South Dakota · Nonprofit
FIRST PEOPLES FUND
FIRST PEOPLES FUND (South Dakota) receives grants from 59 organizations whose IRS filings report $35,334,041 to it, the largest being MARGARET A CARGILL FOUNDATION ($6,190,000). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $9.2M
- Funders on record
- 59
- Grants received
- $35M
- Net assets
- $16M
What First Peoples Fund does
Mission
To honor and support the collective spirit of first peoples artists and culture bearers.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Trainings, workshops, and re-grants: First Peoples Fund community development work includes several sub-programs designed to build the capacity of community-based organizations to support the development of creative, leadership, and entrepreneurial skills of individuals under our category of native arts ecology building grants. These grants provide funding and technical assistance to community-based organizations, supporting them to assist native artists to grow as entreprenuers and leaders in their local indigenous arts ecosystem. Through the indigenous arts ecology program, fpf partners primarily with native community development financial institutions. The cohort-based program builds an understanding of the critical role of artists and culture bearers in tribal communities and helps build capacity to better support artists with services, training, and mentoring.
$3,070,759 spentof which $1,750,000 as grants57% of program spendingFirst Peoples Fund is a principal partner in intercultural leadership institute, also known as ili, along with three other organizations. These four core partners have shared a commitment to pursue support for artists, culture bearers, and other arts professionals as change-makers in their communities. The initiative annually selects a cohort of artists and arts administrators from communities of color and convenes them throughout the year to learn about their shared histories, build networks, and gain leadership skills.
$1,418,715 spentof which $250,000 as grants$63,114 earned by the program26% of program spendingArtist in business leadership: cultural capital fellowships are similar programs which are grouped together for reporting purposes. Cultural capital is designed specifically for master artists who have been practicing their art for 10 years of more. Artists; 1) share a commitment to teaching their craft in their community to keep cultural expression alive; 2) have a plan to document their ancestral knowledge for the next generations; and 3) seek ways to sustain cultural sharing as a way of life within their tribal community. Grants of 10,000 offer artists an opportunity to delve deeper into their art - sharing their artistry will all who to learn. Each year, cultural fellows teach and share their knowledge with more than 100 community members. Benefits of the fellowships: First Peoples Fund's artist in business leadership fellowship does not just help artists grow a business, it helps inspire them to fully honor their cultural creativity and grow the impact it has on their people. Artist applicants for the fellowship programs must be native hawaiian or a member of a united states tribal nation. Each artist receives individualized technical assistance and professional development…
$943,392 spentof which $461,228 as grants17% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,432,866.
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. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $4.3M to $11M (+167%).
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 0% · 2018 9% · 2019 4% · 2020 3% · 2021 6% · 2022 10% · 2023 9% · 2024 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
97% of FIRST PEOPLES FUND’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 22 funders, grant income rose $1.7M → $5.5M.
10 of 59 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 20% 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 PEOPLES FUND’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 59 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 PEOPLES FUND has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 36% · 2018 25% · 2019 34% · 2020 24% · 2021 54% · 2022 29% · 2023 16% — 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
55% of FIRST PEOPLES FUND's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 51% 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 PEOPLES FUND draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside South Dakota, across 20 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $6.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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.
Against its field
FIRST PEOPLES FUND runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding FIRST PEOPLES FUND receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3.0M on record.
- Department of Health and Human Services$1.9M
- National Endowment for the Arts$861k
- National Endowment for the Humanities$100k
- Department of Agriculture$47k
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 PEOPLES FUND
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 South Dakota
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FIRST PEOPLES FUND: 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 PEOPLES FUND?
- FIRST PEOPLES FUND (South Dakota) receives grants from 59 organizations whose IRS filings report $35,334,041 to it, the largest being MARGARET A CARGILL FOUNDATION ($6,190,000). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FIRST PEOPLES FUND have?
- IRS filings report 59 organizations giving $35,334,041 in grants to FIRST PEOPLES FUND, 30 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FIRST PEOPLES FUND?
- MARGARET A CARGILL FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $6,190,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FIRST PEOPLES FUND find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in South Dakota. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 59 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing