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Non-profit

Native Organizers Alliance

Website:

nativeorganizing.org/
Location:

ALCOA, TN
Tax ID:

13-3697048
Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(3)

Budget (2011):

Revenue: $9,082
Expenses: $159,378
Assets: $33,443
Executive Director:

Judith LeBlanc

The Native Organizers Alliance (NOA) is a left-of-center Native American activist group fiscally sponsored by Alliance for a Just Society, a part of left-wing community organizing group People’s Action. 1 NOA is a participating member of the left-of-center Climate Justice Alliance2 and a member of the left-wing Movement Voter Project’s “Native Voter Fund.” 3 The group is heavily funded by left-of-center interests, including the Tides Nexus and NoVo Foundation.

NOA participates in anti-pipeline activism and get-out-the-vote efforts. In a March 2021 statement on “indigenous sacred places and cultural protections,” NOA calls for “the United States to engage in a Truth and Reconciliation process” for its treatment of Native Americans. 4 After Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election, left-of-center CNN commentator Van Jones praised NOA and other Native American groups as “responsible” for Biden’s win. 5

Former national vice chair of the Communist Party USA Judith LeBlanc is NOA’s director. 67

Organization and Leadership

NOA is fiscally sponsored by the Alliance for a Just Society. 8  It has conducted annual four-day organizing sessions for Native American community organizers9 with Alliance for a Just Society since at least 2014. 10

Former national vice chair of the Communist Party USA Judith LeBlanc is NOA’s director. 11 LeBlanc sits on the board of left-of-center Native American activism group NDN Collective12 and on the board of the Emergent Fund,13 a project of the center-left Proteus Fund.  She is on the advisory council of the left-of-center activism group IllumiNative14 and was a 2019 Fellow of the left-of-center Roddenberry Foundation. 15 LeBlanc spoke in opposition to then-President Donald Trump at the January 21, 2017, Women’s March16 and participated in the anti-pipeline activism at Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. 17

Activities

Native Organizers Alliance is fiscally sponsored by the left-of-center Alliance for a Just Society,18 a part of the left-wing consortium of community organization groups, People’s Action. NOA routes its public donations through ActBlue19 and is a member of the left-wing Movement Voter Project’s “Native Voter Fund.” 20

NOA was active in the 2020 Census and 2020 and 201821 election cycles. 22 NOA partnered with Native Votes, holding virtual town halls to mobilize Native American voters ahead of the presidential election23 and co-sponsored two presidential forums in conjunction with left-of-center Four Directions24 and other Native American activist organizations. 25 26

After Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election, left-of-center CNN commentator Van Jones praised NOA and other Native American groups, saying they were “responsible” for Biden’s win. 27

NOA endorsed Deb Haaland for confirmation as Secretary of the Interior in 2021 and NOA co-sponsored an online petition in support of her nomination with environmental activist organization 350.org. 28 NOA’s website thanks Sierra Club supporters for their support of Haaland’s confirmation. 29

In January 2021, NOA was named as one of the organizations that will play a role in the development of the University of Michigan’s Research for Indigenous Social Action and Equity Center. This center is funded by a $5 million Just Futures Grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. 30

Funding

NOA has received donations from a number of left-of-center organizations. NOA received $40,000 from the Hidden Leaf Foundation in 2020. 31 In 2019, NOA received a $45,000 grant from the Tides Center, $25,000 from the Whitman Institute, and $50,000 from the Libra Foundation. 32

In 2018, the left-of-center People’s Action Institute paid $391,930 of program expenses and disbursed a $40,000 grant in support of NOA. 33 In the same year, NOA received a $10,000 grant from the left-leaning Rainforest Action Network to support efforts to stop the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline,34 $75,000 from left-of-center Novo Foundation through a grant to the People’s Action Institute,35 and $1,000 from the left-of-center First Nations Development Institute. 36

Environmentalist advocacy group Solutions Project issued a grant of $35,000 to People’s Action for a “fighter fund grant” to NOA in 2017. 37

