MIGIZI Communications

What MIGIZI Communications does

MIGIZI Communications, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (Tax ID 41-1379114) founded in 1977 in Minneapolis by American Indian university students and journalists, including co-founder and first president Laura Waterman Wittstock, to counter misrepresentations of Native people in media. Headquartered at 1845 E Lake Street, Minneapolis, the Indigenous-led organization operates a portfolio of youth development programs serving primarily American Indian middle and high school students across seven Minnesota school districts (Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Farmington, Fridley, Wayzata, Westonka, White Bear Lake). Its name, "MIGIZI," is Ojibwe for bald eagle.

The program surface is organized under the Indigenous Pathways umbrella, which bundles two paid career-training tracks — First Person Productions (FPP), a paid media internship teaching filmmaking, podcasting, social media, and marketing through an Indigenous lens, with Adobe Certification delivered via Minneapolis Community College and a Technovation-aligned curriculum — and the Green Tech Institute (GTI), a paid STEM/green-energy internship covering renewable energy, hydroelectricity, and solar projects. Alongside these, the CLAW (Culture, Leadership, Academics, Well-Being) program delivers in-school academic support, facilitated cultural groups, an after-school program, and the Summer Water Sovereignty program; the Best Buy Teen Tech Center (a partnership with the Best Buy Foundation and The Clubhouse Network) offers drop-in technology learning in graphic design, robotics, film, 3D modeling, music production, and photography; and weekly Academic Tutoring covers Math, Science, Language Arts, and Social Studies. Technology stack is limited to standard nonprofit SaaS — JotForm for applications, Vanco eServicePayments and GiveMN for donations, Wix for web — with no proprietary platform, no public API, and no AI/ML components.

All youth-facing programs are delivered free of charge; paid internships pay $13.75/hour for up to 60 hours per cohort. Revenue is exclusively philanthropic: individual donations via MIGIZI Direct (Vanco) and GiveMN, government grants (Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families for CLAW), and corporate/foundation grants (Best Buy Foundation). The organization employs approximately 13 staff members, has no parent company or institutional owner, and is governed by an Indigenous board drawing from multiple tribal nations (Rosebud Sioux, Fond du Lac, Oglala Lakota, White Earth, Red Cliff, Turtle Mountain, Choctaw, Marten Falls First Nation, Constance Lake First Nation). No revenue figure, cap table, or audited financials are disclosed in the input.

Name

MIGIZI Communications

Legal name

MIGIZI Communications, Inc.

Website

https://migizi.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1977

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

MIGIZI Communications is a 501(c)(3) Indigenous-led nonprofit founded in 1977 in Minneapolis that delivers free academic, cultural, career-training, and technology programs to American Indian youth across seven Minnesota school districts.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nonprofit Youth Development Services

NAICS

Vocational Rehabilitation Services (6243), Child and Youth Services (62411), Educational Support Services (611710), Educational Services (611)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Youth & Young Adult Workforce Programs (Out-of-School Youth) (EDAAAOAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Youth-to-Adult Transition & Life Skills (Independent Living, Soft Skills) (EDAAAFAN), Workforce, Employability & Youth Skills Partnerships (EDADALAI)

Keywords

• Youth development services
• Indigenous education programs
• Nonprofit youth services
• Media arts education
• STEM youth programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Minneapolis

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Individual donations: Online donations via MIGIZI Direct (eServicePayments) and GiveMN, plus mailed donations. MIGIZI is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit (Tax ID 41-1379114) with all donations supporting youth programs.
2. Government grants: CLAW program is funded in part by the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families Youth Intervention Program.
3. Corporate and foundation grants: Best Buy Foundation supports the Best Buy Teen Tech Center; additional foundation support implied across programs.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Core offering

MIGIZI Communications is an Indigenous-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit that delivers free educational, cultural, career-training, and technology programs for American Indian youth in the Twin Cities. Its portfolio includes the CLAW (Culture, Leadership, Academics, Well-Being) after-school and in-school program, the Best Buy Teen Tech Center drop-in technology hub, weekly subject tutoring, and the Indigenous Pathways umbrella bundling paid First Person Productions (media/Adobe) and Green Tech Institute (STEM/green-energy) internships at $13.75/hour.

