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Nia Tero Foundation at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Nia Tero Foundation

Nia tero works alongside indigenous peoples to secure their guardianship of vital ecosystems.

$23M
Granted FY2024still arriving
25
Grants FY2024still arriving
11
States reached
$644k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
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.

Environment$13MArts & Culture$2.7MCivil Rights$2.0MPhilanthropy$1.7MEducation$716kSocial Science$560kHealth$430kInternational$294kOther$0
02FY2024 · 25 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 25 grants below total $3,975,304, the rows itemized in this filing. The $23,048,675 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $19,073,371 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

  • $10k–50k10 grants · $195k
  • $50k–250k9 grants · $1.2M
  • $250k+6 grants · $2.5M
$80,000
Median grant
11
States reached
$81M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
AMAZON FRONTLINES$644,000
CONSERVATION AGREEMENT FUND$500,000
RSF SOCIAL FINANCE INC$410,000
LAND IS LIFE INC$380,000
ONE REEF WORLDWIDE STEWARDSHIP$350,000
BLACKFEET ECO KNOWLEDGE$253,590
IF NOT US THEN WHO$240,125
OFFICE OF THE UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS$223,089
DTWO LTD$200,000
RESOURCES LEGACY FUND (RLF)$150,000
NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN$125,000
NOABU HOLDINGS LLC$99,500
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY$80,000
RAINFOREST FOUNDATION$75,000
JUSTIN DEEGAN DBA THUNDER REVOLUTION STUDIO LLC$50,000
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 (FY19–23, $1.7M) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 94% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%RUDOLPH STEINER FOUNDATION: $1.6M → 14%OPEN ARMS PERINATAL SERVICES: $10k → 9%OPEN ARMS PRENATAL SERVICES: $10k → 9%EL CENTRO DE LA RAZA: $10k → 9%UNITED TERRITORIES OF PACIFIC ISLANDERS WASHINGTON - UTOPIA WA: $10k → 9%UNITED TERRITORIES OF PACIFIC ISLANDERS WASHINGTON - UTOPIA WA: $10k → 9%CHIEF SEATTLE CLUB: $25k → 9%CHIEF SEATTLE CLUB: $25k → 9%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.

Which US states its grants reach

AK
ME
WA
MT
ND
MN
IL
MI
NY
MA
NV
WY
OH
PA
CA
UT
CO
VA
DE
AZ
NM
AR
NC
DC
HI
OK
FL

Grants abroad, by region: $19M on the FY2024 return

Schedule F, as filed: 6 regions, $19M to organizations and $130k to individuals. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.

South America$13M · 70% · 26 grants · 2 people

Stated purpose: SUPPORT INDIGENOUS GUARDIANSHIP · SUPPORT INDIGENOUS ORGANIZATIONAL STRENGTHENING · SUPPORT GUARDIANSHIP OF INDIGENOUS TERRITORY

East Asia and the Pacific$3.9M · 21% · 17 grants

Stated purpose: INDIGENOUS FILM SUPPORT · SUPPORT INDIGENOUS PRACTICE AND WISDOM · SUPPORT INDIGENOUS POLICY GATHERING

North America (Canada and Mexico)$927k · 5% · 4 grants · 2 people

Stated purpose: STRATEGIC ADVOCACY SUPPORT · SUPPORT COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT TRAINING · SUPPORT INDIGENOUS GUARDIANSHIP

Sub-Saharan Africa$420k · 2% · 7 grants

Stated purpose: SUPPORT INDIGENOUS ORGANIZATIONAL STRENGTHENING · SUPPORT FOR INDIGENOUS PARTICIPATION IN GLOBAL POLICY · SUPPORT FOR INDIGENOUS PARTICIPATION IN GLOBAL POLICY AND INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Central America and the Caribbean$257k · 1% · 1 grant

Stated purpose: SUPPORT FOR INDIGENOUS PARTICIPATION IN GLOBAL POLICY

Europe (including Iceland and Greenland)$140k · 1% · 3 grants

Stated purpose: SUPPORT ARCTIC CIRCLE INDIGENOUS YOUTH ADVOCACY · SUPPORT TO INDIGENOUS PEOPLES PAVILION AT GLOBAL EVENTS · SUPPORT STRENGTHENING INDIGENOUS

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. Grants abroad on Schedule F are filed by region, purpose and amount with no recipient name, so they are shown by region and cannot be placed on the country map or matched to a grantee.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 10% of Nia Tero Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Nia Tero Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 7.7% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

72%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$14M · 38 repeat orgs$5.5M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +47% since the first grant, against +13% for those funded once.

38 repeat relationships: 14 still active in FY2024, 24 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

38
54

Total granted

$14M
$4.4M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+47%
+13%

Still filing today

89%
72%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 69% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.1M went to new ones.

