· 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
How this is measured
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k45 grants · $351k
- $10k–50k24 grants · $246k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $100k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| 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 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
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.
How this is measured
How this is measured
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%.
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
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
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 40% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $414k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- NINa'ah Illahee Fund7× · 2018–2024 · $346k · revenue +496%
- NANATIVE ACTION NETWORK6× · 2018–2023 · $247k · revenue ×35 · 29% of their budget
- UIUNITED INDIANS OF ALL TRIBES FOUNDATION6× · 2017–2022 · $144k · revenue +176%
Funded once
- STSteilacoom Tribal Museum Associationone grant, 2021 · $40k
- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2021 · $40k
- STSNOHOMISH TRIBE OF INDIANSone 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.
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.
Fund Indigenous Nations Languate, Culture and Restoration Plans
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.
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,…
Federal grants and contracts were used to provide direct community and public health services within Native American communities in Northwest Washington
Preservation of Lushootseed language and culture through research, publishing and presentation of oral history and traditions.
Teaching native language
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…
How this is measured
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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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.
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
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.
- 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
How this is measured
Play a game based on Potlatch’s filings →