Indian Land Tenure Foundation, 151 East County Road B2, Little Canada, MN 55117-1523.

Proposals must be submitted by U.S. mail or carrier service delivery to the Little Canada office with an accompanying electronic version in Microsoft WORD format to arrive at the office no later than 4:00 p.m. CST on the grant closure date noted on the RFP. (We will also accept proposals by email on or before the deadline; however, a full hard copy of the proposal and attachments must be sent by regular mail and postmarked on or before the deadline date.)

Incomplete grant applications (those missing significant required information in the narrative or attachments) and those received after the due date will not be reviewed in the cycle for which they were submitted.

RFPs will open and close on a scheduled basis throughout the year to allow for review of proposals and decisions by the ILTF Board of Directors. Funding decisions are made by the Board of Directors three times a year in January, May and September.