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

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEnvironmentEducationInternationalHuman ServicesCivil RightsOther
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

  • CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION
    5× · 2018–2023 · $4.8M · revenue +113%
  • AF
    AMAZON FRONTLINES
    5× · 2020–2024 · $1.7M · revenue +79%
  • OW
    OneReef Worldwide Stewardship
    4× · 2021–2024 · $1.4M · revenue +55% · 27% of their budget

Funded once

  • RS
    RUDOLPH STEINER BENEVOLENT FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2020 · $1.6M · revenue -56%
  • BS
    BOREAL SONGBIRD INITIATIVE
    one grant, 2021 · $850k · revenue -100%
  • ED
    EXPEDICIONARIOS DA SAUDE INC
    one grant, 2020 · $290k · revenue -94% · 66% of their budget
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.

1
International Indigenous Fund for Development and Solidarity Batani
International
2
Amazon Watch Inc

To protect the rainforest and advance the rights of Indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin. We partner with Indigenous communities in campaigns for human rights, corporate accountability, and the preservation of the Amazon Basin's…

Environment
3
The Oakland Institute

The Oakland Institute, an independent policy think tank, works to support global struggles for Indigenous rights, human rights, and land rights and to promote public participation and fair debate on critical social, economic, and…

Food & Nutrition
4
Center for World Indigenous Studies

Activist scholars advancing the right of indigenous peoples worldwide

International
5
Nia Tero Foundation

Nia tero works alongside indigenous peoples to secure their guardianship of vital ecosystems. indigenous peoples are guardians of earth.(see schedule o)

Environment
6
Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians

The affiliated tribes of northwest indians is founded on the principles of unity and cooperation among indian governments and people.

—
7
Indigenous Women Rising Indigeous Women Rising
—
8
10000 Years Institute

10,000 Years Institute evaluates the ecological effects of human activities on natural environments, and promotes the maintenance and restoration of ecological integrity through the integration of reliable scientific information, sound…

Unclassified
9
The Foundation for Indigenous Education Leadership Development
Education
10
Nature and Culture International

Nature and culture international conserves biologically diverse landscapes in latin america, in concert with local cultures, for the well-being of the planet.

Environment
11
International Rivers Network

International Rivers protects rivers and defends the rights of communities that depend on them.

Environment
12
Se Si Le

Se-Si-Le (Saw-See-Lah) is the Lummi language term for our grandmother. Respect for elders is central to native life: to acknowledge grandmother earth is to invoke ancestral and cultural power. Founded by Lummi tribal member Jay Julius,…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Indian Law Resource Center; the most unlike its peers is Rudolph Steiner Benevolent Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

90 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. 90 of the 108 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.

6
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
19
Early backer (in before they grew)
86/90
Grantees still filing
59/90
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION: $4,814,086 · EnvironmentCONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATIONAMAZON FRONTLINES: $1,726,500 · EnvironmentAMAZON FRONTLINESBOREAL SONGBIRD INITIATIVE: $850,000 · EnvironmentBOREAL SONGBIRD INITIATIVEIf Not Us Then Who: $525,125 · EnvironmentRAINFOREST FOUNDATION INC: $503,025 · EnvironmentConservation Agreement Fund A Nj Nonprofit Corporation: $500,000 · Environment+15 more: $1,020,813 · Environment+15 moreTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $1,000,000 · OtherTHE NATURE CONSERVANC…Land is Life Inc: $630,000 · OtherLand is Life IncNOABU HOLDINGS LLC: $485,500 · OtherNOABU HOLDINGS LLCOFFICE OF THE UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: $223,089 · OtherOFFICE OF THE UN HIGH…INDIAN LAW RESOURCE CENTER: $200,000 · OtherBLACKFEET TRIBE: $136,000 · OtherIDENTITY INC: $140,000 · Other+39 more: $1,159,950 · Other+39 moreBlackfeet Eco Knowledge: $549,820 · Arts & CultureBlackfeet E…American Museum of Natural History: $281,840 · Arts & CultureAmerican Mu…Sundance Institute: $190,000 · Arts & CultureSundance In…PAGE SEVENTY-THREE PRODUCTIONS INC: $150,000 · Arts & CulturePAGE SEVENT…BIG SKY FILM INSTITUTE: $125,000 · Arts & CultureBIG SKY FIL…Points North Institute: $125,000 · Arts & CulturePoints Nort…IAF INC: $110,000 · Arts & CultureWOMEN MAKE MOVIES INC: $75,000 · Arts & CultureINTERNEWS NETWORK: $75,000 · Arts & Culture+18 more: $500,000 · Arts & Culture+18 moreRUDOLPH STEINER BENEVOLENT FOUNDATION: $1,610,250 · Human ServicesRUDOLPH S…+4 more: $100,000 · Human Services+4 moreOneReef Worldwide Stewardship: $1,450,000 · AnimalsRSF SOCIAL FINANCE INC: $560,000 · Social SciencePACIFIC RESOURCES FOR EDUCATION AND LEARNING: $400,000 · Social ScienceDTWO LTD DBA Awana Digital: $468,930 · InternationalEXPEDICIONARIOS DA SAUDE INC: $290,000 · InternationalNa'ah Illahee Fund: $70,000 · InternationalRHIZOMATICA COMMUNICATIONS: $49,000 · International+2 more: $50,000 · International
Environment$9,939,549Other$3,974,539Arts & Culture$2,181,660Human Services$1,710,250Animals$1,450,000Social Science$960,000International$927,930

