South Dakota · Public charity
First Peoples Fund
To honor and support the collective spirit of first peoples artists and culture bearers.
- $1.5M
- Granted FY2023
- 18
- Itemized grants FY2023
- 18
- Organizations funded FY2023
- 44%
- First-time grantees FY2023
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
Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.
- Itemized, FY2023
- $730k
- The rest is grants the schedule does not break out
- Median grant, FY2023
- $50,000
- Largest grant, FY2023
- $100,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 11 to 25
- FY2017 to FY2023
- States reached, FY2023
- 7
- Total assets, FY2023
- $16M
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2023, 44% of the organizations First Peoples Fund funded were first-time grantees, receiving 40% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2023, 60% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $290k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2023 | 18 | $730k | 44% |
| FY2022 | 25 | $470k | 48% |
| FY2021 | 12 | $225k | 58% |
| FY2020 | 20 | $328k | 25% |
| FY2019 | 13 | $258k | 54% |
| FY2018 | 11 | $214k | 55% |
| FY2017 | 11 | $210k | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2024, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Lakota Fund Incorporated | $150,000 | 4 | 2% |
| Four Bands Community Fund Inc | $115,000 | 5 | 1% |
| Kawerak Inc | $115,000 | 5 | 0% |
| Indigenous Peoples Task Force | $106,000 | 5 | 2% |
| Warm Springs Community Action Team | $100,000 | 2 | 2% |
| Lightning Boy Foundation Inc | $100,000 | 3 | 18% |
| Northwest Native Development Fund | $95,000 | 4 | 2% |
| 4 Directions Development | $90,000 | 3 | n/a |
| Ke Kukui Foundation | $85,000 | 3 | 15% |
| Citizen Potawatomi Nation | $80,000 | 4 | n/a |
Show all 59 grantees
Where it is load-bearing
First Peoples Fund supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 3 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 51 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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.
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
How this is measured
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.
About First Peoples Fund
- How much does First Peoples Fund give?
- First Peoples Fund reported 18 itemized grants totaling $730,000, out of $1,503,516 in total grant expense reported on the return in its FY2023 IRS filing. It funded between 11 and 25 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2023.
- What does First Peoples Fund fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2024, its largest causes are Human Services (44%), Arts & Culture (24%), Community Improvement (17%).
- Who are First Peoples Fund's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2024: The Lakota Fund Incorporated ($150k), Four Bands Community Fund Inc ($115k), Kawerak Inc ($115k).
- Does First Peoples Fund fund new organizations?
- In FY2023, 44% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Which funders back the same organizations as First Peoples Fund?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include First Nations Development Institute, Ndn Collective Inc, Northwest Area Foundation.
- Where is First Peoples Fund based?
- First Peoples Fund is based in SD.
Play a game based on First Peoples’ filings →