Inatai Foundation

In addition to giving grants to left-of-center advocacy groups, Inatai makes donations to PACs and political groups in Washington. Inatai Foundation is a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization that is permitted to intervene in elections. ¹

History

In January 2017, Washington regulators approved the $1.8 billion sale of the Group Health Cooperative (GHC) to California-based health company Kaiser Permanente. The proceeds of the sale were used to spin off GHC as a grantmaking nonprofit in Washington. ^{2 3 4}

In January 2023, GHC was renamed to the Inatai Foundation. The term, “Inatai” is a Chinuk Wawa word meaning “across” or “other side.” The foundation changed its name to signal that its commitment expanded beyond health care to general racial equity. ⁵

Unlike most grantmaking foundations, Inatai is structured as a 501(c)(4). According to the foundation’s 2022 Grantmaking Report, Inatai used a 501(c)(4) structure to permit a “greater latitude to pursue a range of advocacy, power-building, and political activities.” ¹

Grantmaking

In 2023, the Inatai Foundation plans to disburse $67 million in grants. ⁵

From 2019 to 2022, Inatai disbursed $200 million in grants. It claimed that 80 percent of grants went to organizations led by Black, indigenous, and “people of color” and that 60 percent of grants were multi-year commitments. ¹

In 2022, Inatai disbursed 687 grants worth $63.8 million. It reported that 78 percent of grants went to organizations led by racial minorities, 20 percent of grants went to social welfare organizations, and 34 grants went to Native American tribes. Grants were made to organizations located throughout Washington state, with the largest concentration of grants (over $5 million) made within King County, which includes Seattle. Eight percent of grants were made to organizations located outside Washington. ¹

In 2021, Inatai’s grantmaking priorities were ending anti-Black racism, supporting racial and ethnic minorities during the COVID-19 pandemic, building “collective wealth” for racial and ethnic minority communities, and supporting the political strength of racial and ethnic minority communities. ⁶

Inatai’s grant recipients include African Community Housing and Development, the Africatown Community and Land Trust, the Asian Pacific Islander Coalition of Washington, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Washington, the Center for Indigenous Midwifery, Change the Narrative, the Communities of Color Coalition, the Ethnic Support Council, Gender Diversity, multiple branches of the NAACP, Participatory Justice, and the Racial Equity Commission. ⁷

Political Donations

In 2023, the Inatai Foundation and the Empire Health Community Advocacy Fund pledged $240,000 to Justice Not Jails, a PAC opposed to Spokane County Initiative 1, a proposal to create a new 0.2 percent sales tax to fund state and local criminal justice efforts. Justice Not Jails called for rehabilitation-based criminal justice reform over traditional prisons. ⁸ Initiative 1 was ultimately rejected by voters. ⁹

Also in 2023, Inatai and No Mega Jail in Fernadale supported Initiatives 1 and 2 in Whatcom County with a $25,000 grant to Community First Whatcom. The Initiatives proposed to increase the minimum wage by $2 and restrict raises in rent. ¹⁰

Also in 2023, Inatai gave $25,000 to Neighbors United for Progress for its successful campaign to block Columbia County’s Proposition 2 from being on the November ballot. Proposition 2 proposed to dissolve the county’s only library. ¹¹

Inatai Investment Management Company

In Fall 2021, the Inatai Foundation founded the Inatai Investment Management Company to offer investment services on a cost-sharing basis. Investments are made both on earnings potential and “values-alignment,” with “a focus on equity” listed as one of the fund’s investment criteria. ¹²

Leadership

Nichole June Maher has been the president and chief executive officer of the Inatai Foundation since the Group Health Cooperative was spun off as a nonprofit in 2017. Previously, for six years Maher led the Northwest Health Foundation, a similar health-oriented nonprofit and “national forerunner in equity.” From 2001 to 2012, Maher was the executive director of the NAYA Family Center, a Native American nonprofit and recipient of Inatai grants. ^{13 14 7}