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· Public charity

First Peoples Fund

To honor and support the collective spirit of first peoples artists and culture bearers.

$1.5M
Granted FY2023
18
Grants FY2023
7
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

88% of First Peoples Fund’s FY2024 grant dollars went to Indian Land Tenure Foundation, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2024 names 5 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2023, the last year First Peoples Fund named its own grantees at scale: 18 organizations, $730k. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

11
’17
11
’18
13
’19
20
’20
12
’21
25
’22
18
’23
5
’24

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2024.

Human Services$1.9MArts & Culture$1.1MCommunity Improvement$753kEnvironment$165kYouth Development$164kHousing & Shelter$100kEducation$85kCivil Rights$50kOther$0
02FY2023 · 18 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 18 grants below total $730,000 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $1,503,516 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $773,516 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

By grant size · FY2023

  • $10k–50k7 grants · $130k
  • $50k–250k11 grants · $600k
$50,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$16M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
LAKOTA FUNDS$100,000
4-DIRECTIONS DEVELOPMENT INC$50,000
AMERICAN INDIAN COMMUNITY HOUSING$50,000
LIGHTNING BOY FOUNDATION INC$50,000
AUTRY MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN$50,000
MNI SOTA FUND$50,000
RED EAGLE SOARING$50,000
NATIVE AMERICAN COMMUNITY DEV$50,000
KE KUKUI FOUNDATION$50,000
WARM SPRINGS COMMUNITY ACTION TEAM$50,000
INDIGENOUS ROOTS$50,000
FOUR BANDS COMMUNITY FUND$25,000
DAKOTA WICOHAN$25,000
OYATE TECA PROJECT$20,000
OGLALA SIOUX TRIBE$20,000
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

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

show:

Your human-services grants (FY17–24, $2.0M) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 99% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%THE HOPI FOUNDATION: $20k → 26%DAKOTA WICOHAN: $25k → 11%NORTHWEST NATIVE DEVELOPMENT FUND: $30k → 17%RUNNING STRONG FOR AMERICAN INDIAN YOUTH: $1k → 6%AMERICAN INDIAN YOUTH RUNNING: $20k → 9%THE HOPI FOUNDATION: $3k → 26%NORTHWEST NATIVE DEVELOPMENT FUND: $25k → 17%DAKTOA WICOHAN: $25k → 11%NORTHWEST NATIVE DEVELOPMENT FUND: $20k → 17%DAKOTA WICOHAN: $20k → 11%NORTHWEST NATIVE DEVELOPMENT FUND: $20k → 17%INDIAN LAND TENURE FOUNDATION: $1.8M → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

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

Which US states your grants reach

AK
WA
MT
ND
MN
WI
MI
NY
OR
WY
SD
CA
CO
VA
AZ
NM
HI
OK
MS
GA
TX

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

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

72%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$1.9M · 27 repeat orgs$757k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +122% since the first grant, against +28% for the ones you funded once.

27 repeat relationships — 11 still active in FY2023, 16 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call). Read against FY2023, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

27
22

Total granted

$1.9M
$367k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+122%
+28%

Still filing today

89%
86%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 40% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $150k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureCommunity ImprovementHuman ServicesEducationYouth DevelopmentHousing & ShelterOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • TL
    THE LAKOTA FUND INCORPORATED
    4× · 2017–2023 · $150k · revenue +605%
  • FB
    FOUR BANDS COMMUNITY FUND INC
    5× · 2018–2023 · $115k · revenue +418%
  • KI
    KAWERAK INC
    5× · 2017–2022 · $115k · revenue +220%

Funded once

  • FRACTURED ATLAS INCgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $25k · revenue +57%
  • CT
    CORNERSTONE THEATER COMPANY
    one grant, 2019 · $25k · revenue -19%
  • TT
    THE TANK LTDgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $25k · revenue +115%

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

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
The Cultural ConservancySacred Land Foundation

We are a Native-led Indigenous rights organization. We are dedicated to our mission of protecting & revitalizing Indigenous cultures, empowering them in the direct application of their traditional knowledge & practices on their ancestral…

Arts & Culture
2
Institute of American Indian Arts & Alaska Native

To provide education and instruction in the scholarly study and preservation of indian art to empower creativity and leadership in native arts and cultures through higher education, life-long learning and outreach.

Education
3
Indigenous Women Rising Indigeous Women Rising
—
4
Indigenous Performance Productions

Indigenous Performance Productions was created with the mission to produce, promote, present, manage and advance education around Indigenous performing arts and artists. Indigenous Performance Productions was founded on the vision to…

Arts & Culture
5
Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Inc

Native arts and cultures foundation advances equity and cultural knowledge, focusing on the power of arts and collaboration to strengthen native communities and promote positive social change with american indian, native hawaiian, and…

Arts & Culture
6
Na'ah Illahee Fund

Naah Illahee Fund is an Indigenous-led organization rooted in the Northwest region of Turtle Island. Our mission is to catalyze the ongoing regeneration of Indigenous communities through participatory grantmaking, capacity building, and…

International
7
Native American Agriculture Fund
Food & Nutrition
8
Gichigamiin Indigenous Nations Museum Inc

To promote and share a deeper understanding and respect of native american peoples through the collection, preservation, and interpretation of their traditional and contemporary art and material culture.

