Original Clay Grants was born from a legacy of survival, resilience and radical creativity. As Choctaw siblings raised off the reservation in California, we carry the story of our grandfather who was a boarding school survivor whom left the reservation seeking healing for our family. Our name, Original Clay, honors him and our responsibility to build something lasting from the earth we came from.
We founded this company to reclaim the narrative. Grant writing has long been a gatekept space withheld from our Native, Black and other marginalized communities. We are too often left out of funding opportunities that could transform lives. Through storytelling, strategy and lived experience, we help organizations and creators bring their work to life with dignity and power.
Original Clay is more than who we are. It’s a movement. A promise to keep our stories alive and our people funded to empower them to change the narrative.
At Original Clay, our vision is to lift Native and BIPOC voices through grant writing that carries purpose and heart. We exist to open space where there was none, to speak where there was silence, to move resources into the hands of those who lead with love and courage.
To us, grant writing is a powerful act. It is how we tell the truth, how we honor our ancestors and protect our future. It is how we press against systems that have overlooked us and carve out new paths with clarity and care.
We walk beside those rooted in community, guided by lived experience and a deep call for justice. We don’t just write to win. We write to awaken, to reclaim, to push forward a future where all our voices are heard.