Colorado · Nonprofit
FIRST NATIONS DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE
FIRST NATIONS DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE (Colorado) receives grants from 312 organizations whose IRS filings report $134,441,272 to it, the largest being MARGARET A CARGILL FOUNDATION ($15,915,763). 147 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $56M
- Funders on record
- 312
- Grants received
- $134M
- Net assets
- $108M
What First Nations Development Institute does
Mission
First Nations Development Institute advances and promotes the direct participation of tribes, tribal members, and other indigenous peoples in the full use of the economy.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Strengthening tribal & community institutions through grant support, technical assistance and training, first nations provides tribes and native communities with the tools and resources necessary to create new community-based nonprofit organizations and to strengthen the capacity of existing nonprofits and tribal agencies or departments. For 38 years, first nations has supported hundreds of model projects that help revitalize native communities, while integrating social empowerment and economic strategies. First nations believes that by bolstering tribal and community institutions, we are helping to build economically stronger and healthier native communities for the long term. An essential component of first nations' nonprofit capacity-building strategy is our leadership, entrepreneurial, and apprenticeship development (l.e.a.d.) institute conference that trains emerging and existing native nonprofit leaders, including staff members from many of our grantee organizations. For 23 years first nations has held an annual l.e.a.d. Institute conference for native american nonprofit professionals, tribal leaders and anyone interested in native nonprofits, business and philanthropy.
$9,772,168 spentof which $7,012,475 as grants39% of program spendingNourishing native foods & health first nations recognizes that accessing healthy food is a challenge for many native american children and families. Without access to healthy food, a nutritious diet and good health are out of reach. To increase access to healthy food, we support tribes and native communities as they build sustainable food systems that improve health, strengthen food security and increase the control over native agriculture and food systems. First nations provides this assistance in the form of financial and technical support, including training materials, to projects that address agriculture and food sectors in native communities. First nations also undertakes research projects that build the knowledge and understanding of native agriculture and food systems issues, and inform native communities about innovative ideas and best practices. We also participate in policy forums that help develop legislative and regulatory initiatives within this sector. First nations supports a regional and national network of native food sector and related organizations. First nations conducts its work in this area under its broad native agriculture and food systems initiative…
$3,834,224 spentof which $2,079,916 as grants15% of program spendingNative lands stewardship native american communities have sustainably managed their lands for thousands of years, cultivating, adapting, and transferring traditional ecological knowledge over many generations. This expansive reservoir of knowledge and deep connection to land keep native communities strong and encourage the land to be more productive. Such relationships also benefit the natural world that we depend on, and the importance of being in harmony and true connection with places. In may 2019, theunited nations global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem servicesfound that environmental impacts were less severe or avoided in areas held or managed by indigenous peoples and local communities. The goal of thestewarding native landsprogram is to provide financial and technical assistance to support native ecological stewardship and improve native control of and access to ancestral lands and resources to ensure the sustainable, economic, spiritual and cultural well-being of native communities.
$8,533,684 spentof which $6,049,917 as grants34% of program spendingInvesting in native youth first nations believes that native youth represent the future of native communities, and that their health and well-being determine the future health and well-being of a community overall. By investing in youth and giving them a sense of place and tradition in the community, a community ensures that it will have bright and capable future leaders. First nations invests in native youth and their families through many programs, but the cornerstone of our youth efforts is the native youth and culture fund, which annually provides grant support to numerous youth-related projects. We also have a range of financial education programs that are specifically geared toward native youth, including the crazy cash city reality fair and the pending frenzy workshop. The goal is to provide programs that meet youth where they are, support them in accomplishing their goals and dreams, and prepare them for an empowered adulthood guided by their cultures, families and traditions. Asset building and financial empowerment first nations works with native communities to restore native american control and culturally-compatible stewardship of the assets they own be they land,…
$2,783,754 spentof which $1,960,633 as grants$356,220 earned by the program11% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $24,923,830.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $87M to $116M (+33%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 9% · 2018 9% · 2019 5% · 2020 7% · 2021 3% · 2022 2% · 2023 5% · 2024 6% · 2025 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Board chair
Benny Shendo Jr
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 120 funders, grant income rose $3.4M → $23M.
52 of 312 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 25% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of FIRST NATIONS DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 312 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
FIRST NATIONS DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 12% of grant income, and it takes 8 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 8 funders to its left
28% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund FIRST NATIONS DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 73% · 2018 28% · 2019 25% · 2020 20% · 2021 21% · 2022 11% · 2023 23% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
46% of FIRST NATIONS DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 47% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
FIRST NATIONS DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE draws 98% of its grant income from funders outside Colorado, across 37 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $33M arriving through sponsors registered in 24 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Government funding FIRST NATIONS DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $22.5M on record.
- Department of Agriculture$19.9M
- National Endowment for the Humanities$2.5M
- Environmental Protection Agency$100k
- Department of the Interior$12k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like FIRST NATIONS DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Colorado
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
74%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 36 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FIRST NATIONS DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds FIRST NATIONS DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE?
- FIRST NATIONS DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE (Colorado) receives grants from 312 organizations whose IRS filings report $134,441,272 to it, the largest being MARGARET A CARGILL FOUNDATION ($15,915,763). 147 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FIRST NATIONS DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE have?
- IRS filings report 312 organizations giving $134,441,272 in grants to FIRST NATIONS DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE, 147 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FIRST NATIONS DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE?
- MARGARET A CARGILL FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $15,915,763 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FIRST NATIONS DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Colorado. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 312 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing