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First Alaskans Institute at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

First Alaskans Institute

True to identity, heritage, and values, alaska natives are informed and engaged in leading the decisions that shape the future.

$582k
Granted FY2024still arriving
16
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$235k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its fieldRead
04Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2024.

Civil Rights$630kArts & Culture$393kEnvironment$320kCrime & Legal$50kPhilanthropy$40kYouth Development$33kEducation$27kPublic Benefit$25kOther$0
02FY2024 · 16 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 16 grants below total $545,800, the rows itemized in this filing. The $582,300 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $36,500 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 · FY2024

  • Under $10k7 grants · $47k
  • $10k–50k6 grants · $112k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $387k
$11,800
Median grant
2
States reached
$3.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
OCEAN CONSERVANCY$235,000
ALASKA FEDERATION OF NATIVES$101,545
NATIVE PEOPLES COMMUNITY ACTION FUN$50,000
GWICH'IN SOCIAL AND CULTURAL$30,000
NUDLAGHI LEADERSHP INSTITUTE$25,000
THE MOBILIZATION CENTER LLC$20,000
KAKE TRIBAL HERITAGE FOUNDATION$15,000
FRIENDS OF ANCCS INC$11,800
CHILKOOT INDIAN ASSOCIATION$10,000
HAA TOO YEI YATEE$8,000
CENTRAL COUNCIL TLINGIT & HAIDA$8,000
TKC FISH WHEEL$8,000
BIG SISTER HELPLING LITTLE SISTER$7,000
VILLAGE OF SOLOMON$6,000
ALASKA ARTS SOUTHEAST INC$5,445
02The need
03

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:

Its human-services grants (FY24–24, $8k) land where the poverty rate runs at 22%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%TKC FISH WHEEL: $8k → 22%0%20%40%50%more need →
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 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.

1
The Aleut Foundation
Education
2
Alaska Historical Publication Association
Education
3
Haida Roots

Haida Roots is committed to preserving the endangered Haida language (Alaskan dialect) for future generations. Our mission is to connect community members living in the Seattle area to the Haida language and culture through programs and…

Arts & Culture
4
Alaska Native Sisterhood Association

Cultural activities and classes - 20 participants per class - 6 classes

Human Services
5
Donlin Gold Kuskokwim Educational Foundation
Education
6
Chugach Heritage Foundation
Education
7
Alaska Folk Festival Inc

Alaska residents benefit from free public admission to an arts and culture festival; the week-long festival encourages non-professional musicians and performers, and has been operating since 1975.

Arts & Culture
8
Alaska Native Arts Foundation

To promote and celebrate the uniqueness of alaska native arts and heritage. improve the economic well being of alaska native artists; invigorate education and training of the next generation of alaska native artists; increase awareness of…

Community Improvement
9
Katmai Conservancy

Katmai Conservancy supports the preservation of Katmai National Park and Preserve its unique ecosystems scenic character and associated natural and cultural resources by promoting greater public interest appreciation and support through…

Environment
10
The Foundation for Indigenous Education Leadership Development
Education
11
Alaska Rural Electric Cooperative Association Educational Foundation Inc
Environment
12
Alaskans for Better Elections Foundation
Civil Rights
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Alaska Native Heritage Center Inc; the most unlike its peers is Rasmuson Foundation. 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

22 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. 22 of the 42 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
22/22
Grantees still filing
11/22
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ALASKA FEDERATION OF NATIVES: $711,545 · OtherALASKA FEDERATION OF NATIVESTribal Government of St Paul Island: $85,000 · OtherTribal Government of St Paul Island+24 more: $265,878 · Other+24 moreOCEAN CONSERVANCY: $235,000 · EnvironmentOCEAN CONSERVANCYGWICH'IN SOCIAL AND CULTURAL INSTITUTE OF ALASKA INC: $30,000 · Arts & CultureKAKE TRIBAL HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $15,000 · Arts & CultureSEALASKA HERITAGE INSTITUTE: $15,000 · Arts & CulturePACIFIC COMMUNITY OF ALASKA: $10,000 · Arts & CultureAlaska Native Heritage Center Inc: $5,010 · Arts & CultureNative Peoples Action Inc: $50,000 · Civil RightsTONGASS TLINGIT CULTURAL HERITAGE INSTITUTE: $10,000 · Civil RightsRASMUSON FOUNDATION: $10,000 · PhilanthropyCANDID: $10,000 · PhilanthropyThe CIRI Foundation: $10,000 · PhilanthropyThe Alaska Community Foundation: $7,000 · PhilanthropyARCTIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $15,000 · EducationFRIENDS OF ANCCS INC: $11,800 · EducationXKKF: $10,000 · EducationNUDLAGHI LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE: $25,000 · Public Benefit
Other$1,062,423Environment$235,000Arts & Culture$75,010Civil Rights$60,000Philanthropy$37,000Education$36,800Public Benefit$25,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetALASKA FEDERATION OF NATIVES: $711,545 over 7y, 5.3% of budgetOCEAN CONSERVANCY: $235,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetNative Peoples Action Inc: $50,000 over 1y, 5.6% of budgetNUDLAGHI LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE: $25,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetARCTIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetSEALASKA HERITAGE INSTITUTE: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNOATAK NATIVE STORE NATIVE VILLAGE OF NOATAK: $12,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetFRIENDS OF ANCCS INC: $11,800 over 1y, 11% of budgetRASMUSON FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPACIFIC COMMUNITY OF ALASKA: $10,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetCANDID: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe CIRI Foundation: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTONGASS TLINGIT CULTURAL HERITAGE INSTITUTE: $10,000 over 1y, 24% of budgetTKC Fish Wheel: $8,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetSOUTHWEST ALASKA ARTS GROUP: $7,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetThe Alaska Community Foundation: $7,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHEALTHY ALASKA NATIVES FOUNDATION: $6,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetALASKA ARTS SOUTHEAST INC: $5,445 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetAlaska Native Heritage Center Inc: $5,010 over 1y, 0.1% of budget
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 Alaska Community …Rasmuson FoundationAlaska Native Tribal …First Nations Develop…Alaska Conservation F…Kawerak IncAlaska Humanities For…Rsf Social Finance IncFidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The Alaska Community FoundationAK37.4× affinity17 shared granteesties to 9 of 9Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Alaska Community Foundation · Rasmuson Foundation · Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium · First Nations Development Institute · Alaska Conservation Foundation · Kawerak Inc · Alaska Humanities Forum · Rsf Social Finance Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 First Alaskans Institute funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from First Alaskans Institute. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%2%6%14%25%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely 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.
    04Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to First Alaskans Institute?

    Find your warmest path to First Alaskans Institute 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.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 42 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on First Alaskans Institute’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