Native Organizers Alliance Action Fund is the 501(c)(4) sister organization to Native Organizers Alliance. 38

References

  1. “Donate.” Native Organizer’s Alliance. Accessed March 26, 2020. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/noa?refcode=websitehome.
  2. “A People’s Orientation to a Regenerative Economy.” Climate Justice Alliance. Accessed via Web Archive. October 6, 2020. http://web.archive.org/web/20201006011255/https://climatejusticealliance.org/regenerativeeconomy/.
  3. “Native Voter Fund.” Movement Voter Project. Accessed March 27, 2021. https://movement.vote/funds/native-voter-fund/.
  4. “Indigenous Sacred Places and Cultural Protections Statement.” Native Organizers Alliance. March 2021.  Accessed March 28, 2021. http://nativeorganizing.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-March-Sacred-Lands-and-Cultural-Protections-Working-Statement.pdf.
  5. Pool, Press. “CNN Commentator Recognizes Navajo Voter Impact in the Election.” Indian Country Today. November 9, 2020. https://indiancountrytoday.com/the-press-pool/cnn-commentator-recognizes-navajo-voter-impact-in-the-election.
  6. “Live Audio Stream of the CPUSA National Board Meeting January 26, 2003.” Communist Party USA. January 26, 2003. Accessed March 27, 2021. https://www.cpusa.org/article/live-audio-stream-of-the-cpusa-national-board-meeting-january-26-2003/.
  7. “Judith LeBlanc.” C-SPAN.org, 2021. https://www.c-span.org/person/?judithleblanc.
  8. “Donate.” Native Organizer’s Alliance. Accessed March 26, 2020. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/noa?refcode=websitehome.
  9. “About.” Native Organizers Facebook Page. Facebook. Accessed March 27, 2021. https://www.facebook.com/pg/NativeOrganizersAlliance/about/?ref=page_internal.
  10. “2014 Advanced Native Organizing Training.” Alliance for a Just Society. February 26, 2014. https://www.allianceforajustsociety.org/2014-advanced-native-organizers-training/.
  11. “Live Audio Stream of the CPUSA National Board Meeting January 26, 2003.” Communist Party USA. January 26, 2003. Accessed March 27, 2021. https://www.cpusa.org/article/live-audio-stream-of-the-cpusa-national-board-meeting-january-26-2003/.
  12. “NDN Collective Board of Directors.” NDN Collective. Accessed March 27, 2021. https://ndncollective.org/people/judith-leblanc/.
  13. “Who We Are.” Emergent Fund. Accessed March 27, 2021. https://www.emergentfund.net/who-we-are.
  14. “Our Network.” Illuminatives. Accessed March 27, 2021. https://illuminatives.org/our-network/.
  15. 2019 Fellow Judith LeBlanc. Roddenberry Fellowship. Accessed March 27, 2021. https://roddenberryfoundation.org/blog/fellow/judith-leblanc/.
  16. “User Clip: Judith LeBlanc at the Women’s March.” CSPAN Online. User-created clip. July 7, 2018. https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4738821/user-clip-judith-leblanc-womens-march.
  17. Jaffe, Sarah. “Interviews for Resistance: “Standing Rock is Everywhere Right Now.” In These Times. February 7, 2017. https://inthesetimes.com/article/interviews-for-resistance-standing-rock-is-everywhere-right-now.
  18. “Donate.” Native Organizers Alliance. Accessed March 27, 2021. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/noa?refcode=websitehome.
  19. “Donate.” Native Organizers Alliance. Accessed March 27, 2021. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/noa?refcode=websitehome.
  20. “Native Voter Fund.” Movement Voter Project. Accessed March 27, 2021. https://movement.vote/funds/native-voter-fund/.
  21. Astor, Maggie. “In North Dakota, Native Americans Try to Turn an ID Law to Their Advantage.” New York Times. October 3, 2018. Accessed via Web Archive. March 7, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210123200816/https:/www.nytimes.com/2018/10/30/us/politics/north-dakota-voter-id.html.
