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· Public charity

Potlatch Fund

Potlach fund's mission is to inspire and build upon the native tradition of giving and to expand philanthropy with tribal nations and native communities in the pacific northwest.

$1.2M
Granted FY2024still arriving
70
Grants FY2024still arriving
6
States reached
$100k
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 2024.

Arts & Culture$1.0MCommunity Improvement$535kEducation$500kCivil Rights$485kYouth Development$484kHuman Services$359kInternational$303kEnvironment$171kOther$0
02FY2024 · 70 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 70 grants below total $696,425, the rows itemized in this filing. The $1,219,723 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $523,298 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 $10k45 grants · $351k
  • $10k–50k24 grants · $246k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $100k
$8,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$5.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NA'AH ILLAHEE FUND$100,000
HUMMINGBIRD INDIGENOUS FAMILY SERVICES$15,625
INDIGENOUS PERFORMANCE PRODUCTIONS$10,000
SAUK-SUIATTLE INDIAN TRIBE$10,000
E-PEH-TES$10,000
BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF NORTH CHEYENNE NATI$10,000
MAKAH CULTURAL RESEARCH CENTER$10,000
INDIGENOUS IDAHO ALLIANCE$10,000
SILETZ REGALIA SHARING CLOSET$10,000
NORTHERN CHEYENNE LANGUAGE CONSORTIUM$10,000
CHIEF JOSEPH FOUNDATION$10,000
AANIIH AND NAKODA MONTESSORI$10,000
INDIGENOUS LEADERSHIP ACADEMY$10,000
CHICKADEE COMMUNITY SERVICES$10,000
SAGE INDIGENOUS LAW CENTER$10,000
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 (FY17–24, $348k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 24% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%SALISH INSTITUTE: $10k → 18%CENTER POLE: $11k → 23%NORTHWEST AMERICAN INDIAN COALITION INC: $5k → 14%CENTER POLE: $10k → 13%SNQWEYLMISTN: $8k → 18%CENTER POLE: $10k → 23%CENTER POLE: $10k → 23%Center Pole: $5k → 23%Northwest Native Development Fund: $5k → 17%MOUNTAIN SHADOW ASSOCIATION: $8k → 23%Canoe Journey Herbalists: $8k → 9%TACOMA SEED: $8k → 9%NAWDIM: $63k → 9%Open Arms Perinatal Services: $19k → 9%MOTHER NATION: $10k → 9%OPEN ARMS PERINATAL SERVICES: $10k → 9%OPEN ARMS PERINATAL SERVICES: $8k → 9%OPEN ARMS PERINATAL SERVICES: $5k → 9%NATIVE FAMILY LEARNING LODGE: $16k → 9%OCEANIA NORTHWEST: $8k → 9%Chief Seattle Club: $19k → 9%CHIEF SEATTLE CLUB: $14k → 9%CHIEF SEATTLE CLUB: $10k → 9%CHIEF SEATTLE CLUB: $10k → 9%CHIEF SEATTLE CLUB: $8k → 9%MOTHER NATION: $20k → 9%CHIEF SEATTLE CLUB: $8k → 9%CHIEF SEATTLE CLUB: $8k → 9%Mother Nation: $11k → 9%CHIEF SEATTLE CLUB: $5k → 9%MOTHER NATION: $5k → 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.
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.
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 6% of Potlatch Fund’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 80% of the giving stays in WA; by stated purpose, 75%.

Potlatch Fundlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
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.

73%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.4M · 72 repeat orgs$1.2M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +126% since the first grant, against +47% for those funded once.

