Partnership with Native Americans

“The organization works with an independent accounting firm to prepare the 990. Once prepared, the sr. Director business & financial operations, coo, and ceo, review the form, after which it is submitted to the finance committee for review and approval. The form 990 is then presented to the full board of directors for final review and approval.”

“The board of directors, the ceo and all senior employees and other employees sign conflict of interest statements annually. Additionally, our employee reference guide has a section on our conflict of interest policy and new employees receive and sign an acknowledgment of the policy and completed questionnaire upon hire. Conflicts of interest, if any, are resolved as they arise. If any director discloses a conflict of interest, they are also asked to abstain from voting on matters related to the potential conflict.”

“The board of directors annually conducts a formal performance appraisal of the ceo, including the ceo's compensation. Every 2-3 years compensation data for ceo's of similarly sized non-profits is gathered and compared with the compensation provided to the organization's ceo. The final performance review is presented to the board and any compensation adjustments are documented in the minutes.”

“An external consulting firm concluded an annual comprehensive compensation review to include all other officers and employees' job functions and compensation, including comparisons to similar organizations in size and function. The compensation study was reviewed by the board and each employee received information about their role within the context of the study. The study is updated to add new positions or modify existing positions that have changed.”

“Audited financial statements, 990's, and annual reports are available on pwna's website. The organization presently does not publish its governing documents or conflict of interest policy but will provide them upon request.”

“ORGANIZATION'S MISSION: PWNA'S DUAL ROLE AND HUMANITARIAN SERVICE STRATEGY: PWNA is a trusted resource and intermediary for philanthropic solutions in Indigenous communities. Entrusted by Native partners and funders alike, PWNA is one of the largest Native-led nonprofits in the U.S. A 501(c)(3) founded in 1990, PWNA invests in the most geographically isolated and impoverished Tribal communities, reaching Navajo, Pine Ridge, Rosebud and more to champion hope for a brighter future. For over three decades, we have achieved our mission by respecting the self-determined goals of the tribes, connecting them with outside resources, and partnering with Native professionals who can drive social change in Tribal communities. We address immediate needs by providing food, water, school supplies, and other critical materials. To sustainably address the core symptoms of poverty and support self-sufficiency, PWNA takes an asset-based community development (ABCD) approach, bringing together individuals, Tribal programs, and outside collaborators to increase material aid, capacity building, and community investment. The severities created by colonization, the reservation system, broken treaty promises, and racial and systemic bias are not easily surmountable. However, 2024 brought more Native representation through accurate stories in TV and film, the Indian Boarding School investigation and apology by President Biden, increased funding for MMIW and public safety programs, and the impact of late President Jimmy Carter who enacted the Indian Child Welfare Act and the Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act. Within PWNA's service area, remote Tribal communities made advances too. Even as inflation stacked on top of longstanding poverty, they made significant advances in emergency preparedness and its integral link to food security. Both issues are top priorities for tribes across the country. In addition, while the 2024 news cycles focused heavily on climate-driven disasters, war, and politics, caring people here in the U.S. remembered Native Americans. This allowed us to bring immediate relief and support long-term solutions such as food security, higher education, and emergency preparedness planning and training. We know that none of our work would be possible without our partners and the generosity of individual and organizational donors who believe in our mission.”