Product overview

MIGIZI Communications operates as a single unified nonprofit youth-services organization rather than a software platform; its portfolio is delivered as a set of interlocking program modules centered on American Indian youth in Minneapolis. The Indigenous Pathways umbrella bundles the two paid career-training modules — First Person Productions (FPP), a media/social-media internship — and the Green Tech Institute (GTI), a paid STEM/green-energy internship. Alongside these, the Culture, Leadership, Academics, and Well-Being (CLAW) program delivers in-school academic support, facilitated cultural groups, an after-school program, and a summer Water Sovereignty experience; the Best Buy Teen Tech Center provides a drop-in technology exploration hub; and Tutoring offers weekly subject-area support. Together, these programs form a circle of academic, cultural, career, and technology services for Native youth.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• First Person Productions (FPP): Paid youth media internship program (filmmaking, podcasting, social media, marketing) housed within MIGIZI; the original branded name appears in the program's own logo.
• Green Tech Institute (GTI)
• CLAW (Culture, Leadership, Academics, Well-Being)
• Best Buy Teen Tech Center

Products and services

• Indigenous Pathways Umbrella program bundling MIGIZI's two paid career-training opportunities for Native youth — First Person Productions (media internship) and the Green Tech Institute (STEM/green-energy internship) — providing professional development, hourly income at $13.75/hour for up to 60 hours per 8-10 week cohort, and community-impact experience for participants ages 14+.
• First Person Productions (FPP) Paid media internship for Native youth ages 14+ training participants in filmmaking, podcasting, social media, marketing, and graphic design, with Adobe Certification in partnership with Minneapolis Community College and a Technovation-collaborative curriculum; runs four cohorts per year at $13.75/hour.
• Green Tech Institute (GTI) Paid STEM internship for high school students learning science, technology, engineering, and math from an Indigenous perspective through hands-on renewable- and green-energy projects (bikes, hydroelectricity, solar-powered phone chargers); runs four cohorts per year at $13.75/hour for interns 14+.
• CLAW (Culture, Leadership, Academics, Well-Being) Multi-component youth program combining in-school academic support at Minneapolis South High School and Saint Paul Harding High School, facilitated cultural groups at suburban partner schools (Farmington, Wayzata, Westonka, White Bear Lake, Fridley), a Monday-Thursday after-school program, and a Summer Water Sovereignty program; supports 7 school districts.
• Best Buy Teen Tech Center Free drop-in, technology-driven, interactive space for teens ages 13-18 offering hands-on learning in graphic design, robotics/coding, film production, 3D modeling/printing, music production, and photography; operated in partnership with the Best Buy Foundation and The Clubhouse Network.
• Academic Tutoring Weekly tutoring offered Tuesdays from 4-6pm for 8th-12th graders, pairing students with volunteer tutors in Math, Science, Language Arts, and Social Studies to help students achieve their academic goals.

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• The Clubhouse Network: International nonprofit providing the curriculum and network model behind Best Buy Teen Tech Centers; comparable because MIGIZI operates one of these centers and uses Clubhouse curriculum, making it both a partner and a functional peer in the youth tech-center category.

Regional players

• American Indian Center: Chicago-based Indigenous-led nonprofit providing youth, cultural, and community programming for American Indian urban populations; comparable mission and programming mix but operates in a different metro, so it is a regional rather than direct peer.
• Denver Indian Center: Denver-based Indigenous-led organization offering youth education, cultural programming, and community services to urban American Indian populations; comparable service model and target population but serves a different metropolitan geography.

Direct peers

• Native American Community Development Institute (NACDI): Minneapolis-based Native-led nonprofit focused on community development, cultural preservation, and youth programs; comparable as a Twin Cities Indigenous-led organization with overlapping youth and cultural programming and a similar funding model (grants, donations).
• Division of Indian Work: Minneapolis-based nonprofit serving the urban American Indian community with youth, family, and cultural programs; directly comparable as a Twin Cities Indigenous-led youth services organization with overlapping program categories.
• Ain Dah Yung Center: St. Paul-based nonprofit serving American Indian youth and families through housing, education, and cultural programming; most directly comparable peer to MIGIZI given shared Indigenous-led youth services mission, Twin Cities location, and youth-development program mix.
• Minneapolis American Indian Center: Long-standing Minneapolis-based Indigenous-serving organization offering youth, family, and cultural programming to the urban American Indian community; directly comparable as a Minneapolis Indigenous-led youth services peer in the same service geography.
• Tiwahe Foundation: American Indian family-centered foundation in the Twin Cities that funds Indigenous-led nonprofits; comparable because MIGIZI's President (Kelly Drummer) is Tiwahe's founding former CEO, and both organizations serve overlapping Native youth/family populations in the same geography.

Broad incumbents

• Boys & Girls Clubs of the Twin Cities: Large, established youth-services nonprofit serving Twin Cities youth with academic, cultural, and STEM programming; broader incumbent in the same youth-development category but does not specialize in the Indigenous-focused niche that MIGIZI occupies.
• Best Buy Teen Tech Centers (network): National network of teen tech centers funded by the Best Buy Foundation; broader incumbent operating in the same STEM/tech-learning category as MIGIZI's Best Buy Teen Tech Center but as a portfolio rather than an Indigenous-specialized provider.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/MIGIZIcommunications
• Facebookfacebook.com/MIGIZIMN
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/migizi
• Instagraminstagram.com/migizimn

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about MIGIZI Communications