Apache Stronghold
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
APACHE STRONGHOLD IS A COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION OF INDIVIDUALS WHO COME TOGETHER IN UNITY TO BATTLE CONTINUED COLONIZATION, DEFEND HOLY SITES AND FREEDOM OF RELIGION, AND ARE DEDICATED TO BUILDING A BETTER COMMUNITY THROUGH NEIGHBORHOOD PROGRAMS AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT.
- Income
- $291,775
- Spending
- $302,894
- Spent on programs
- 96%
- Reserves
- 3.9 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- donations and private grants, 100%
- Employees
- 0
- Volunteers
- 2
- Highest pay
- $74,945, chairman
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Good: 78 out of 100. Higher than 55% of charities in its peer group (religion, $250k to $1m).
Reserves
20 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 3.9 months of spending.
Debt
20 of 20It owes 0% of what it owns.
Living within its means
8 of 15Spending exceeded income by 4% of income.
Income trend
15 of 15Income rose 3% on the year before.
Spending floor
15 of 1596% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 3 cents.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Weak: 21 out of 100. Higher than 2% of charities in its peer group (religion, $250k to $1m).
Independent board
0 of 252 of 2 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
0 of 15Reports no written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
0 of 8Reports no written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
0 of 7Reports no written policy on keeping and destroying records.
Board minutes
5 of 5Keeps minutes of board meetings.
Board sees the tax return
0 of 10Did not give the board a copy of this return before filing it.
Pay set independently
0 of 5Reports no independent review process for its chief executive's pay.
Independent check of accounts
6 of 15Its accounts were not audited or reviewed by an independent accountant.
No reported misuse
10 of 10Reports no diversion of assets, excess benefits or loans to insiders.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (6)
- $209,167 spent. APACHE STRONGHOLD, SAN CARLOS, AZ, IS A 501C3 NONPROFIT COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION OF INDIVIDUALS WHO COME TOGETHER IN UNITY TO BATTLE CONTINUED COLONIZATION, DEFEND HOLY SITES AND FREEDOM OF RELIGION, AND ARE DEDICATED TO BUILDING A BETTER COMMUNITY THROUGH NEIGHBORHOOD PROGRAMS AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT. WE WORK FROM SAN CARLOS, AZ CONNECTING APACHES AND OTHER NATIVE AND NON-NATIVE ALLIES FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD. CHI'CHIL BILDAGOTEEL ALSO KNOWNS AS OAK FLAT IS A SACRED SITE FOR OUR APACHE PEOPLE AND MANY OTHER NATIVE AMERICANS. THIS IS A PLACE THAT HAS SPECIAL SIGNIFICANCE A PLACE WHERE WE PRAY, COLLECT WATER AND MEDICINAL PLANTS FOR CEREMONIES, GATHER ACORNS AND OTHER FOODS, AND HONOR THOSE THAT ARE BURIED HERE. WE HAVE NEVER LOST OUT RELATIONSHIP TO CHICHIL BILDAGOTEEL, THOUGH THE U.S. GOVERNMENT, AT TIMES IN OUR HISTORY, HAS IMPRISONED US ON OUR RESERVATIONS AND NOT ALLOWED US TO COME HERE. WE HAVE ESTABLISHED AND ENCAMPMENT TO PROTECT THE HOLY GROUND AT CHICHIL BILDAGOTEEL WITH ITS FOUR CROSSES, REPRESENTING THE ENTIRE SURROUNDING SACRED AREA, INCLUDING ITS WATER, ANIMALS, OAK TREETS, AND OTHER PLANTS CENTRAL TO OUR TRIBAL IDENTITY. THE FOUR CROSSES ARE NOW PART OF THE BODY OF CHICHIL BILDAGOTEEL.
- $51,720 spent. Prayer Journey August 4, 2024- September 25, 2024 On July 11th, 2024, the Apache Stronghold started the journey of prayer to the Supreme Court to stop the shattering of human existence and to protect Mother Earth. We have traveled, held ceremonies and gathered prayers from Tribes, Communities, Churches, and people in support of saving Oak Flat and religious freedom and protections for all. We began in the Northwest, Westcoast, South, mid-west to the East to gather in Washington DC at the Supreme court on September 11. We are appealing a lower court ruling that would have allowed the total destruction of Oak Flat by allowing the land to be transferred to Resolution Copper, a foreign owned company, owned by BHP and Rio Tinto. We will appeal Apache Stronghold v. United States to the U.S. Supreme Court on September 11. The case involves the federal governments planned destruction of Oak Flatknown in Apache as Chi'chil Bidagoteel a sacred site where Western Apaches and other Native peoples have worshipped since time immemorial. Oak Flat is the birthplace of our religion and the site of sacred ceremonies that cannot take place anywhere else. The United States is now planning to transfer ownership of Oak Flat to Resolution Copper, a foreign-owned mining company that plans to destroy it. Resolutions mine will swallow Oak Flat in a two-mile-wide, 1,100-foot-deep crater, ending Apache religious practices forever. Our lawsuit challenges the destruction of Oak Flat as a violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), the Constitution, and the 1852 Treaty with the Western Apaches. In March, the sharply divided Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, by a 6-5 vote, ruled that the obliteration of Oak Flat does not amount to a substantial burden on our religious exercise and that the Constitution and federal civil rights laws do not apply to the governments disposition of its own land. In September, we will ask the Supreme Court to correct this ruling and hold that federal law protects Oak Flat. The stakes could not be any higher. If the Ninth Circuits ruling is allowed to stand, the United States will be allowed to destroy Oak Flat and any other sacred site with impunity. If the Supreme Court rules in our favor, it will ensure that Native Americans receive the same protection for our religious freedom that all other religious groups across the country already enjoy.
