photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

The campus of Haskell Indian Nations University is pictured Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025.

To say the past year has been a busy one for Kasey Flynt is an understatement.

Flynt, the development director for the Haskell Foundation, an organization designed to fulfill the unmet needs of Native Americans through direct support, research and partnerships, said the foundation was thrust into spotlight after news broke in February that nearly 40 Haskell Indian Nations University workers were ordered to be laid off by the Trump administration.

For a while, Flynt said the group received a “trickle” of donations, but when the story became national news?

“We were completely inundated,” Flynt said.

The employees were eventually ordered to be hired back by a federal judge, as the Journal-World reported, but Flynt said the outpouring of support in the aftermath was huge and from many new people and places. In fact, the Haskell Foundation has gotten over $500,000 from fundraising efforts over the past year, according to data from the organization.

While the influx of donations was very appreciated, Flynt said the school still faces a lot of uncertainty heading into the next year. But Flynt, who uses they/them pronouns, said despite the uncertainty, they can tell donors that every dollar finds a way to make a direct impact for the Haskell community.

“We’re able to do a lot of support that directly impacts the students and their daily lives,” Flynt said.

• • •

When the news broke about the firings that would impact Haskell, the Lawrence community rallied around the affected workers, with hundreds crowding rooms to discuss the ripple effects, as the Journal-World reported.

Flynt said the national focus of the firings led the foundation receiving support from a “whole new donor segment.” They said the foundation received donations from places in the United States like New York City that weren’t “usually associated with Indian Country” and even found support from donors in Europe. That outpouring highlighted to Flynt that people were motivated and angry at the move from the Trump administration.

“A lot of allies were stepping up and saying ‘This is not ok, what can we do to help out?'” Flynt said.

That influx bore out in data provided by Flynt to the Journal-World. As of Dec. 5, the foundation had generated $543,181.13 in donations in 2025. In 2024, the foundation received just over $164,000. The foundation also had an explosion of new donors. According to the data, the number of new donors to the foundation increased by 948 people — a staggering 4,309% more than the previous year.

photo by: Contributed

Kasey Flynt, the development director for the Haskell Foundation.

Flynt said there were many people who gave between $20 to $30 one time, but they said other donors who had deep ties to Haskell dug into estates or family trusts to give to the foundation. Flynt said one donor gave $25,000 that was left by the donor’s grandfather in an estate, something that Flynt said made them feel very emotional.

Along with individual donors, Flynt said local universities like the University of Kansas and the University of Missouri reached out to give support, which Flynt said was “really awesome support from (Haskell’s) higher education peers.”

Although the general motivation was to find ways to best help out the Haskell community, Flynt noted that with the donations, they received letters and comments expressing this was one way to “stick it to the politicians.”

“People wanted to help, but people were also extremely angry at what was happening,” Flynt said. “We had people very motivated by being angry.”

• • •

Flynt said the most important thing in their view was the new donations allowed the foundation to support Haskell students.

Donors to any organization will often ask where the money is going, and Flynt said the three purposes for the foundation’s funds go directly to supporting students, go to student organizations that help keep students culturally engaged or go to the university to fill budget shortfalls.

The foundation has emergency assistance funds available for students to use, Flynt said. They said those funds have helped students stay housed who were at risk of becoming unhoused, help students cover the cost of car repairs or potential vehicle repossessions so they don’t lose transportation and kept students enrolled who would have otherwise needed to drop out for financial reasons.

Flynt said those kinds of programs are especially important because many students who attend Haskell come from places that are economically disadvantaged or overlooked by the government and other support systems. If the foundation is able to help students meet their basic needs, it does so much for them to achieve their academic goals.

“You can’t learn if you’re stressed, you can’t learn if you are hungry, and if I didn’t know where I would sleep at night, I would not be performing well in school either,” Flynt said.

Along with directly helping students, Flynt said the foundation is able to help student organizations thrive at Haskell. They said that is especially crucial since many student organizations help keep students “culturally engaged,” and students who have a high level of cultural engagement have better mental health outcomes.

Flynt said that kind of support assists everything from ensuring the school’s running club has equipment for its events or providing financial support for the school’s Runway Club, which held its second annual event that showcases Native fashion. They also said the foundation has been able to bring support groups like sobriety classes to campus — another way to help students’ mental health.

Flynt also said that students come with an idea of ways they can share a specific experience from their Nation. The foundation can give students funds to host a workshop to teach other students how to sew ribbon skirts or make dreamcatchers or do leatherwork. That exchange helps students preserve and share their culture, and Flynt said that can help them feel more welcome.

“There is a lot of cultural knowledge sharing (and) that tends to make people feel really good about the support they get,” Flynt said.

Additionally, the foundation can help Haskell out if there are budget shortfalls. Flynt said a perfect example of this was this past year in the face of the federal firings. Although those workers were ordered to be hired back, one of the federal branches overseeing Haskell was in a hiring freeze at the time, meaning the school wasn’t actually allowed to hire those positions, according to Flynt. Instead, the foundation hired many of those employees — mostly custodial or dining staff — and gave them back to the university as a work around. Flynt said it was possible this past semester would not have been able to function “without the fundraiser.”

• • •

While the fundraising this year has been immense for keeping the school going, the fallout from this past year and recent legislation still has Haskell in a spot of uncertainty.

The passage of House Bill HR1, otherwise known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” meant Haskell and other tribal colleges faced a 90% reduction in funds, as the Journal-World reported.

That meant Flynt and the Haskell Foundation were still at work looking to fundraise. This past semester, those asks have not been quite as successful compared to that initial rush at the start of the year, but some of that has to do with timing. The government shutdown that started in October impacted things, and the recent economic stress that people are under has meant the flood of donations has turned back to a trickle.

“In the holiday season and the economic situation for most of our donors, it’s not a great time to be giving,” Flynt said.

The foundation is still helping with other things, including a fundraiser for Haskell Athletics coming up on Dec. 16. The school is holding a fundraising dinner for the university’s athletic programs ahead of a women’s basketball game against the Kansas Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse on Dec. 17. Flynt said the event has already presold enough seats to be profitable, and that is exciting for the school’s student athletes.

But the situation for HINU is still in a moment of uncertainty. Along with the federal cuts it is facing, the Haskell Improvement Act, a piece of legislation that would allow the school to run itself instead of receiving federal oversight, could also come through “at any point in time,” Flynt said. Although the legislation, which was officially introduced to Congress in June 2025 as the Journal-World reported, could benefit the school, it would also totally change the calculus for funding.

“It’s a lot of uncertainty,” Flynt said.

That uncertainty might be worrying, but after the busy year that Flynt and Haskell have faced, they know what it takes to get through the other side. And after a record breaking year, Flynt is happy that all of the funds go to support the foundation’s key mission of helping Native American students.

“We as a foundation are able to give direct support to our students. And we take that very seriously,” Flynt said.