“(Expenses $ 1,332,646 including grants of $ 715,720)(Revenue $ 149,512) FOOD & WATER: PURPOSE OF THE PROGRAM: To ease food insecurity by increasing the local food supply for Native American Elders, children, and families, and supporting food sovereignty through gardening and local access to healthy foods on the reservations we serve SITUATION: Food on the table is a basic human right, but it's not that simple for the people PWNA serves. With more Americans now experiencing food insecurity and food hardship, they are realizing for the first time what Native Americans have been up against since the reservations began in 1851. Low food security - defined as insufficient food quality or variety for dietary health - has impacted reservations for decades, fueling high rates of nutrition-related diseases such as diabetes and obesity because less expensive foods tend to have more fat and carbohydrates. The U.S. Department of Agriculture designates many Tribal communities as "food deserts" devoid of fresh fruits and vegetables, and 51% of Native residents travel off-reservation for grocery shopping. Food hardship - the inability to afford enough food for yourself and your family - has increased in families with children, according to a 2018 study by the Food & Action Center. Native Americans are 400% more likely than non-Hispanic Whites to report not having enough to eat, and 23% of Native families face food insecurity (compared to 16-19% nationwide). Today, rather than an emergency solution, food aid has become a long-term solution with more families consistently needing aid. This is certainly the case for many families and food banks in the communities PWNA serves, along with another hardship - contaminated drinking water. Nearly half (48%) of homes on Native American reservations lack access to safe, clean, and drinkable water year-round. PWNA RESPONSE: Areas with high poverty rates and minority populations are more likely to be food deserts. Accordingly, we provided fresh produce to 1,650 households across the Cheyenne River, Pine Ridge, Navajo, and Fort Apache reservations. We provided emergency food boxes to 3,700 people, helping Elders worried about bills and gas for the grocery store that is often an hour away, with support from General Motors, Kroger, and the Jim Foote Foundation. PWNA also provided staple foods to 100 food banks and/or senior centers for 30,533 people, with support from Kroger and the Jim Foote, Koinonia, and Benston foundations. In addition, we provided 22,715 Thanksgiving and Christmas meals, and Rosebud Elders picked up 1,342 bags of breakfast groceries, with support from the TJX, Bentson, and PepsiCo foundations. We also provided more than 243,000 bottles of water to communities with unsafe drinking water. Our drivers traversed 147,362 miles to deliver this food, water, and other basics in 2024. We also won a $50,000 grant competition sponsored by Newman's Own Foundation to kick off food sovereignty initiatives with Native youth in 2025. *DBA programs of PWNA for Food services: Southwest Reservation Aid (SWRA), Northern Plains Reservation Aid (NRPA), Southwest Indian Relief Council (SWIRC), Navajo Relief Fund (NRF), Sioux Nation Relief Fund (SNRF) and Native American Aid (NAA).”

“(Expenses $ 944,844 including grants of $ 153,585) EDUCATION SERVICES: PURPOSE OF THE PROGRAM: To increase resources for Native American education, support access and retention of Native students from pre-kindergarten through college, and support leadership development SITUATION: Education is a cornerstone of economic mobility. However, due to systemic failures and unrealized treaty promises, half of Native American students are not finishing high school. About 8% of Native students attend reservation schools operated by the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) or operated by tribes with BIE funding. Like the Indian Health Service, federally run BIE schools are understaffed and underfunded, leaving students with the lowest reading scores in America. Native students who graduate high school then face barriers to higher education, such as poverty and racial discrimination - even while the public believes college is free for Native Americans. Only 19% of Native Americans aged 18-24 start college, and only 16% of Native Americans hold a college degree (compared to 40% of whites). The digital divide is also a barrier, as 65% of all jobs in the economy require post-secondary education or training beyond high school, including technology, and soft skills. PWNA RESPONSE: In 2024, PWNA's American Indian Education Fund (AIEF) program invested in Native students from cradle to college and career. Approximately 14,620 K-12 students at 54 partners received school supplies and backpacks, with support from the Brad Lemons Foundation, Santa Fe Tobacco, and PepsiCo Foundation. On the college front, Native students need equitable access to resources for a 21st-century education, from school supplies to laptops, software, and internet access. So, PWNA's strength-based services help fuel self-sufficiency. PWNA awarded $370,500 in undergraduate and graduate scholarships, prioritizing scholars in the middle range of the academic ranking who other providers might not consider despite their serious drive. The academic-year completion rate for students who receive our scholarships is 90-95%, much higher than the national average. PWNA credits this success to individualized mentoring provided by the Synchrony Native American employee workforce group and selecting candidates with a likelihood of overcoming the first-year challenges unique to Native students. Support of the Tom Russell Foundation, Wold Foundation, Synchrony Foundation, and Pathward made this award level possible. We provided laptops to first-year students and assisted with classroom supplies and certification fees, thanks to the support of Tom Russell and Synchrony foundations and a prior-year grant from the Grow With Google Indigenous Career Readiness Program . We also provided student care packs and holiday gifts to scholars and their family members. Our Four Directions Development Program (4D) trains emerging leaders who want to make a greater impact on their Tribal communities. The curriculum for a six-month cohort of experiential learning may encompass CPR and self-defense, healthy ancestral food as medicine, leadership development, personal branding, and more. While 4D was inactive in 2024, we look forward to offering new cohorts going forward when grant funding becomes available. In the meantime, across the Northern Plains and Southwest, we have graduated 209 4D participants since inception. *DBA programs of PWNA for Education: American Indian Education Fund (AIEF)”

