Dawn Knickerbocker (she/her/Kwe) is Anishinaabe and walks the path of service to Indigenous Peoples with a commitment to equity, sovereignty, and shared responsibility. An enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe from the Ottertail Pillager Band of Indians and a citizen of the White Earth Nation, Dawn now lives in Ohio, where she centers her work on the enduring strength of her People and the belief that every community holds the power to shape its own future.
Dawn is a nationally respected philanthropic strategist, writer, and movement builder with over two decades of experience advancing Indigenous-led systems change. She is Principal of In Our Ways Strategy Group, where she provides high-impact consulting in equity-rooted philanthropy, culturally grounded facilitation, and strategic narrative design. She also serves as the Director of Operations for the Tribal Funding Registry and as Project Director of the Native Civic Power Initiative. Dawn is also the Chief Collab Strategist for the Access Granted Group.
She previously served as Vice President of Philanthropic Strategies at the National Congress of American Indians Foundation, where she launched the Foundation and designed the Equity and Sovereignty Framework, a model now recognized for aligning philanthropic investment with Tribal Nation self-determination. She has also served as Vice President of Communications and External Affairs at Native Americans in Philanthropy, where she guided the organization through a period of historic growth.
Dawn earned an Executive Certificate from Harvard Business School's Tribal Leaders Program, with a focus on Nation Building, Strategic Negotiation, and Governance Strategy. She is also a Rockwood Leadership Institute fellow, trained in the Art of Leadership for Philanthropic Leaders. She holds a Master of Human Rights Practice from the University of Arizona and a Bachelor of Arts in Nonprofit and Organizational Management from Whitworth University.
A Martin Luther King Drum Major for Justice Award recipient, Dawn writes and speaks nationally on sovereignty, community power, and the sacred responsibility of leadership. She serves as Board President here at Urban Native Collective, Vice Chair of the board of Friends of the Earth, and a board member of Green Umbrella, the regional climate collaborative for Greater Cincinnati. In every effort, she invites partners to join her in advancing sovereignty, mutual respect, solidarity, and the shared work of creating a future where communities flourish on their own terms. Dawn lives in Yellow Springs, Ohio and has four children and has been married to her sweetheart, Heath, since 2000.