Partnership with Native Americans

“Process to review form 990: the organization works with an independent accounting firm to prepare the 990. Once prepared, the controller and ceo review the form with the finance committee and then the board of directors.”

“Process to monitor compliance with conflict of interest policy: the board of directors, the ceo and all senior 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.”

“Review of ceo or top management official compensation: 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.”

“Review of other officers or key employees of the organization: an external consulting firm concluded a comprehensive compensation review in 2016 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.”

“Availability of documents: 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.”

“EMERGENCY SERVICES: (CONTINUED FROM PART III) SITUATION: In a time of increasing natural disasters such as floods, forest fires, blizzards and tornadoes, it is critical that we equip Native communities to prepare for and respond to these events and continue to serve as a rapid first responder for the reservations. Winter warmth is always a priority for Native American Elders too. 90,000 Native Americans are homeless and 40% of Native Americans live in sub-standard, overcrowded housing. In addition, many communities face acute or chronic contaminated water issues. PWNA RESPONSE: Although Americans grew tired of COVID-19 news in 2021, the pandemic continued to cause requests for nearly $5.9 million in COVID relief, with 34 partners on 17 reservations reaching out to PWNA for emergency supplies. This was due to elongated stay-at-home orders tied to Native death rates nearly three times higher that of whites. We responded with nearly 909,000 pounds of staple foods, bottled water, hygiene kits, diapers, blankets, PPE and other essentials, aiding about 51,350 Native Americans, thanks to support from the Center for Disaster Philanthropy and numerous other COVID relief funders. Group training for emergency preparedness was more hampered in 2021 due to continuing restrictions, but we managed to reach 194 participants with CERT training and planning and keep six tribal communities moving forward. This was made possible with the support of Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, Boeing and the Melba Bayers Meyer Charitable Trust and previously trained Emergency Managers who mobilized to help their communities navigate the pandemic. Additionally, PWNA provided supplies to residential shelters for the aged, homeless, disabled and domestic abuse victims, assisting approximately 7,440 people in 2021. We supplied winter fuel for about 549 Elders of the Cheyenne River, Yankton Sioux, Mescalero Apache and Navajo nations, as well as winter and summer emergency kits for about 2,335 Elders across eight reservations in the Northern Plains and Southwest. These emergency kits equipped Native Elders with supplies such as blankets, batteries, candles, water, nonperishable food and other items helpful during winter storms, and water, sunscreen, bug spray, fire extinguishers and other items helpful during summer heat, storms and outages. PWNA rotates its seasonal readiness services to different tribal communities each year to avoid creating dependency, but the level of need suggests increasing these services as funding permits. *DBA programs of PWNA for Emergency 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).”

“HEALTH: (CONTINUED FROM PART III) SITUATION: A legacy of healthcare disparities and high disease rates persists across Native America, yet medical care is limited to the Indian Health Service (I.H.S.). These federal clinics are notoriously understaffed, underfunded and too far away. Only 500 clinics serve the 574 federally recognized tribes (less than 1 per reservation), and lack of transportation is an issue for many residents. Despite CARES Act funding, I.H.S. remains ill-situated to respond to a healthcare crisis, and overcrowded housing fuels the spread of COVID-19. Health and wellness partners often take the lead on preventative health care, as well as efforts to improve Native food security and long-term food access. PWNA RESPONSE: In 2021, PWNA supported tribal programs providing preventative care, home health check ins by phone and non-contact education such as by phone, doorstep or when possible Zoom meetings, helping 279 health and wellness partners address diabetes at epidemic levels, obesity even for youth, tuberculosis seven times higher than for whites, more cancer-related disparities than any minority group in the U.S., higher infant mortality and lower life expectancy for some Native men (especially in the Northern Plains), as well as the community-wide need for personal protective equipment (PPE). We supported healthy lifestyle programs and education for approximately 56,266 people, including COVID-19 check ins, pre- and post-natal care, parenting and behavioral health, screenings and education for diabetes, high blood pressure, TB, cancer, and heart health, suicide awareness and prevention, immunizations, medication monitoring and care for the homebound or others unable to access services. And 31 of these partners focused on youth development, such as suicide prevention, language and culture preservation at virtual or socially distanced community events. On the healthy nutrition front, PWNA facilitated four Train-the-Trainer (T3) cohorts (two in the Northern Plains, two in the Southwest), hosted a Plains Youth Leadership Summit connecting healthy food to culture and food as medicine, and facilitated nine STRIVE advisory committee meetings connecting Southwest tribal practitioners, farmers, ranchers and other stakeholders around Native food sovereignty and food access. Newman's Own Foundation, Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies and Feeding America supported all this. Our T3 training utilized Native American chefs to train on preparing healthy meals with ancestral and locally available foods, reaching 55 professionals who prepare meals for tribal members on remote reservations and can impact diets for 330 people. *DBA programs of PWNA for Health 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).”

