PLATINUM2023

NATIVE FORWARD Scholars Fund

The Center for Native Scholarship

aka AIGC   |   Albuquerque, NM   |  https://www.nativeforward.org/

Mission

We provide financial support for American Indians and Alaska Natives seeking higher education, and support them in attaining undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees. We partner with Tribes, the federal government, foundations, corporations, and individuals to ensure the growth and sustainability of scholarships.

Notes from the nonprofit

Our Vision Building on a 50-year legacy, Native Forward Scholars Fund will continue to be the premier national resource in funding and empowering the next generation of Native leaders across all sectors, by meeting the unmet need of every Native American student.

Ruling year info

1973

Chief Executive Officer

Angelique Albert

Main address

10010 Indian School Rd NE

Albuquerque, NM 87112 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

85-0222386

NTEE code info

Scholarships, Student Financial Aid, Awards (B82)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

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Communication

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

While Native Forward currently awards approximately $11MM - $15MM annually in direct scholarship dollars to 1600 students, this represents only 18% of our eligible applicant pool, leaving 82% of applicants without needed scholarship support. Only 17% of Native students continue their education beyond high school, compared to 60% of the overall U.S. population. Given our internal expertise of this historical context and our application of evidenced-based practices over the past 53 years, Native Forward has developed a comprehensive student support program that increased graduation rates of nearly 30%. Our goal is to identify and secure the resources needed to ensure that every Native student wanting to pursue a higher education degree has access to do so.

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

Rising Native Graduates

The Rising Native Graduates program focuses on offering academic coaching with the goal of preparing you for a graduate or professional degree. This specialized program offers useful tools to help you decide on the right program and university, assist with application materials, and offers resources that will help your success as a graduate student.

Population(s) Served
Indigenous peoples

Native Forward Scholars Fund offers more than 30 scholarships and fellowships that fund undergraduate, graduate, and professional degree-seeking students.
Native Forward Scholars Fund is the largest scholarship provider to Native students in the U.S. We award approximately $15 million in scholarships annually and have awarded over $350 million since our inception.

Population(s) Served
Indigenous peoples

Where we work

Awards

Non-Profit Communicators Best Branding and Rebranding Award - Finalist 2023

PR Daily

Videos

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Number of academic scholarships awarded

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Indigenous peoples

Type of Metric

Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues

Direction of Success

Increasing

Total dollar amount of scholarship awarded

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Indigenous peoples

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Average financial aid award per FTE student

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Indigenous peoples

Type of Metric

Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues

Direction of Success

Increasing

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

To significantly impact the financial burdens of U.S. federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native graduate, professional and undergraduate students seeking full time attendance at all accredited US institutions in all areas of study

In order to effect long-term improvements in attainment of higher education, Native students need financial help to pay for college coupled with comprehensive culturally relevant student support services that strengthen preparedness, agency, persistence, graduation, and matriculation for our scholars. Given our core competencies in quality and service, we have been able to leverage evidenced-based practices refined over the past 53 years to significantly strengthen agency for scholars, assure their access to culturally congruent support services, and realize significantly better graduation rates. Furtherance of this effort is dependent upon Native Forward engaging and maintaining partnerships that result in long term funding coupled with sustainable programming designed to support Native students. To effectively do this, Native Forward partners with Tribes, the federal government, corporations, foundations and individuals.

The collective professional backgrounds of Native Forward staff include non-profit management, higher education administration, corporate management, development, and American Indian community work. Staff is recruited and hired strategically to fill specific roles as they contribute to the mission of the organization. Typically hires at Native Forward are identified through their professional notoriety.

In 2022, the name of the organization was changed to Native Forward Scholars Fund. Today, the organization continues to build and add partners to its work. Through the support of endowed gifts, federal resources, corporate support, foundations, alumni and individual private donations Native Forward Scholars Fund continues to grow. Last fiscal year Native Forward Scholars Fund awarded nearly $15 million in scholarships and academic support services to 1,340 Native scholars. These scholars represent 202 tribes from 49 states.

How we listen

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.

done We shared information about our current feedback practices.

  • How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

    To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals

  • Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

    We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback

Financials

NATIVE FORWARD Scholars Fund
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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lock

Connect with nonprofit leaders

Subscribe

Build relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.

  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
  • Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.

NATIVE FORWARD Scholars Fund

Board of directors
as of 09/01/2023
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Holly Macarro

Spirit Rock Consulting

Stacy Leeds

No affiliation

Holly Cook Macarro

No affiliation

Ernie Stevens

No affiliation

Aurene Martin

No affiliation

Hud Oberly

No affiliation

Amber Garrison

No affiliation

Lillian Sparks Robinson

No affiliation

Kimberly Teehee

Cecilia Gutierrez

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • Board orientation and education
    Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes
  • CEO oversight
    Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes
  • Ethics and transparency
    Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes
  • Board composition
    Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes
  • Board performance
    Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 8/31/2023
info Candid has made improvements to the race and ethnicity options.

Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.

Leadership

The organization's leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
Native American/American Indian/Alaska Native/Indigenous

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

 

Sexual orientation

No data

Disability

No data

Equity strategies

Last updated: 08/31/2023

GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more

Data
  • We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
  • We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
  • We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
  • We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
  • We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
  • We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
  • We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
Policies and processes
  • We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
  • We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
  • We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
  • We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
  • We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
  • We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
  • We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.