Arts & Culture
9
Center for Native Futures

Fosters Native artists of all backgrounds.

Arts & Culture
10
Native American Fiber Program
Environment
11
Northern California Indian Development Council Inc

Research, develop, and administer social and economic development programs to meet the needs of indian and native american communities and individuals residing in the state of california. also for the conservation and preservation of…

—
12
Crows Shadow Institute Inc

Crow's Shadow Institute of the Arts provides educational, social and economic opportunitities to Native Americans through artistic development.

Unclassified

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is New Mexico Community Capital and the most unlike its peers is The Tank Ltd. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyCommunity FoundationsCommunity Arts CentersOrchestra and Ensemble Perf…Local History MuseumsPregnancy Support ServicesImmigrant Worker SupportFaith-Based Liberal Arts Co…
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 23 years old; the field is 20. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number17%0%<5yr12%12%5–10yr20%30%10–20yr17%36%20–35yr16%22%35–55yr18%0%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value17%0%<5yr12%6%5–10yr20%19%10–20yr17%66%20–35yr16%10%35–55yr18%0%55yr+

The field is 17% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 3% lost their exemption, against 10% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
3%2/60
the rest of the field
10%
3,829/38,929

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

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

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 53 of the 60 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
21
Early backer (in before they grew)
52/53
Grantees still filing
33/53
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

INDIAN LAND TENURE FOUNDATION — $1,750,000 · Human ServicesINDIAN LAND TENURE FOUNDATIONNORTHWEST NATIVE DEVELOPMENT FUND — $95,000 · Human ServicesDAKOTA WICOHAN — $70,000 · Human Services+4 more — $61,200 · Human ServicesTHE LAKOTA FUND INCORPORATED — $150,000 · Community ImprovementTHE LAKOTA FUND IN…FOUR BANDS COMMUNITY FUND INC — $115,000 · Community ImprovementFOUR BANDS COMMUNI…WARM SPRINGS COMMUNITY ACTION TEAM — $100,000 · Community ImprovementWARM SPRINGS COMMU…MNI SOTA FUND — $75,000 · Community ImprovementMNI SOTA FUNDMINNESOTA INDIGENOUS BUSINESS ALLIANCE — $70,000 · Community ImprovementMINNESOTA INDIGENO…NACDC Financial Services Inc — $68,000 · Community ImprovementNACDC Financial Se…CHI ISHOBAK INC — $50,000 · Community ImprovementCHI ISHOBAK INCZUNI PUEBLO MAINSTREET — $45,000 · Community ImprovementZUNI PUEBLO MAINST…NEW MEXICO COMMUNITY CAPITAL — $25,000 · Community Improvement+1 more — $10,000 · Community ImprovementKAWERAK INC — $115,000 · OtherKAWERAK INCINDIGENOUS PEOPLES TASK FORCE — $106,000 · OtherINDIGENOUS PEOPLES …4 Directions Development — $90,000 · Other4 Directions Develo…CITIZEN POTAWATOMI NATION — $80,000 · OtherCITIZEN POTAWATOMI …WHITE EARTH BAND OF CHIPPEWA INDIANS — $65,000 · OtherWHITE EARTH BAND OF…SITTING BULL COLLEGE — $65,000 · OtherSITTING BULL COLLEG…TWO WORLDS — $50,000 · OtherTWO WORLDSNEO Philanthropy Inc — $40,000 · OtherOYATE TECA PROJECT INC — $27,500 · Other+9 more — $134,978 · Other+9 moreRed Eagle Soaring — $75,000 · Arts & CultureRed Eagle Soari…PAI FOUNDATION — $75,000 · Arts & CulturePAI FOUNDATIONJilkaat Kwaan Heritage Center — $65,000 · Arts & CultureJilkaat Kwaan H…Indigenous Roots — $50,000 · Arts & CultureIndigenous Root…AUTRY MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN WEST — $50,000 · Arts & CultureAUTRY MUSEUM OF…Native American Community Development Institute — $50,000 · Arts & CultureNative American…INDIGENOUSWAYS INCORPORATED — $35,000 · Arts & CultureINDIGENOUSWAYS …FRACTURED ATLAS INC — $25,000 · Arts & CultureCORNERSTONE THEATER COMPANY — $25,000 · Arts & CultureTHE TANK LTD — $25,000 · Arts & CultureNEW NATIVE THEATRE — $25,000 · Arts & Culture+8 more — $120,000 · Arts & Culture+8 moreLIGHTNING BOY FOUNDATION INC — $100,000 · Youth DevelopmentCHEYENNE RIVER YOUTH PROJECT INC — $36,000 · Youth DevelopmentNISTO INCORPORATED — $36,000 · Youth DevelopmentWISCONSIN NATIVE LOAN FUND INC — $50,000 · Housing & ShelterAMERICAN INDIAN COMMUNITY HOUSING ORGANIZATION — $50,000 · Housing & ShelterKE KUKUI FOUNDATION — $85,000 · Recreation & Sports
Human Services$1,976,200Community Improvement$708,000Other$773,478Arts & Culture$620,000Youth Development$172,000Housing & Shelter$100,000Recreation & Sports$85,000

