Native-Serving Nonprofits and Charity Watchdog Agencies

First Nations examined foundation investments in Native communities, documenting declines in investments by large foundations and dismal investments by community foundations. From this research, First Nations also learned that most Native-serving nonprofit organizations were not evaluated or ranked by major charity watchdog organizations. Charity watchdog agencies are important disseminators of information on nonprofit organizations to various donors. Thus, the lack of presence of Native-serving nonprofits potentially perpetuates information gaps between community organizations doing important work to grow strong and healthy Native communities and various potential donors. This brief provides possible reasons for lack of inclusion of Native-serving organizations on charity watchdog sites and steps that can be taken to increase their visibility on some charity watchdog sites and beyond.