72 repeat relationships: 20 still active in FY2024, 52 since wound down; 40 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

72
63

Total granted

$3.4M
$815k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+126%
+47%

Still filing today

67%
43%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 40% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $414k 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 & CultureHuman ServicesCommunity ImprovementEnvironmentHealthEducationOther
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

  • NI
    Na'ah Illahee Fund
    7× · 2018–2024 · $346k · revenue +496%
  • NA
    NATIVE ACTION NETWORK
    6× · 2018–2023 · $247k · revenue ×35 · 29% of their budget
  • UI
    UNITED INDIANS OF ALL TRIBES FOUNDATION
    6× · 2017–2022 · $144k · revenue +176%

Funded once

  • ST
    Steilacoom Tribal Museum Association
    one grant, 2021 · $40k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2021 · $40k
  • ST
    SNOHOMISH TRIBE OF INDIANS
    one grant, 2021 · $40k
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
Indigenous Women Rising Indigeous Women Rising
—
2
Native Healing Llc
Animals
3
Ratiwennahawi Inc

Fund Indigenous Nations Languate, Culture and Restoration Plans

Education
4
Seattle Indian Center
Human Services
5
American Indian Institute

The american indian institute's mission is to perpetuate the ancient wisdom and cultural heritage of north america's native people and to promote a greater understanding of that wisdom amoung all people.

Human Services
6
International Indigenous Fund for Development and Solidarity Batani
International
7
The Foundation for Indigenous Education Leadership Development
Education
8
Womanshare Legacy

Womanshare Legacy is an educational, financial and cultural resource for women who may be facing challenges because of discrimination, lack of opportunities or scarcity of personal support. Womanshare Legacy works locally with women,…

Human Services
9
Northwest Washington Indian Health Board

Federal grants and contracts were used to provide direct community and public health services within Native American communities in Northwest Washington

—
10
Lushootseed Research

Preservation of Lushootseed language and culture through research, publishing and presentation of oral history and traditions.

—
11
Al-Qasim Institute Inc

Teaching native language

Religion
12
Blue Bird LifeWays

Blue Bird Lifeways nurtures the breath of life by fostering remembrance, reconnection, and reclamation of land, language, culture, and identity. Through this work, we address the intergenerational impacts of trauma while strengthening…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Children of the Setting Sun Product; the most unlike its peers is Research and Development Services of America. 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

104 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. 104 of the 175 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
49
Early backer (in before they grew)
96/104
Grantees still filing
66/104
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNITED INDIANS OF ALL TRIBES FOUNDATION: $144,230 · OtherUNITED INDIANS OF ALL TRIBES FOUNDATIONDUWAMISH TRIBAL SERVICES DBA DUWAMISH TRIBAL SERVICES INC: $140,730 · OtherDUWAMISH TRIBAL SERVICES DBA DUWAMISH TRIBAL SERVICES INCPORT GAMBLE S'KLALLAM TRIBE: $89,821 · Other+109 more: $2,161,570 · Other+109 moreNATIVE ACTION NETWORK: $246,730 · Arts & CultureNATIVE ACTION NETWO…Red Eagle Soaring: $136,730 · Arts & CultureRed Eagle SoaringINCHELIUM LANGUAGE AND CULTURE ASSOCIATION: $45,500 · Arts & CultureINCHELIUM LANGUAGE …SPOKANE LANGUAGE HOUSE: $33,360 · Arts & CultureMUSEUM AT WARM SPRINGS: $32,500 · Arts & CultureCROW LANGUAGE CONSORTIUM INC: $31,179 · Arts & CultureTHE LANGUAGE CONSERVANCY INC: $27,133 · Arts & Culture+17 more: $219,520 · Arts & Culture+17 moreOPEN ARMS PERINATAL SERVICES: $103,230 · Human ServicesOPEN ARMS…CHIEF SEATTLE CLUB: $79,230 · Human ServicesCHIEF SEA…Center Pole: $46,250 · Human ServicesCenter Po…Mother Nation: $45,000 · Human ServicesMother Na…NATIVE FAMILY LEARNING LODGE: $15,625 · Human ServicesHilltop Urban Gardens: $15,000 · Human Services+8 more: $63,800 · Human Services+8 moreNa'ah Illahee Fund: $346,356 · InternationalUrban American Indian Alaska Native Education Alli: $107,230 · EducationSalish School of Spokane: $50,633 · EducationSteilacoom Tribal Museum Association: $40,000 · EducationINTERCULTURE FOUNDATION INC: $32,513 · EducationCHICKADEE COMMUNITY SERVICES: $18,000 · Education+1 more: $7,500 · EducationUNKITAWA: $60,758 · EnvironmentNimiipuu Ecosystems Restoration Inc: $23,625 · EnvironmentSALMON DEFENSE: $20,000 · EnvironmentKhimstonik: $18,000 · EnvironmentNIMIIPUU PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT: $15,000 · EnvironmentRios to Rivers: $10,000 · EnvironmentWHITESWAN ENVIRONMENTAL WE: $10,000 · EnvironmentCoast Salish Youth Coalition: $8,000 · EnvironmentTINY SEED PROJECT INC: $8,000 · EnvironmentNORTHWEST NATIVE CHAMBER: $25,000 · Community ImprovementCONFEDERATED LOWER CHINOOK TRIBES & BANDS: $20,000 · Community ImprovementPLENTY DOORS COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $18,000 · Community ImprovementNimiipuu Community Development Fund: $15,633 · Community ImprovementUPPER SNAKE RIVER TRIBES FOUNDATION: $15,000 · Community ImprovementNACDC Financial Services Inc: $13,482 · Community ImprovementPACIFIC NORTHWEST TRIBAL LENDING FINANCIAL INSTITUTION: $10,000 · Community ImprovementWIS TEQ NEEMIT: $8,250 · Community ImprovementNAA KAANI NATIVE PROGRAM: $7,500 · Community Improvement
Other$2,536,351Arts & Culture$772,652Human Services$368,135International$346,356Education$255,876Environment$173,383Community Improvement$132,865

