In November 2002, the voters of Arizona approved Proposition 202 which initiated new gaming compacts between the State of Arizona and the Native American communities. An important provision of Proposition 202 was the sharing of gaming revenues with the State. Henceforth, tribes would be assessed by the State a percentage of their gross gaming revenue. Tribes had the option of either paying all of this assessment into a State managed fund or to pay 88% of the assessment into the State managed fund and retain 12% of the assessment for distribution as grants.

The law also stipulates that local non-profits may submit applications to tribal entities if the non-profit organization’s application is “sponsored” by an appropriate local government such as a county. As stipulated by the law, sponsorship means the adoption of a board of supervisor resolution authorizing the submission of the grant application and/or pass-through resolution under the auspices of the local government. The board of supervisor resolution is a mandated part of application and/or award based on each individual tribe’s process.

In cases where the County agrees to act as a pass-through, the County receives the grant funds from the tribal community and in turn issues a check to the non-profit agency. The County will execute a pass-through agreement prior to the distribution of the grant funds. To be eligible a resolution or an authorized signature must accompany your application based on the tribal entities requirements.

Requests for support should be made a minimum of 4 weeks prior to the application due date in order to get the items placed on a Board of Supervisor’s agenda for consideration and adoption of a resolution. It is the responsibility of the non-profit to obtain and adhere to the grant requirements outlined by each tribal entity and their respective due dates. Once a resolution is approved by the Board of Supervisors, the County will email the resolution to the non-profit. It is the responsibility of the non-profit to submit their application to the tribal entity for consideration.

To request support, fill out the Tribal Grant Approval Form Fillable and submit it to [email protected]. A separate form must be submitted for each tribal entity to which you are requesting funding. Please contact the grants office at [email protected] or by calling the Grants Administrator at 520-866-6422 with questions.