“EDUCATIONAL SERVICES: (CONTINUED FROM PART III) SITUATION: Education is a cornerstone of economic mobility - it can only be achieved through racial and social equity. About 45,000 Native American students, or 7%, attend reservation schools operated by the federally-operated Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), two-thirds of which are in PWNA's service area. Always understaffed and underfunded, these schools are leaving students with the lowest reading scores in America, and on average only 53% of students are graduating BIE high schools often due to lack of the basics like school supplies and clothing. While the average family spends up to $800 for school supplies and computers, the extended need for distance learning is leaving many Native students to access Wi-Fi in parking lots or on rooftops. Today, 16% of Native Americans hold a college degree (compared to 40% of whites), and 65% of new jobs since 2010 require post-secondary education or training beyond high school, including technology and soft skills in the workplace. PWNA RESPONSE: By addressing both immediate and long-term needs, PWNA increases educational access and helps our school partners improve retention from kindergarten through college. In 2021, PWNA furnished school supplies for approximately 15,753 K-12 students at 66 partner schools, and essential supplies to support literacy for about 3,620 children across 9 reservations, motivating reading and parent-child reading time and supporting reading comprehension. We also distributed more than 1,900 pairs of TOMS shoes to students for back-to-school enhancement (and another 4,020 pairs were included in backpacks). To increase access to college in 2021, PWNA awarded $167,666 in undergraduate and graduate scholarships. PWNA awards scholarships to applicants who are most often in the middle range of the academic ranking and not considered by other providers despite their serious drive and proven ability to overcome obstacles. The academic-year completion rate for students who receive PWNA scholarships is 90-95%, much higher than the national average. PWNA credits this success to our individualized mentoring and unique selection process of identifying candidates with a likelihood of overcoming the first-year challenges unique to Native students. With support of the Walmart Foundation, we awarded several laptops to first-year students, and the PepsiCo RISE Native American employee resource group continued mentoring our AIEF scholars. With an eye to career readiness, PWNA in collaboration with Google was proud to launch the Grow with Google Indigenous Career Readiness Program with a $1 million investment to train 10,000 students at more than 50 native-serving organizations by 2025. This initiative expanded our education services to include vocational trade school scholarships and digital training. Due to the pandemic, no new Four Directions (4D) leadership training cohorts were launched in 2021; nonetheless, our 149 prior 4D graduates continued to make positive strides for their 40 collective tribes, and General Motors has teamed up with PWNA to support two 4D cohorts in 2022. *DBA programs of PWNA for Education: American Indian Education Fund (AIEF)”

