Statistically, Native populations have historically been misrepresented and underrepresented due to haphazard and inconsistent data collection practices. And when funding decisions hinge on the stories the data tell, urgent community needs go unnoticed. To help grants professionals navigate the often thorny issues of working with this category of information. PEAK recently released Driving Equity With Demographic Data. This action planner is the latest resource in our Principles for Peak Grantmaking series.

In conjunction with this release, and in recognition of November as Native American Heritage Month, PEAK Community Knowledge Manager Chantias Ford sat down with Native Ways Federation Executive Director Carly Bad Heart Bull for a conversation on how funders can use demographic data to better support Native Americans.

Ford: What are some of the best practices for funders for collecting and using demographic data to best serve Native-serving grantees?

Bad Heart Bull: First, ask yourself who the data is serving. Often foundations collect data to serve their own purposes and don’t take into consideration how that data collection has impacted the communities that they’re trying to serve or that they should be serving. There needs to be a broader, sector-wide conversation with a number of constituents around making sure grant data is accurately reported to best serve the interests of the communities.

Second, make sure the data you’re using to tell a story is actually representative of the communities that are either being served or that should be served. Sometimes populations get left out, so there needs to be more conversation and movement toward making sure that the story is consistent and that it’s accurate. It’s also important to ask if the grant is serving Native populations specifically, or if it is part of a larger category when you’re collecting data around a particular grant.

Native populations often get lost in the larger BIPOC-serving initiatives. This skews the data for our populations. For example, before the pandemic, some of the largest grants that are coded as serving Native populations are tagged that way because they’re serving multiple populations. The dollar amount isn’t disaggregated. And how much of that grant is actually going to serve our communities is often very questionable. Be as specific as you can. The terms that are used for us matter. For example, some folks use the term Indigenous as a catch-all term, and that can be problematic for Native people because that word often captures folks from multiple continents. You don’t get any real sense of how or whether we’re being included in the numbers and in the funding.

Read the full article about using demographic data by Chantias Ford at PEAK Grantmaking.