Native Ways Federation

Legal name: The Native Ways Federation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
320248892
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2020, Form 990-N 2019
Location
Minneapolis, MN, USA
Phone
6124290417
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community Foundations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,080,871
Expenses
$504,470
Assets
$2,428,775
Liabilities
$48,742

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CARLY BAD HEART BULL (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • CARLY BAD HEART BULL (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $152,994 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Our mission is to activate and expand informed giving to Native-led nonprofits in Indian Country through donor education and advocacy.

What it reported doing in 2024

In 2024, nwf educated and advised foundations, philanthropy serving organizations, and the general public on the importance of investing in native communities. Nwf focused on building relationships and partnerships with native-led and other organizations in the nonprofit and philanthropy sector in furtherance of its mission. For example, nwf officially launched the "on our terms: how to support a thriving nonprofit sector" report. The previous years' work resulted in this report, and 2024 included additional promotion and positive feedback from nonprofits and funders alike. In 2024, nwf participated in numerous conference and plenary panels educating others on their mission and topics related to the native nonprofit sector. Nwf further refined and implemented their training series for philanthropy-serving organizations and foundations to educate them about native communities and increase their effectiveness in working with, and in support of, native-led nonprofits. Through various advisory roles, nwf continued to represent the native nonprofit sector in policy, best practice and systemic change conversations within the broader nonprofit and philanthropy sector. In 2024, nwf continued to grow two charitable giving campaigns, native nonprofit day on may 17th 2024, and #givenative on giving tuesday on december 3, 2024. Both campaigns focused on educating philanthropy and the general public about the existence and importance of native-led organizations and called for increased support for the sector. Nwf hosted kickoff calls for native nonprofits to learn more about the impact and possibilities of the giving days and to share strategies around storytelling, fundrising, and calls to action. Nwf reopened the public list of native-led organizations participating in the campaigns. In 2024, approximately 190 native-led nonprofit organizations participated in these giving days campaigns. Nwf surveyed these organizations to better understand their experience and the impact the campaigns had on their goals. Nwf will utilize the results of these surveys to build upon and improve the tools and resources and outreach efforts they develop for both campaigns moving forward.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 98% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of total spending goes to programs and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 64
  • Transparency & Controls: 60
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 77
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 43.6%; rating input score 44
  • Program expense ratio: 92.3%; rating input score 92
  • Fundraising efficiency: $56.68 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 53.3%; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.81; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 30.3%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 17% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 19.8% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 19.4% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 9 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 43.6% of revenue deployed · 92.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $466K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $153K · 7 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 26 of 27 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 44/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.