2026-08-27T08:18:34-04:00 2024-12-31 990 2024-01-01 742871617 Tapestry Institute TAPE 3087639393 PO Box 1156 Chadron NE 69337 Joanne Belasco Co-President 3087639393 2026-08-28 2024 Joanne Belasco PO Box 1156 Chadron NE 69337 184809 false X https : tapestryinstitute. org X 1998 NE In Tapestry Institutes first full year of funding now in a new permanent facility after more than 20 years bouncing from one temporary place to another we entered a phase of rapid change as existing programs grew and new programs developed. The prairie at our new location with its spring-fed wetland and abundant wildlife began to exhibit a natural process of resilient rebound called ecological memory. Individual animals from a variety of different species started moving into the 150 acre section thats being restored. The Horse Ibachakali program Mustangs started engaging with learners by years end and in the fall we brought in three Choctaw Pony foals from Oklahoma to join the program. Meanwhile significant research and writing began to develop the three new IKhana Fund publications we were working on from the 2023 meeting. 6 4 2 4 0 0 1773903 164061 0 0 1885 20748 0 0 1775788 184809 0 10000 0 0 128928 120517 0 0 0 1556258 94986 1685186 225503 90602 -40694 1559764 1490560 0 0 1559764 1490560 Tapestry Institute facilitates promotes and carries out collaborative research scholarship and education in different ways of knowing learning about and responding to the natural world within Indigenous worldview. Our purpose in doing so is to enhance the ability of human beings to hear understand and learn from the Land which Tapestry Institute serves. false false 79629 0 0 Tapestrys education mission engages adults in different ways of knowing learning about and responding to the natural world. It works best outdoors. The northern Nebraska panhandle is a hidden gem of short-grass prairies and pine-studded canyons that touch peoples hearts. Wed purchased a ranch there and moved in the previous fall. Now in 2024 we started surveying the 160 acres of prairie and spring-fed wetlands so we could provide support to the healthy prairie ecosystem that could and would develop there. Natural habitats permitted to have and express their own agency give visitors the best opportunities to learn in ways they often remember from childhood and are pleased to recover re-experience and develop further. We made lists of necessary improvements we need to make such as replacing 50-year-old fences so guests and neighboring cattle dont meet by surprise. We began to document returning plant species and a staff member took grassland coursework from the Nebraska Natural Resources Conservation Services US Dept. Agriculture to learn more about local plants. We removed numerous invasive cedar trees in several areas and cut down a lot of the Canada thistle thats listed as a noxious weed by the state so not permitted to flower. In winter mule deer came down off Pine Ridge to shelter in a riparian area of young cottonwoods along the edge of the wetlands and antelope bedded in the long grass there. Come spring and then summer teals ducks and herons nested and raised young there. Deer fawned in a grove of old cottonwoods on the upland end of the property. Burrowing owls moved into the pasture where the Mustangs grazed. By the end of our first year the prairie was starting to come back. 59263 0 0 Mustangs have been an important part of Tapestrys programs for more than 20 years but our Horse Ibachakali program was seriously limited by the urban Colorado environment wed hoped would allow us to serve more individuals. Escalating costs of land there meant our programs couldnt operate effectively. The four Mustangs remaining from our urban Ibachakali program had arrived at our new ranch facility one week after wed moved in the previous fall 2023. In 2024 we began rehabilitating them from the typical urban dry lot conditions theyd been living in that Mustangs find difficult to handle. Then we began retraining them for engagement with learners. The Mustangs needed more room than they had at first so we fenced in a large area of grassland close to the corral-and-pasture area of the ranch acreage next to the barn and corrals. This allowed the horses to get more exercise and move about naturally. We didnt turn them out into the prairie that was just beginning to grow back but at some point will periodically rotate horses onto the prairie for the benefit of both since grasslands and horses are naturally co-adapted. Casual visitors to the ranch began to engage with these horses before the first year was out. We were pleased to see the horses once again teaching and healing people on their own and it seemed they felt equally pleased at being able to do it again. 