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetNa'ah Illahee Fund: $346,356 over 7y, 4.3% of budgetNATIVE ACTION NETWORK: $246,730 over 6y, 29% of budgetUNITED INDIANS OF ALL TRIBES FOUNDATION: $144,230 over 6y, 0.6% of budgetDUWAMISH TRIBAL SERVICES DBA DUWAMISH TRIBAL SERVICES INC: $140,730 over 6y, 4.5% of budgetRed Eagle Soaring: $136,730 over 5y, 11% of budgetUrban American Indian Alaska Native Education Alli: $107,230 over 5y, 11% of budgetOPEN ARMS PERINATAL SERVICES: $103,230 over 5y, 1.6% of budgetNorthwest Justice Project: $81,230 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCHIEF SEATTLE CLUB: $79,230 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetLHAQ'TEMISH FOUNDATION: $63,125 over 5y, 1.8% of budgetUNKITAWA: $60,758 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetPEACEKEEPER SOCIETY: $54,938 over 5y, 14% of budgetSalish School of Spokane: $50,633 over 4y, 1.4% of budgetCenter Pole: $46,250 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetINCHELIUM LANGUAGE AND CULTURE ASSOCIATION: $45,500 over 4y, 4.8% of budgetMother Nation: $45,000 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetLITTLE SHELL TRIBE OF CHIPPEWA INDI: $35,500 over 4y, 3.8% of budgetHearts Gathered: $35,000 over 3y, 5.0% of budgetInternational Traditional Games Soc: $34,682 over 4y, 14% of budgetChief Joseph Foundation: $34,475 over 4y, 19% of budgetNATIVE AMERICAN YOUTH AND FAMILY CENTER: $33,732 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSPOKANE LANGUAGE HOUSE: $33,360 over 4y, 15% of budgetINTERCULTURE FOUNDATION INC: $32,513 over 4y, 4.3% of budgetCHILDREN OF THE SETTING SUN PRODUCT: $32,500 over 4y, 1.8% of budgetMUSEUM AT WARM SPRINGS: $32,500 over 3y, 2.7% of budgetCROW LANGUAGE CONSORTIUM INC: $31,179 over 4y, 2.7% of budgetNATIVE YOUTH LEADERSHIP ALLIANCE: $30,000 over 2y, 21% of budgetSALTFIRE: $28,625 over 2y, 3.4% of budgetTHE LANGUAGE CONSERVANCY INC: $27,133 over 3y, 1.3% of budgetFAST BLACKFEET: $25,625 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF THE NORTHERN CHEYENNE NATION: $25,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetNORTHWEST NATIVE CHAMBER: $25,000 over 2y, 5.1% of budgetSQUAXIN ISLAND MUSEUM LIBRARY AND RESEARCH CENTER: $23,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetAmerican Legion Rocky Boy Veterans Post: $22,138 over 3y, 3.8% of budgetCONFEDERATED LOWER CHINOOK TRIBES & BANDS: $20,000 over 2y, 3.3% of budgetSALMON DEFENSE: $20,000 over 2y, 3.7% of budgetINDIGENOUS CREATIVES COLLECTIVE: $20,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetNATIONAL URBAN INDIAN FAMILY COALITION: $19,700 over 3y, 2.7% of budgetKhimstonik: $18,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetPLENTY DOORS COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $18,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetSILETZ TRIBAL ARTS AND HERITAGE SOCIETY: $18,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetRESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT SERVICES OF AMERICA: $17,500 over 2y, 27% of budgetMONTANA TWO SPIRIT SOCIETY: $17,133 over 2y, 10% of budgetMAKAH CULTURAL AND RESEARCH CENTER: $17,132 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetNimiipuu Community Development Fund: $15,633 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetHUMMINGBIRD INDIGENOUS FAMILY SERVICES: $15,625 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNATIVE FAMILY LEARNING LODGE: $15,625 over 1y, 8.3% of budgetOREGON COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS ASSOC: $15,500 over 1y, 0.4% 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.

