Wolankeyutomone Kisi Apaciyewik Fund
About the Fund
The Wolankeyutomone Kisi Apaciyewik ("let us take good care of what has been returned") Fund is a Wabanaki-led participatory grant making program that provides unrestricted, general operating support to Wabanaki tribal governments, Wabanaki NGOs, and Wabanaki citizens. Grants from the fund are flexible 1-2 year awards based on the needs of the grantee.
The Fund seeks to repair, rebuild, and sustain Wabanaki relationship, kinship, and access to place by directly helping Wabanaki people and institutions to fulfill their care-taking responsibilities of lands and waters across Wabanaki Traditional Territory in what is now known as Maine.
Eligibility
in addition to the requirements below, eligible applicants are those who did not receive funding during the previous grant cycle. For Wabanaki Tribal Governments, this is considered at the department level.
(Applicants who applied but did not receive funding during the last cycle are still eligible to apply.)
- Wabanaki Tribal Governments: any of the five federally recognized tribal governments in what is currently known as Maine.
- Wabanaki NGOs: a non-governmental organization or non-profit organization with a majority of Wabanaki individuals that make up the board of directors, staff leadership, and community organizers (greater than 50% combined).
Please see the definition for Wabanaki individuals below.
- Wabanaki Individuals: a citizen of one of the five federally recognized Wabanaki tribal governments in what is currently known as Maine (proof of citizenship required)..
Funding Focus Areas
The Commission is committed to funding people and organizations who do the following:
- Build involvement around land and culture, and bring elders and community members together around traditional uses of land and stewardship
- Create opportunities around cultural healing and Wabanaki connections to land
- Support Wabanaki access to places using appropriate access-building strategies (e.g. policy work, knowledge sharing, education about current opportunities)
- Help Wabanaki people who want to make their livelihoods through relationship with land (such as through guiding, canoeing, harvesting, hunting, etc.)
- Incorporate tribal language education in land stewardship activities
- Recognize the importance of our spiritual relations with one another, places connected to our ancestors and their activities, and our non-human relations
2026 Application Period
The application period is closed. An update for the 2027 application period will be posted in the fall of 2026.