Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment

Overview

Mission

To protect our Treaty areas and to educate the tribal members and youth on current environmental issues. To develop leaders in the environmental area for the next generation. To promote activism within our tribes and to empower tribal members on effecting change.

What it reported doing in 2025

In FY 2025 the Nimiipuu Protecting Environment Coordinator and staff continued our regular get togethers with the Lapwai Elementary School After School program and continued our program with the youth every Wednesday when school was in session. In 2025 the Coordinator continued to do a number of online presentations on Lower Snake River dam breaching to protect Salmon, protection of wolves and grizzly bears and other endangered species in our Treaty area. During the spring and summer of 2025 we held on the water events and activities at Payette Lake at McCall, Idaho and the Hells Gate State Park for the purpose of continuing to push for the protection of water and aquatic life. areas. With our weekly youth activities with the Lapwai Elementary School After School program that included 30 to 40 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders we met and worked on traditional arts and crafts, beadwork, feather work and other Nimiipuu traditional activities. We also have hired 10 youth who were in the program previously to assist in the paddle carving, arts/crafts and food preparation We continued our advocacy with other Tribes and Tribal Groups and were fairly successful on working with staff from our tribe and other tribal groups in the Pacific Northwest on common environmental issues. We had monthly zoom meetings with groups throughout the Northwest, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho to ensure we kept our message out in the public through these meetings and social media. These included Sierra Club, Save Our Wild Salmon, the Nature Conservancy, Friends of the Clearwater, Earthjustice, Johm Muir Project and others who were working on the same issues, co-opting different groups into our campaigns has proved immensely successful. We continued to meet with the Nez Perce Tribal Circle of Elders at their monthly meetings to ensure we have their input on our activities. We have gained good support within our community by tabling at a number of tribal and community events. The main goals we have now are to Breach the Lower Snake River Dams, push for protections for Wolves and Grizzly bears in the Pacific Northwest and to continue advocating or the protections of the land, water, forests and species in our Treaty of 1855 and usual and accustomed areas. We will continue our youth and adult work in the upcoming year. We also began working with staff from Washington State University and student groups for our Youth Garden and our proposed Fruit tree orchard.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 92% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
473465431
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2019, Form 990-N 2016
Headquarters
Lapwai, ID, USA
Phone
5093300023
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Environmental Education and Outdoor Survival Programs

Official website

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 53
  • Sustainability: 58
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 87.1%; rating input score 87
  • Program expense ratio: 95.1%; rating input score 95
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 9.7%; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.45; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 20.6%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 23.5% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 18.1% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 30.8% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 87.1% of revenue deployed · 95.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 6 board members independent · 3 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $325K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $68K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 6 annual filings from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • JULIAN MATTHEWS (Executive Dir.): $68,259 total reported compensation
  • DOROTHY SHERWOOD (President): $2,200 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: FY2025.