How much does Cherokee Preservation Foundation Inc give?

Cherokee Preservation Foundation Inc reported 22 itemized grants totaling $5,452,336, out of $5,611,882 in total grant expense reported on the return in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 15 and 25 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2023.

What does Cherokee Preservation Foundation Inc fund?

By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Community Improvement (48%), Arts & Culture (38%), Employment (6%).

Who are Cherokee Preservation Foundation Inc's largest grantees?

By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: Cherokee Boys Club Inc ($9.7M), Ebci Division of Commerce ($8.9M), The Sequoyah Fund Inc ($3.7M).

Does Cherokee Preservation Foundation Inc fund new organizations?

In FY2023, 27% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.

Which funders back the same organizations as Cherokee Preservation Foundation Inc?

Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina Inc, Dogwood Health Trust, Foundation for the Carolinas.

Where is Cherokee Preservation Foundation Inc based?

Cherokee Preservation Foundation Inc is based in NC.

Cherokee Preservation Foundation Inc

Cherokee Preservation Foundation Inc at a glance Also receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Cherokee Preservation Foundation Inc

To protect and preserve our native culture.

$5.6M

Granted FY2025still arriving

Grants FY2025still arriving

States reached

$1.1M

Largest

01What it funds

01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2023.

Community Improvement$14MArts & Culture$11MEmployment$1.9MEnvironment$1.7MYouth Development$491kEducation$94kRecreation & Sports$10kFood & Nutrition$10kOther$0

02FY2025 · 22 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured

The 22 grants below total $5,452,336, the rows itemized in this filing. The $5,611,882 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $159,546 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

Under $10k1 grant · $8k
$10k–50k7 grants · $188k
$50k–250k8 grants · $1.1M
$250k+6 grants · $4.1M

$115,250

Median grant

States reached

$71M

Total assets

Largest grants
Recipient	Amount
EBCI DIVISION OF COMMERCE	$1,075,000
CHEROKEE BOYS CLUB	$975,000
CHEROKEE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION	$698,000
THE SEQUOYAH FUND INC	$533,181
MUSEUM OF THE CHEROKEE	$500,000
CHEROKEE BOYS CLUB	$336,872
WCU CHEROKEE STUDIES	$223,014
WESTERN REGION EDU SRV ALLIANCE	$206,855
CHEROKEE BOYS CLUB	$198,924
CHEROKEE BOYS CLUB	$133,329
SNOWBIRD CHEROKEE TRADITIONS CORP	$115,250
THE CENTER OF NATIVE HEALTH	$114,300
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WNC	$88,200
QUALLA ARTS & CRAFTS	$58,086
CONSERVING CAROLINA	$49,500

02The need

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 98% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

How this is measured

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

How this is measured

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.

03Its grantees

repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

99%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.

$34M · 29 repeat orgs$416k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +43% since the first grant, against +23% for those funded once.

29 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2025, 17 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

Total granted

$34M

$364k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+43%

+23%

Still filing today

66%

59%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $52k went to new ones.

RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

Arts & CultureEnvironmentEducationCommunity ImprovementRecreation & SportsPhilanthropyOther

How this is measured

First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

TS
THE SEQUOYAH FUND INC
9× · 2017–2025 · $3.7M · revenue +480% · 52% of their budget
CH
CHEROKEE HISTORICAL ASSOICIATION INC
8× · 2017–2025 · $3.0M · revenue +24% · 89% of their budget
MO
Museum of the Cherokee People
9× · 2017–2025 · $2.6M · revenue +1%

Funded once

BR
BLUE RIDGE NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA
2× · 2020–2021 · $67k
TO
TRAIL OF TEARS ASSOCIATION
one grant, 2020 · $52k
BC
BRENT CREEK INSTITUTE
one grant, 2017 · $41k

How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

Catawba Lands Conservancy

As a nationally accredited land trust, we conserve and manage land for public benefit in North Carolinas Southern Piedmont. We have conserved 235 properties, totaling 17,786 acres of land. We also facilitate the creation of a 1600 mile…

Environment

Three Rivers Land Trust Inc

Protect and conserve land, natural areas, rural landscapes, family farms and historic places within north carolina's heartland

Environment

Blue Ridge Resource Conserv and Devel

Blue ridge rc&d works with partners to conserve natural resources, foster environmental stewardship, and support sustainable community development in northwest north carolina.

Environment

Conservation Trust for North Carolina

Ctnc conserves land in ways that inspire and enable people to build resilient, just communities. we carry out our mission in collaboration with other conservation organizations and the communities we serve. our goal is to lessen the…

Environment

South Carolina National Heritage Corridor

The organization's primary mission is a grassroots initiative that advances sustainable development of natural, cultural and historic resources for enhanced quality of life and economic revitalization of communities in south carolina.

Arts & Culture

Friends of the Cherokee National Forest

To conserve, protect, and promote the outstanding natural beauty and ecological vitality of the Cherokee National Forest for current and future generations through strong partnerships with the Cherokee National Forest, volunteers, donors,…

Public Benefit

The Carolina Trust

Philanthropy

Mountain Conservation Trust of Georgia Inc

To promote permanent conservation of the natural resources and scenic beauty of the mountains and foothills of north georgia through land protection, collaborative partnerships and education.

Environment

Cherokee County Historical Society

History Cherokee is a nonprofit organization engaged in the collection, preservation, and interpretation of Cherokee County History.

—

Research Triangle Regional Partnership

The research triangle regional partnership is an association of area economic development agencies dedicated to keeping the research triangle region economically strong by collectively marketing the region's competitive advantages and…

—

Conestee Foundation Inc

Through responsible stewardship of our unique ecological resource, we provide inclusive opportunities for meaningful connection, discovery, and education in nature.

Environment

Forest Education and Conservation Foundation

To promote the protection and development of north carolina's forest, soil, water and wildlife resources.

Environment

How this is measured

The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Cherokee Preservation Foundation Inc; the most unlike its peers is Freshwaters Illustrated Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

04the grantee network

32 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 32 of the 50 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)

Early backer (in before they grew)

31/32

Grantees still filing

24/32

Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Other$22,468,719Arts & Culture$6,605,445Community Improvement$3,765,458Environment$679,940Education$541,619Philanthropy$518,720Recreation & Sports$163,900

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina IncNC39.9× affinity18 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina Inc · Dogwood Health Trust · Foundation for the Carolinas · Wnc Bridge Foundation · North Carolina Community Foundation · Nantahala Health Foundation · Atlanta Braves Foundation · Z Smith Reynolds Foundation Inc · The Cannon Foundation Inc · Duke Energy Foundation · Raymond James Charitable Endowment Fund · American Endowment Foundation

How this is measured

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Cherokee Preservation Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Cherokee Preservation Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024

’20’21’22’23’24’25

no gov moneyreceives it· size = income

0get no government money at all

10report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)

1rely on government for over half their income

typical government reliance, FY20–25

How this is measured

Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.

05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Cherokee Preservation Foundation Inc?

Find your warmest path to Cherokee Preservation Foundation Inc through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

Play a game based on Cherokee Preservation’s filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions

grants reported with no recipient in the public record

The regranting layer

51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer

The DAF merry-go-round

$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds

The endowment market

who holds foundation money, and what just moved

The camps

funders cluster by geography, not ideology

By state

where grant money is based, and what stays home