Push Forward by Dal’Suhu Not-Afraid of the Institute of American Indian Arts

Lionel Bordeaux always had a gift for oratory. He was engaging, convincing, humorous, and had an uncanny knack for getting down to the very crux of the matter. When Bordeaux spoke, people listened. One summer day in 1981, the Sinte Gleska Community College president’s talents were on full dis­play as he testified before the House Subcommittee on Postsecondary Education. “We feel that many times our institutions are about the only thing that our people can look up to for hope and leadership on the Rosebud reser­vation—and even the eventual salvation of the whole tribe,” he stated. Stressing the overwhelming need for greater funding, he added, “I have been coming here for nine years, and it doesn’t get any easier. It seems the more I come here, the night before I get less sleep.”

Indeed, most of the tribal college presidents in the hearing that day were probably behind in their sleep schedules, as they had been working tirelessly on the reauthorization of the Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act (P.L. 95-471), their funding lifeline. Initially passed in 1978, the act was only authorized for three years—and there were members of Congress who wanted to see it expire. President Ronald Reagan’s administration, which had just taken office that January, sought to drastically reduce non-defense-related government spending by making deep funding cuts across the board.

Bordeaux impressed upon the subcommittee that any cuts to tribal colleges would have an oversized effect. Sinte Gleska had a total budget of $1.6 million and served 380 students, most of whom were from the Rosebud reservation, which was in one of the poorest counties in the United States. He went on to illuminate some of the challenges that his students faced, noting that the average annual income on Rosebud was $1,500, that 75% of the population lived below the poverty line, and that there were four suicides in the past four days. Always one to leverage tribal college solidarity, he concluded, “We are specific flowers, each with a design, and a different program, yet you place us all together and we make a beautiful bouquet. I guess to this day we [would] like to take this bouquet and extend it by placing it around you, to ask you to become part of us.”

In the end, Bordeaux’s testimony helped move P.L. 95-471 through the subcommittee and to the floor of Congress where it was ultimately reauthorized. but the ordeal, the constant financial stress, and all those sleepless nights kickstarted discussions on other possible funding streams, particularly from the private sector.

Tribal college leaders mused how such fundraising could help offset tuition costs for students from their respective communities, many of whom simply could not afford college. One major hurdle, however, was that most potential donors were in the East, far removed from Indian Country and the realities there, making those early forays hard going. Gerald Mohatt, Sinte Gleska’s founding president, recalled how private foundations were reluctant: “Some would ask for time to figure out their Indian grant policy. Others might act, but were not likely to give us large sums of money.”

Little Big Horn Community College president Janine Pease worked overtime trying to connect with someone, anyone, in the philanthropic world. During one visit to New York, a potential donor asked, “And tell me again how many students you have?” Pease clarified that her college had a fulltime enrollment of about 250. “My dear,” the woman exclaimed, “you are in charge of a warmed-over tutorial. Why would we ever want to put money into such a thing?”

But as tenacity is a fundamental hallmark of the Tribal College Movement, neither Pease nor anyone else was about to give up. In 1985, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) board of directors, headed by Jim Shanley, developed a plan to create brochures, a direct mail campaign, and a committee for planning special events. That same year, AIHEC held a fundraising dinner in NYC under the banner “Share the Vision” and 30 corporate supporters attended.

Each year thereafter, AIHEC’s fundraising dinners grew, as dignitaries like Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii attracted more donors. In 1987, actress Anne Sward Hansen volunteered her talents to form a national board to oversee the increasingly complex fundraising efforts. And two years later, in 1989, they formally chartered a new organization: the American Indian College Fund.

Since then, the College Fund has grown to be one of the most effective and consequential organizations in Indian Country, opening doors and offering unprecedented opportunities for tribal college students. During its inaugural year, the College Fund raised $29,900. In 2008, that figure had increased to $3.7 million, and in 2023, it stood at a whopping $60.3 million. How did they do it? What is the recipe for their staggering success?

In this special issue of Tribal College Journal, the College Fund tells its story and offers words of wisdom on how to fundraise effectively. Written specially for the tribal college community as a resource guide writ large, Nancyjo Houk and her talented team of marketing experts discuss everything from brand-aided aware­ness to omni-channel marketing to the power of storytelling. Readers will learn about building broad support through direct response fundraising, developing and nurturing long-term and fruitful relationships with donors, utilizing digital platforms for fundraising, and making personal face-to-face connections through community events.

After chartering the College Fund, AIHEC continued to focus largely on advocacy. but over the years the organization has devel­oped an array of other innovative programs that have helped trib­al colleges with resource development. In partnership with the Gates Foundation, AIHEC’s Cangleska Student Success Initiative (CSSI) works with individual tribal colleges on institutional trans­formation, student success, strengthening capacity, and building technical infrastructure. In the feature, “A Higher Endeavor,” Jana M. Hanson, Andrea Rodriguez, and Amber Morseau explain how CSSI is paving the path to greater TCU success.

We hope that you find this issue of TCJ and the lessons herein helpful in your journey to build a more resilient tribal college. TCUs have weathered many storms over the years, but the future is bright and, as Anne Sward Hansen stated upon the chartering of the American Indian College Fund, “The best is yet to come.”

Bradley Shreve, PhD, is the editor of Tribal College Journal.

REFERENCES

Bedrosian, T. (1989). Planning for the Future: A History of the American Indian College Fund. Tribal College: Journal of American Indian Higher Education, 1(1), 19.

Boyer, P. (2015). Capturing Education: Envisioning and Building the First Tribal Colleges. Pablo, MT: Salish Kootenai College Press.

Horwedel, D.M. (2009). Intellectual Capital: For 20 Years, American Indian College Fund Has been Investing. Tribal College: Journal of American Indian Higher Education, 20(4), 20-22.

Oversight Hearing on Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act. Hearing Before the House Subcommittee on Postsecondary Education of the Committee on Education and Labor, 97th Cong. (1981, July 23). Retrieved from https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31210024748384&seq=1