New Mexico · Nonprofit
NATIVE FORWARD SCHOLARS FUND
NATIVE FORWARD SCHOLARS FUND (New Mexico) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $28,898,319 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($20,401,000). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 74% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $16M
- Funders on record
- 40
- Grants received
- $29M
- Net assets
- $27M
What Native Forward Scholars Fund does
Mission
We provide financial support for tribal citizens seeking higher education and support them in obtaining undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees. We partner with tribes, the federal government, foundations, corporations, and individuals to ensure the growth and sustainability of scholarships.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Award and disbursement of scholarship funds to tribal citizens across the united states; primarily those seeking graduate and professional degrees. In the 2024-2025 academic year, 1,252 students were supported at various levels.
$11,439,556 spentof which $11,439,556 as grants$2,227 earned by the program66% of program spendingProvides a student support service and resource program that engages high school, undergraduate and graduate students. Along with these services, the native forward website hosts the web resource center which issues a comprehensive list of education and career planning resources for all students.student support services:one of native forward's core competencies and priority areas of focus lies in college access. We work with individual tribal citizens to provide access to higher education through access to funding, resources, and information.- access to scholarships/fellowship funding through effective scholarship administration. Marketing and outreach to national native audiences. Efficient application, review, and awarding process, including distribution, and tracking.- provide one-to-one outreach to students, including financial aid assistance, application support, and advocating for our students through improving policies, reducing obstacles, and increasing on-campus support available to tribal citizens.- online student resource center is an online collection of best practices, strategies and advice specifically tailored for tribal citizen successes that supplement our…
$5,829,682 spent34% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $17,269,238.
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 $9.8M to $32M (+227%).
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 45% · 2018 76% · 2019 71% · 2020 69% · 2021 22% · 2022 66% · 2023 80% · 2024 63% · 2025 62%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of NATIVE FORWARD SCHOLARS FUND’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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.
Chief executive
Angelique Albert
CEO
Board chair
Lillian Sparks Robinson
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $551k → $1.5M.
12 of 40 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 74% 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 NATIVE FORWARD SCHOLARS FUND’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 40 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
NATIVE FORWARD SCHOLARS FUND leans on a few funders — its largest provides 71% of grant income and the top three 81%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
75% 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 NATIVE FORWARD SCHOLARS FUND.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 97% · 2018 71% · 2019 77% · 2020 60% · 2021 97% · 2022 23% · 2023 33% — 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
40% of NATIVE FORWARD SCHOLARS FUND's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 43% 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
74% of NATIVE FORWARD SCHOLARS FUND's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $7.7M that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside New Mexico, across 19 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $21M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
NATIVE FORWARD SCHOLARS FUND has grown faster than three-quarters of the 3,758 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,758 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding NATIVE FORWARD SCHOLARS FUND receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $63.7M on record.
- Department of the Interior$63.7M
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 NATIVE FORWARD SCHOLARS 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 New Mexico
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
90% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
92%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 26 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Aigc Scholars · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NATIVE FORWARD SCHOLARS 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 NATIVE FORWARD SCHOLARS FUND?
- NATIVE FORWARD SCHOLARS FUND (New Mexico) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $28,898,319 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($20,401,000). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 74% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does NATIVE FORWARD SCHOLARS FUND have?
- IRS filings report 40 organizations giving $28,898,319 in grants to NATIVE FORWARD SCHOLARS FUND, 17 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NATIVE FORWARD SCHOLARS FUND?
- NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $20,401,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NATIVE FORWARD SCHOLARS FUND find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New Mexico. 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 40 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