A foundation established by one of the co-founders of Microsoft is sending hundreds of thousands of dollars to a project in Southeast Alaska.

The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation awarded $225,000 to the Anchorage-based Alaska Conservation Foundation. But the money will be spent in Sitka, Kake, Hoonah, Hydaburg and Wrangell.

Brian McNitt works in Sitka as program director for the conservation group. He says this money will help communities develop new sustainable businesses, in line with the Forest Service’s new framework for the Tongass National Forest.

“A really good example is all over the Tongass there’s a big need for stream and forest restoration work,” McNitt said. “In some communities there’s a high capacity to get that kind of work done. And in some communities there is either nonexistent or low capacity to have that happen. It might be a lack of entrepreneurial skills, a lack of on-the-job skills, or it could be a lack of capacity in the community to be involved in that kind of planning process.”

McNitt says the program the Allen money funds will help develop that capacity. The Allen Foundation’s money is joined by $750,000 from the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation.

Bill Vesneski is director of evaluation, research and planning for the Allen Family Foundation. He says the foundation is able to make a positive impact in a way a lot of other granting organizations can’t.

“There’s more flexibility in private money,” Vesneski said. “It has an opportunity to incentivize and spur innovation in the field, and incentivize new approaches and new solutions to difficult problems.”

And all of the money it has sent to Alaska in this round of grants has been geared toward Native communities.

“Some of those grants are to tribal groups, some of those are to tribally led organizations, some of them are to organizations that are working in close collaboration with a tribe,” Vesneski said. “It’s sort of a mix in terms of the organization itself, but all of them together are working in those communities.”

In addition to the Alaska Conservation Foundation, the Paul Allen Family Foundation also sent grants to a Native wellness initiative of the Southcentral Foundation, and to Kohanic Broadcasting, which produces National Native News.