  • Who funds Na'ah Illahee Fund ↗
  • Who funds NATIVE ACTION NETWORK ↗
  • Who funds UNITED INDIANS OF ALL TRIBES FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds DUWAMISH TRIBAL SERVICES DBA DUWAMISH TRIBAL SERVICES INC ↗
  • Who funds Red Eagle Soaring ↗
  • Who funds Urban American Indian Alaska Native Education Alli ↗
  • Who funds OPEN ARMS PERINATAL SERVICES ↗
  • Who funds Northwest Justice Project ↗
  • Who funds CHIEF SEATTLE CLUB ↗
  • Who funds LHAQ'TEMISH FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds UNKITAWA ↗
  • Who funds PEACEKEEPER SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds Salish School of Spokane ↗
  • Who funds Center Pole ↗
  • Who funds INCHELIUM LANGUAGE AND CULTURE ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds Mother Nation ↗
  • Who funds Steilacoom Tribal Museum Association ↗
  • Who funds LITTLE SHELL TRIBE OF CHIPPEWA INDI ↗
  • Who funds Hearts Gathered ↗
  • Who funds International Traditional Games Soc ↗
  • Who funds Chief Joseph Foundation ↗
  • Who funds NATIVE AMERICAN YOUTH AND FAMILY CENTER ↗
  • Who funds INDIGENOUS IDAHO ALLIANCE INC ↗
  • Who funds SPOKANE LANGUAGE HOUSE ↗
  • Who funds INTERCULTURE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds CHILDREN OF THE SETTING SUN PRODUCT ↗

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.

First Nations Development InstituteCO83× affinity48 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: First Nations Development Institute · Na'ah Illahee Fund · Inatai Foundation · Charlotte y Martin Foundation-Ima · Philanthropy Northwest · Seeding Justice · Social Justice Fund Northwest · Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples Inc · Common Counsel Foundation · Ndn Collective Inc · Northwest Area Foundation · Seattle 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 Potlatch Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Potlatch Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 50%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 23%
  • Opera Theater Oregon: 100% of income from government
  • Oregon Community Health Workers Assoc: 45% of income from government
  • Native American Youth and Family Center: 23% of income from government
  • Red Lodge Transition Services: 12% of income from government
  • Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians: 10% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
5get no government money at all
28report 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.

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 175 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

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