64438 0 0 Tapestrys IKhana Fund team had met in May 2023 to continue planning a Land-based program of support for Indigenous Knowledge and during the fiscal year that followed this we Tapestry staff started major research and writing to develop three reports about the insights that emerged during that meeting. These reports reach out to funders of the dominant culture who want to support Indigenous projects that improve the health and well-being of everything from city parks and waterways to wilderness areas and scenic rivers -- and the healthy well-being of all the people who engage with these places too. But funders from the dominant culture often dont understand the Indigenous people theyre trying to engage and support in mutually beneficial ways. So they have a hard time knowing how to proceed when trying to establish collaborative relationships with Indigenous communities. The reports from our second IKhana Fund meeting explain certain fundamentals of Indigenous ways that can help non-Indigenous allies better understand and relate with us to our mutual benefit. In addition to this the variety of different ways of knowing and learning that Indigenous people still use are valuable to every person and the impact of people remembering how to learn this way benefits the planet itself. Those ways of knowing and learning which are used and explained in the 2023 report publications reconnect even metropolitan urbanites with the outdoors in ways that are essential to the mutual health and well-being of both people and places. By the end of the 2024 fiscal year rough drafts of all three reports had been written and the first two were being finalized for publication in early 2025. Each of those first two reports is about 50,000 words long and contains original photos taken by Tapestry staff. 12557 0 0 With the explosive change in Tapestrys funding and the purchase of a ranch which allowed Tapestry to move forward with our Horse Ibachakali and Prairie and Wetland programs our law program continued to focus on research about the ever-shifting parts of environmental law. We expanded the program to include information about US Indian law and policy which is different from Indigenous law because these areas can greatly influence and impact environmental law. 12557 0 0 215887 true true false false false false false false false false true false false false false false false false false false false false true false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false true 0 0 true 2 true false false false false false false false 0 false false false false false false false false false false 6 4 true false false false false false false true true false false false false false false false false false X Joanne L Belasco 3087639393 PO Box 1156 Chadron NE 69337 Jo Belasco Esq Co-President of Board and Tapestry 70.00 0.00 X X 56000 0 0 Dawn Hill Adams PhD Co-President of Board and Tapestry 70.00 0.00 X X 50000 0 0 Vicki Solomon Vice President of Board and Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Harrison John Adams Secretary of Board and Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Shawn Wilson PhD Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Jessica Venable PhD Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 106000 0 0 0 false false false 0 0 0 0 0 164061 0 164061 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2748 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 18000 0 0 0 18000 18000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 184809 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10000 10000 0 0 106000 106000 0 0 6100 6100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8417 8417 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1069 0 1069 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1561 1047 514 0 0 0 0 0 266 179 87 0 3537 2358 1179 0 0 0 0 0 5711 3807 1904 0 2074 0 2074 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7633 5089 2544 0 Ranch supplies and expenses 48110 48110 0 0 Horses, horse hay and feed, horse care 20338 20338 0 0 Research, professional dues, mailings 3242 3242 0 0 Gifting and corporate filings 1445 1200 245 0 0 0 0 0 225503 215887 9616 0 0 0 0 0 1938 29618 107232 42587 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1438348 19993 1450594 1418355 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1559764 1490560 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 1559764 1486834 0 3726 1559764 1490560 1559764 1490560 X -40694 0 0 0 0 -28510 X false false false X 20085 20395 37401 198901 164061 440843 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 20085 20395 37401 198901 164061 440843 336161 104682 0 1 0 1886 2748 4635 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 445478 0 0.2350 0.4658 X RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED 1372789 1372789 59434 16318 43116 6125 3675 2450 1418355 Tapestry Institute carries out research collaboratively. To research different protocols for awarding grants through our new IKhana Fund program we assembled a team of Indigenous colleagues with the expertise and experience necessary for this work. Following standard