- $8,246 spent. Wishtoyo Light Fire Malibu CA March 28- 31 The Apache Stronghold was welcomed back to Chumash ancestral homeland at Wishtoyo Chumash Village to host the first Lighting of the Fire ceremony. Lighting of the Fire ignites all the prayers across this country to fight the greatest evil we all face. It will take the old ways of prayer and ceremony to confront the effects of colonization and capitalism. Our elders witnessed the fracturing of our people, our religion and the destruction of our greatest gift Nigosun (Mother Earth). The Apache Stronghold arrived at Wishtoyo on Friday, March 29, 2024, to prepare for the ceremony. The Lighting of the Fire ceremony began on Friday, March 29, 2024, at midnight and continued throughout the day, Saturday. Welcomed all tribes, non-natives, and allies to join us in prayer. We call upon the world to light prayer fires on the same day. This will clear the path for us to confront the greatest evil and will protect us on our join forward. One Prayer, One Drum, One Circle!
- $7,450 spent. 9th Annual Oak Flat March/Run --February 15-18, 2024 People join in solidarity with our spiritual journey of prayer and ceremony in protection of Chi'chil Bildagoteel (Oak Flat). Each year hundreds of people walk/run together for the 45 miles from the San Carlos reservation, through the mining towns of Miami and Globe, up to Oak Flat. This walk is of spiritual importance to the Apache Stronghold and a way for us all to commit to the protection of Oak Flat each year that the mine has still not been built! Participants gather in solidarity at Oak Flat to protect all that is holy.
- $7,245 spent. Notre Dame November 15-17, 2024 Notre Dame filed Amicus Brief with Supreme Court Case- Created Video and shown at Notre Dame Football Game. University of Notre Dame. https://youtu.be/RPKm8XZm_6k?si=cs0Q0hyt1h7SFbNP Fighting for Religious LIberty In Arizonas Tonto National Forest, Chichil Bildagoteel, known as Oak Flat, is a sacred space for the Apache and other Native tribes. Countless generations have used the site for religious and coming-of-age ceremonies and have gathered medicinal plants and acorns from its majestic oaks. But Oak Flat is in danger. In 2014, a land swap deal offered Oak Flat to a mining company that intends to place a copper mine leaving the site unsafe for humans. Apache Stronghold, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community organization made up of Native and non-Native allies, are intent on saving Oak Flat. While the Notre Dame Lindsay and Matt Moroun Religious Liberty Clinic, launched in 2020, isn't representing the Apache Stronghold, it's very supportive of its mission and has filed multiple amicus briefs in support of protection for Oak Flat. The Clinic, one of the world's leading academic institutions on the subject, is representative of Notre Dame's values. Informed by its Catholic character, the University has always supported and promoted religious liberty as a fundamental human right. Marcus Cole, the Joseph A. Matson Dean and Professor of Law at the Notre Dame Law School, is careful to note that religious liberty encompasses all faiths, and those without faith. The Religious Liberty Clinic was created because our freedom of conscience, our freedom to believe, and then live according to our beliefs, is the most important and fundamental freedom that we have. Not just as Americans, but as humans, he said.
- $6,200 spent. Dzil Nchaa Sian (Mt. Graham) Sacred Run July 18-21, 2024 The 33rd annual mount Graham sacred run, Apaches and supporters gathered in Eastern Arizona to honor Apache holy places by participating in the 33rd annual mount Graham sacred run. The four day long run and prayer begins at the Old San Carlos monument on the San Carlos Apache reservation and ends atop mount Graham, a sky island Oasis surrounded by a sea of the Sonora desert. The Mt Graham sacred run spotlights the ongoing occupation of the mountain by scientific pursuits by research universities and institutes including the Vatican, the University of Arizona, Ohio State University, Notre Dame, Germany's Max Planck institute and Italys Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Worth knowing.
Status was revoked on May 15, 2018 for not filing returns for three years. The IRS now lists it as tax-exempt again.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 30, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 10, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending December 2024.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since December 2020.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated October 7, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.