  22. “IllumiNative, Native Organizers Alliance, and Aspen Institute’s Center for Native American Youth Announce “Indigenous Futures Survey” Research Project.” Illuminatives.org. June 23, 2020. https://illuminatives.org/category/news/.
  23. “Natives Vote.” Nativeorganizing.org. October 23, 2020. https://nativeorganizing.org/natives-vote/.
  24. “Frank LeMere Native American Presidential Forum Makes History.” Native Organizers Alliance. August 24, 2019. https://nativeorganizing.org/frank-lamere-native-american-presidential-forum-made-history/.
  25. “I Voted! — #NativesVote2020.” ActionNetwork.org. November 3, 2020. https://actionnetwork.org/forms/i-voted-nativesvote2020.
  26. Kaplan, Thomas. “Elizabeth Warren Apologizes at Native American Forum: ‘I Have Listened and I Have Learned’.” New York Times. August 19, 2019. Accessed via Web Archive. January 21, 2021. http://web.archive.org/web/20210113102049/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/19/us/politics/elizabeth-warren-native-american.html.
  27. Pool, Press. “CNN Commentator Recognizes Navajo Voter Impact in the Election.” Indian Country Today. November 9, 2020. https://indiancountrytoday.com/the-press-pool/cnn-commentator-recognizes-navajo-voter-impact-in-the-election.
  28. “Add your name to Endorse Deb Haaland for Secretary of the Interior.” Actionnetwork.org. Accessed March 28, 2021. https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/endorse-deb-haaland/.
  29. “Thank you Sierra Club supporters.” Native Organizers Alliance. Accessed March 28, 2021. https://nativeorganizing.org/thank-you-sierra-club/.
  30. “Lewis receives $5 million Mellon Foundation grant to address racial justice and equality.” Press Release. University of Michigan. January 13, 2021. https://fordschool.umich.edu/news/2021/lewis-receives-5-million-mellon-foundation-grant-address-racial-justice-and-inequity.
  31. “List of Grant Recipients.” Hidden Leaf Foundation. Accessed March 28, 2021. http://hiddenleaf.org/grantmaking/lists-of-grant-recipients/2009-grantees/.
  32. “Fall 2019 Docket.” The Libra Foundation. November 13, 2019. https://www.thelibrafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019.11.13-2019-November-Docket_publicv2.pdf.
  33. People’s Action Institute. Return of an Organization Exempt from Income Tax. (Form 990). 2018. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/362755109/201943189349311179/full.
  34. “Native Organizers Alliance.” Rainforest Action Network Community Action Grants. 2018. https://grants.ran.org/grant/native-organizers-alliance/.
  35. Novo Foundation. Return of a Private Foundation. (Form 990-PF). 2018. file:///Users/newdisk/Desktop/06%20Native%20Organizers%20Alliance/Novo%202018.pdf.
  36. “Grantee Directory.” First Nations Development Institute. Accessed March 27, 2021. https://www.firstnations.org/grantee-directory/.
  37. Solutions Project, Inc. Return of an Organization Exempt from Income Tax. (Form 990). 2017. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/463811348/201832839349301373/full.
  38. “Native Organizers Alliance.” The Action Network. Accessed March 27, 2021. https://actionnetwork.org/groups/native-organizers-alliance.

Child Organizations

  1. Natives Vote (Non-profit)
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Nonprofit Information

  • Accounting Period: December - November
  • Tax Exemption Received: May 1, 1994

    • Available Filings

    Period Form Type Total revenue Total functional expenses Total assets (EOY) Total liabilities (EOY) Unrelated business income? Total contributions Program service revenue Investment income Comp. of current officers, directors, etc. Form 990
    2011 Dec Form 990EZ $9,082 $159,378 $33,443 $7,775 $0 $0 $0 $0 PDF

    Additional Filings (PDFs)

    Map image for Native Organizers Alliance

    Native Organizers Alliance

    PO BOX 342
    ALCOA, TN 37701-0342