academic practice we thanked each of these colleagues for their time effort and skills by giving them an honorarium. One of these colleagues who provided key information for our work that is being reported in our publications provided us with necessary and original photographs that we could use in this publication in addition to attending our Zoom meetings. He received a 5000 honorarium for the Zoom meetings and email collaborative work. He received two honorarium in the amounts of 2500 totaling 5000 for his photography work. The total honorarium amount was 10,000. Sub-Saharan Africa 1 10000 Bank to bank wire transfer false false false false false false Part VI, Line 2 The Board Secretary Harrison John Adams is the son of Tapestrys Founder Co-President and Board Co-President Dawn Hill Adams PhD. Part VI, Line 11b Because Tapestry filed 990N forms for years due to lack of funding until fall of 2022 and spring of 2023 the Tapestry Board is still determining a review process concerning Form 990s before they are filed with the IRS. Part VI, Line 19 Tapestry makes available to the public any documents required by federal or state law. Those documents are available via a written email or letter request. We received no such request for those documents during fiscal year 2024. Part XI, Line 9 | Description:, Explanation:, Amount:| The depreciation amount of the sold tractor was 28,510 by year end., Tapestry sold the tractor it bought in fall 2023 because it did not meet our ranch needs., $-28510| In December 2022 Tapestrys board voted to change Tapestrys fiscal year from the September 1 through August 31 academic calendar wed used since our founding to a calendar year fiscal year of January 1 through December 31. Tapestry and Board Co-President Joanne L Belasco contacted the IRS in December 2023 concerning the change of year to see if and how to include the September 1 through December 31 2022 information on the 2023 year 990 form. The IRS representative told her that she only needed to send a letter about the fiscal year change and that NO return was required for that short period of 9 1 to 12 31 of 2022 because the amount Tapestry received from September 1 through December 31 2022 was less than 50,000. Ms. Belasco sent in a letter to the address the IRS representative gave her. Due to a substantially increased workload from generous funding that started in 2023 Ms. Belasco was unable to file the 2023 990. She applied for an extension on filing the 2023 990 -- using our new fiscal year dates of 1 1 23 through 12 31 23 -- and it was granted. When staff workload continued to escalate with a growing influx of new funding from funders who expect to see results so applied work pressure Ms. Belasco filed an extension for the 2024 return as well again for our new fiscal year dates and that was also granted. On 5 14 26 Ms. Belasco e-filed Tapestrys 2023 990 for our new fiscal year dates of 1 1 23 through 12 31 23. She planned to file the 2024 990 shortly after the 2023. However the 2023 990 efiling was rejected by the system for the reason that tax period end date must be matched with the IRS e-file database. She assumed at once that somehow the new fiscal year date had not gotten into the IRS system despite contact with an IRS agent the letter that had been sent per those instructions and the two extensions that had been granted for filings that listed our new fiscal year dates. Ms. Belasco therefore re-filed on that basis assuming the IRS needed filings that still followed our old fiscal year dates of September 1 through August 31. On May 26 2026 Ms. Belasco e-filed a 2023 990 for September 1 2023 through August 31 2024 in accordance with our old fiscal year dates. This e-filing was also rejected again for the reason that tax period end date must be matched with the IRS e-file database. So neither our old nor our new fiscal year dates seemed to match the IRS e-file database. Ms. Belasco therefore called the IRS and the person she spoke with turned in a ticket to the e-filing system programmers and told her that they were very busy so it might be as long as 2 weeks before they contacted her. The representative said Ms. Belasco would be contacted when the change to the new fiscal year was submitted to the system or if there were any problems. It turned out to be about 6 weeks before she heard back. On July 9 2026 an IRS representative called Ms. Belasco and informed her that the correct fiscal year of January 1 through December 31 was now in the system and that she could e-file the 990 returns. Therefore Ms. Belasco is now filing this return for January 1 through December 31 2024 and is hopeful it will be accepted for Tapestrys correct fiscal year. If it is not she will call the IRS help line again and see what can be done to correct the problem. As for the timely filing of future 990s Tapestrys workload has now stabilized to the point where future 990 filings will be submitted on time.