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION: $4,814,086 over 5y, 1.5% of budgetAMAZON FRONTLINES: $1,726,500 over 5y, 13% of budgetOneReef Worldwide Stewardship: $1,450,000 over 4y, 27% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $1,000,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBOREAL SONGBIRD INITIATIVE: $850,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetLand is Life Inc: $630,000 over 5y, 17% of budgetRSF SOCIAL FINANCE INC: $560,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetBlackfeet Eco Knowledge: $549,820 over 2y, 51% of budgetIf Not Us Then Who: $525,125 over 5y, 21% of budgetRAINFOREST FOUNDATION INC: $503,025 over 4y, 2.8% of budgetConservation Agreement Fund A Nj Nonprofit Corporation: $500,000 over 1y, 96% of budgetDTWO LTD DBA Awana Digital: $468,930 over 4y, 11% of budgetPACIFIC RESOURCES FOR EDUCATION AND LEARNING: $400,000 over 3y, 5.0% of budgetEXPEDICIONARIOS DA SAUDE INC: $290,000 over 1y, 66% of budgetAmerican Museum of Natural History: $281,840 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetNEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN: $265,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetREDFORD CENTER INC: $255,793 over 4y, 2.2% of budgetINDIAN LAW RESOURCE CENTER: $200,000 over 1y, 19% of budgetSundance Institute: $190,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetRESOURCES LEGACY FUND: $150,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetPAGE SEVENTY-THREE PRODUCTIONS INC: $150,000 over 1y, 15% of budgetBIG SKY FILM INSTITUTE: $125,000 over 5y, 7.5% of budgetPoints North Institute: $125,000 over 4y, 2.6% of budgetIAF INC: $110,000 over 2y, 53% of budgetNew York University: $80,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWOMEN MAKE MOVIES INC: $75,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetIdentity Inc: $75,000 over 1y, 27% of budgetINTERNEWS NETWORK: $75,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGrist Magazine Inc: $75,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetNa'ah Illahee Fund: $70,000 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetPOTLATCH FUND: $60,000 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetHAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL: $55,000 over 4y, 2.1% of budgetUNITED INDIANS OF ALL TRIBES FOUNDATION: $55,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetCHIEF SEATTLE CLUB: $50,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetNATIVE MOVEMENT: $50,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetEarth Island Institute Inc: $50,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetGLOBAL GREENGRANTS FUND: $50,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetAmplifier Foundation: $50,000 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetRHIZOMATICA COMMUNICATIONS: $49,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetCONSERVATION STRATEGY FUND: $45,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetNEW VENTURE FUND: $45,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNATIVE AMERICAN RIGHTS FUND INC: $37,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetGATHERING ROOTS WELLNESS DBA SACRED LAND COLLECTIVE: $35,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY INC: $35,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetInternational Indian Treaty Council Inc: $32,450 over 1y, 5.1% of budgetINTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEW YORK WOMEN IN FILM & TELEVISION INC: $25,000 over 1y, 1.3% 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.

Rsf Social Finance IncInatai FoundationThe Ford FoundationNovo FoundationThe Satterberg Founda…The Christensen FundCharlotte y Martin Fo…John D and Catherine …Seattle FoundationNa'ah Illahee FundThe Schmidt Family Fo…Proteus Fund Inc
Rsf Social Finance IncCA29.4× affinity14 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Rsf Social Finance Inc · Inatai Foundation · The Ford Foundation · Novo Foundation · The Satterberg Foundation Inc · The Christensen Fund · Charlotte y Martin Foundation-Ima · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Seattle Foundation · Na'ah Illahee Fund · The Schmidt Family Foundation · Proteus Fund Inc

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 Nia Tero Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Nia Tero Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 6%
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 35% of income from government
  • The Center for Independent Documentary Inc: 6% of income from government
  • Babson College: 3% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
20report 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.

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 108 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 Nia Tero’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