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetINDIAN LAND TENURE FOUNDATION — $1,750,000 over 1y, 8.1% of budgetTHE LAKOTA FUND INCORPORATED — $150,000 over 4y, 1.8% of budgetFOUR BANDS COMMUNITY FUND INC — $115,000 over 5y, 1.1% of budgetKAWERAK INC — $115,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetINDIGENOUS PEOPLES TASK FORCE — $106,000 over 5y, 2.2% of budgetLIGHTNING BOY FOUNDATION INC — $100,000 over 3y, 18% of budgetWARM SPRINGS COMMUNITY ACTION TEAM — $100,000 over 2y, 2.2% of budgetNORTHWEST NATIVE DEVELOPMENT FUND — $95,000 over 4y, 1.8% of budgetKE KUKUI FOUNDATION — $85,000 over 3y, 15% of budgetMNI SOTA FUND — $75,000 over 2y, 6.9% of budgetRed Eagle Soaring — $75,000 over 2y, 6.9% of budgetPAI FOUNDATION — $75,000 over 3y, 3.9% of budgetMINNESOTA INDIGENOUS BUSINESS ALLIANCE — $70,000 over 2y, 56% of budgetDAKOTA WICOHAN — $70,000 over 3y, 3.5% of budgetNACDC Financial Services Inc — $68,000 over 4y, 1.8% of budgetJilkaat Kwaan Heritage Center — $65,000 over 3y, 17% of budgetSITTING BULL COLLEGE — $65,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetCHI ISHOBAK INC — $50,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetIndigenous Roots — $50,000 over 1y, 5.0% of budgetAUTRY MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN WEST — $50,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetWISCONSIN NATIVE LOAN FUND INC — $50,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetAMERICAN INDIAN COMMUNITY HOUSING ORGANIZATION — $50,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetNative American Community Development Institute — $50,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetNEO Philanthropy Inc — $40,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCHEYENNE RIVER YOUTH PROJECT INC — $36,000 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetNISTO INCORPORATED — $36,000 over 4y, 3.6% of budgetINDIGENOUSWAYS INCORPORATED — $35,000 over 2y, 12% of budgetOYATE TECA PROJECT INC — $27,500 over 2y, 2.2% of budgetFRACTURED ATLAS INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCORNERSTONE THEATER COMPANY — $25,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetTHE TANK LTD — $25,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetNEW MEXICO COMMUNITY CAPITAL — $25,000 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetNEW NATIVE THEATRE — $25,000 over 1y, 6.2% of budgetTHE EVERGREEN STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION — $25,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetTHE HOPI FOUNDATION LOMASUMI'NANGWTUKWSIWMANI — $22,500 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetAMERICAN INDIAN YOUTH RUNNING STRONG INC — $21,200 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetNORTHWEST NATIVE AMERICAN BASKETWEAVERS ASSN — $20,000 over 1y, 63% of budgetAN OPERA THEATRE — $20,000 over 1y, 19% of budgetBlue Bird LifeWays — $20,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetJUNEAU ARTS & HUMANITIES COUNCIL — $20,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetCOUNCIL FOR NATIVE HAWAIIAN ADVANCEMENT — $20,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetCLINTON COMMUNITY CHRISTIAN CORP — $10,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetNICOLAYSEN ART MUSEUM — $10,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetREDBUD RESOURCE GROUP — $10,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LATINO ARTS AND CULTURE — $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSOUTHWEST ORGANIZING PROJECT — $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetMNI WICHONI HEALTH CIRCLE — $10,000 over 1y, 4.5% of budgetAlternate RootsInc — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

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

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

First Nations Develop…Ndn Collective IncNorthwest Area Founda…Common Counsel Founda…Oweesta CorporationSaint Paul & Minnesot…The McKnight Foundati…Native American Agric…The Andrew W Mellon F…Headwaters Foundation…Novo FoundationAmalgamated Charitabl…
First Nations Development InstituteCO49.4× affinity23 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: First Nations Development Institute · Ndn Collective Inc · Northwest Area Foundation · Common Counsel Foundation · Oweesta Corporation · Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation · The McKnight Foundation · Native American Agriculture Fund · The Andrew W Mellon Foundation · Headwaters Foundation for Justice · Novo Foundation · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc

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

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization First Peoples Fund funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%5%19%42%75%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 28%
  • Warm Springs Community Action Team — 28% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
18report 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

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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to First Peoples Fund?

Find your warmest path to First Peoples Fund 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 60 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

Generated from your IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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