“(Expenses $ 152,815 including grants of $ 99,526) ANIMAL WELFARE: PURPOSE OF THE PROGRAM: To support programs concerned with animal welfare and related human health risks in remote, underserved Tribal communities SITUATION: Indigenous peoples have a long history of relationship with animals; more than just pets, they are regarded as relatives in Native cultures. But today, as families struggle with poverty, so too do the animals, and the problems arising from strays and overpopulation are immense for some reservations. PETA cites that, in just 6 years, one female dog and her offspring can produce 67,000 pups; in just 7 years, one female cat and her offspring can produce 370,000 kittens. The reservations we serve are unable to care for that many animals, so some partners hold spay/neuter clinics monthly. Still, about 88% of pets living in underserved communities have not been spayed/neutered, and 69% have never seen a veterinarian. On top of this, reservation shelters are congested because people who adopted during the pandemic brought the dogs back when they returned to work. Our reservation partners still hope to find homes for each one. PWNA RESPONSE: PWNA's Reservation Animal Rescue (RAR) program supports groups that rescue, rehabilitate, and rehome animals, ensuring they have what they need for quality of life. Supporting potential foster families is often a key to rehoming, so we supplied more than 20,000 pounds of supplies to our animal welfare partners on the Cheyenne River, Omaha, Navajo, Fort Apache, and Zuni reservations. With your support, RAR also awarded 6 new grants in 2024, providing $50,000 in support for spay/neuter, vaccination, parasite prevention, emergency care, and transport that benefited 546 animals across 5 reservations. *DBA programs of PWNA for Animal Welfare: Reservation Animal Rescue (RAR)”

“(Expenses $ including grants of $) PUBLIC EDUCATION: PURPOSE OF THE PROGRAM: To provide accurate information about Native American history, modern-day life on the reservations, and PWNA programs and impact, while addressing persistent misconceptions that hinder opportunity and equity for Native peoples SITUATION: The need for America to become more NativeAware has never been greater. Harmful stereotypes and lack of accurate information about Native people, history, issues, and funding contribute to racial/social inequity and inadequate support for Tribal communities. Many Americans believe Native Americans receive free housing and healthcare, go to college for free or receive a government check every month just for being Native. So, for all the billions given for philanthropy in the United States, less than one-half of 1 percent is aiding Native American causes. Meanwhile, Tribal nations face challenges that stem directly from broken treaties, a Census undercount that limits federal funding to tribes, and systemic failures in the education system that are detrimental to Native students. Amidst the rich culture and unity of Tribal communities, Americans quickly forget the spotlight that COVID-19 shined on food and water insecurity, lack of health care and housing, and education and technology barriers - challenges that have persisted for decades. And now inflation is stacked on top of all these needs. PWNA RESPONSE: Increasing public education to help individuals and organizations in the U.S. become more NativeAware is a crucial step toward positive change. PWNA reached a potential reading, listening, and viewing audience of about 827.1 million people with news media about current challenges and realities on the reservations. We achieved this through 51 news articles, 5 press releases, social media engagement, fresh content on our website, and timely original content on our blog. In addition, our president & CEO continued public education through these and other efforts in 2024: -Earning accreditation with the UN Economic & Social Council (ECOSOC), as one of just a few Native organizations with Special Consultative Status -Training on emergency preparedness with the Salvation Army, Center for Disaster Philanthropy and the Funder's Network Philanthropic Preparedness, Resiliency and Emergency Partnership teams -Winning a $50,000 grant competition to kick off food sovereignty initiatives with Native youth in 2025 -Speaking at more than a dozen organizations such as InstaCart, BNSF Railway, and more -Serving at 4 major social impact conferences, including: -Social Innovation Summit (moderator and panelist) -National Diversity & Leadership Conference (panelist) -Social Impact Entertainment Conference (panelist) -Molina Healthcare Tribal Health Symposium (keynote speaker)”

“Doing business as: american indian relief council (airc), council of indian nations (cin), american indian education fund (aief), southwest indian relief council (swirc), sioux nation relief fund (snrf), navajo relief fund (nrf), native american aid (naa), national relief charities (nrc), reservation animal rescue (rar), northern plains reservation aid (npra) & southwest reservation aid (swra).”