“HOLIDAY: PURPOSE OF THE PROGRAM: To help our reservation partners spread community cheer, engagement and active involvement at times when families may be experiencing more disenfranchisement and seasonal stress. SITUATION: Native American Elders and children on the reservations PWNA assists are certainly aware of holidays celebrated across the U.S., but many families cannot afford holiday gifts or celebrations. Up to 61% of Native American children live in poverty or low-income households, many of them raised by grandparents on severely limited, fixed incomes such as social security - and Native joblessness is twice that of whites. The overall rate of impoverishment across the hundreds of tribal communities PWNA serves ranges from 15% to 54%. PWNA RESPONSE: During the 2021 holidays, PWNA helped program partners address immediate needs by delivering stockings or holiday gift bags filled with practical items to more than 12,400 delighted children and Elders. Continuing pandemic safeguards, our tribal partners coordinated curbside or drive-through pick up of holiday stockings and Elder gift bags, as well as individual home deliveries - reaching Elders and children across 16 reservations in the Northern Plains and 14 in the Southwest. *DBA programs of PWNA for Holiday support: Southwest Reservation Aid (SWRA), Northern Plains Reservation Aid (NRPA), Southwest Indian Relief Council (SWIRC), Sioux Nation Relief Fund (SNRF), Navajo Relief Fund (NRF) and Native American Aid (NAA). FOOD & WATER: PURPOSE OF THE PROGRAM: To ease food insecurity by increasing 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: With food insecurity and food hardship now higher nationwide, many Americans are realizing for the first time what Native Americans have been up against all along. 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 when families must turn to less expensive but fatty and high-carbohydrate foods. 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. The food hardship rate is 23% for Native families (compared to 16-19% nationwide). Today, rather than an emergency solution, food aid has become a long-term solution with more people consistently in need of help to obtain enough healthy food with severely limited financial resources. This is certainly the case for many families and food banks in the communities PWNA serves, along with another hardship - contaminated drinking water. COVID-19 only exaggerated this situation in remote tribal communities. PWNA RESPONSE: We make it our mission to increase food access, our drivers traversing nearly 97,500 miles to bring immediate relief to Native Elders and children living on the reservations. In 2021, PWNA delivered emergency food boxes and produce for 5,915 people through COVID relief funding from the Center for Disaster Philanthropy and countless other donors. We delivered nearly 368,000 bottles of water, staple foods to soup kitchens and senior centers helping about 12,948 people, and Thanksgiving and Christmas meals for about 12,052. We helped food pantries feed nearly 9,100 people, while our 'Breakfast in a Bag' service helped bridge the gap near the end of the month, enabling Elders to pick up 454 bags of groceries as they awaited their next social security check. This was in addition to food and water in our COVID relief shipments. Taking a long-term view of food sovereignty an”

“ORGANIZATION'S MISSION: PWNA's Dual Role and Humanitarian Service Strategy: The aftershock of COVID-19 has shined a light on the structural weaknesses that plague our country and challenge our nonprofits. Supply chain issues have created shortages of food, water, and other household basics. The cost of essentials has increased, from food to transportation to staffing, and the 'Great Resignation' is making it difficult to fill open positions. For PWNA, our sole purpose since 1990 is improving quality of life for Native Americans living on underserved reservation communities, and this 'new normal' takes a toll: -The average fuel cost for outgoing deliveries to Tribal communities has increased by 101% from $167 in 2021 to $336 per truck in the first quarter of 2022. -The cost of shipping for inbound inventory has doubled since the pandemic began. -Meanwhile, supplier deliveries can take 3 weeks longer, creating a need to anticipate, order and fund supplies in advance of tribal requests. -Staff shortages continue to create challenges and new pressures for existing staff. PWNA has been short one driver in each region for nearly two years. -Reservation communities are still under shelter-in-place orders due to higher risk yet giving for COVID relief has slowed. Even pre-pandemic, giving for Native causes was less than 1% of all charitable giving in the United States. One of the largest Native-led charities, PWNA creates high impact through a dual approach: addressing immediate needs in reservation communities by providing food, water, school supplies and other critical materials, and supporting community-led projects that sustainably address the core symptoms of poverty and contribute to self-sufficiency and social equity. We leverage asset-based community development (ABCD) as a model to encompass materials, capacity building, community building, asset/resource development and higher education. This builds on assets present in the communities we serve and brings together individuals, programs, and outside resources to leverage the social capital of a much larger network mobilizing toward a common solution. The severities created by western colonization and the reservation system, broken treaty promises and racial marginalization have led to food insecurity, education barriers and a digital divide across the reservations. But the Native community partners we work with will never stop their tireless efforts to bring hope, relief and social equity to their people and tribal communities. PWNA functions as an ally to help in ways that are meaningful - addressing the issues tribes prioritize and not assuming we know best. It takes social justice, corporate social responsibility and sustained individual commitment to do this.”

“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).”