2026-08-26T12:36:55-04:00 2023-12-31 990 2023-01-01 742871617 Tapestry Institute TAPE 3087639393 PO Box 1156 Chadron NE 69337 Joanne Belasco Co-President 3087639393 2026-08-27 2023 2025-03-06 01:10:19Z Joanne Belasco PO Box 1156 Chadron NE 69337 1775788 false X https : tapestryinstitute. org X 1998 NE A tidal wave of dramatic change swept Tapestry Institute into our 25th year. With only minimal sporadic funding for 15 years wed only been able to run in-person programs at borrowed facilities. So wed focused mainly on research and education we could do online. But in January 2023 a trickle of change began. It turned into a flood. By the end of that calendar year wed received major long-term support that permitted our two-person staff to: purchase a 160-acre ranch of prairie and wetlands that had good horse facilities in the working ranch acreage lead our IKhana Fund program planning through a second phase start to transition our Horse Ibachakali program and initiate a new program to restore the ranchs prairie and wetlands ecosystems. 6 4 2 4 0 0 37401 1773903 0 0 34 1885 0 0 37435 1775788 0 0 0 0 0 128928 0 0 0 31605 1556258 31605 1685186 5830 90602 23468 1560266 0 0 23468 1560266 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. true true 1517750 0 0 Tapestrys work began to draw strong interest from the philanthropy community in 2020. By 2022 this interest had developed into growing financial support. In June 2023 we received a pledge of up to 1.5 million USD to fund our purchase of a ranch with equine facilities and prairie habitat suitable for hosting and supporting our mission. After extensive survey of Colorados Front Range eastern Wyoming the Nebraska panhandle and southwestern South Dakota we chose the area of Chadron Nebraska as ideal for our work. The town is within driving distance of an airport in Rapid City encourages and promotes local tourism provides necessary support services e.g. emergency and hospital facilities and has a rural property market in which its still possible to find and secure the kind of facility we need. We therefore actively engaged with the local real estate market and were able to act quickly when the right place and the right pledge came together in summer 2023. On the last day of August 2023 we closed purchase on the 160-acre ranch property and equestrian facility that is now the base of Tapestrys research and education work. As part of this move we bought a 2023 Ford F-250 super-crew pickup truck for working use on the ranch. The extended cab lets us take program participants to regional state parks national parks and historic sites for expanded experiential learning opportunities. The trucks tow package and fifth-wheel hitch permit us to haul horses for example for veterinary treatment. 72422 0 0 As support started growing for our work in 2023 Tapestry prepared to transition our Horse Ibachakali program from an urban service environment in which we could meet the needs of only two subsets of people in highly limited ways back to a rural environment in which wed be able to more effectively serve a broader spectrum of the population. The staff member primarily responsible for Ibachakali immediately delved into current horse-human relationship research literature so wed be able to expand our program with insights from new best practices models. We also prepared our horses for transport to a new location reviewed the needs for adding new horses to a herd that had aged in ways impacting what we could ask from some of them reviewed the new elements we needed to fold into Ibachakali now that wed be expanding our work in general and how we could more responsibly help preserve the kinds breeds of horses we partner with in Ibachakali as an act of reciprocity. We purchased a truck with a tow package and began researching horse trailers. We also began to draft plans and budgets for an in-hand on-site adventure course repairs and alterations of fences and barns at our new facility and decisions about the kinds of saddles and related tack well eventually need to purchase as Ibachakali grows. 82583 0 0 In May of 2023 we held our second IKhana Fund planning team meeting again using a digital meeting format. This time we were working to develop the specific policies and practices that will guide IKhana Funds grant application and award processes when the program is fully operational. Once the meeting ended Tapestry staff became deeply engaged in the major research required to develop the three separate but related reports that were then emerging from the insights of the 2023 meeting. Writing began on the first of these three reports in November of that year. In accord with Tapestrys public service emphasis all three reports will be available for free download on our website once theyre completed. We had expected a much more modest outcome from the work done in our second meeting so we were surprised by the ways the programs scope and agenda expanded during this meeting. While our focus is still on providing grant support to community members advancing Indigenous Knowledge we began to understand that people working so intensely with Indigenous Knowledge may need more than financial support. We therefore began to envision ways we could build the group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people participating in IKhana Fund into a giving-and-receiving community that can together walk a Story that is likely to be challenging for us all. This new way of understanding the community coming into existence as we do this work -- a community of IKhana Fund team members donors supporting IKhana Fund and IKhana Fund grant recipients -- permits us to provide critically important support of several different kinds in addition to the financial support of grant funds to the people and Places that become part of our community through this program. The same kind of support will flow to the IKhana Fund team members Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike who review and award the grants whose donations support IKhana Fund and who participate in the work of learning to relate and engage in appropriate ways with Indigenous communities the natural world and one another. 6423 0 0 Over the past few years innovative and interesting new legal theories and fields of law have emerged to explore ways of protecting the natural world within a Western system of jurisprudence. Few of the Western scholars doing this work however discuss the impact of Indigenous Knowledge Indigenous law and Indigenous rights on the issues involved in current environmental law. None pay appropriate attention to the publications of Indigenous scholars who address these subjects with a maturity of thought and experience that environmentalists and legal scholars rooted in Western culture havent yet acquired. Tapestry is exploring this significant gap in knowledge and awareness through literature reviews and conversations with professional colleagues interested in and invested in knowing more about this field. This permits us to begin writing introductory texts we post on our website for feedback that can help us understand the most effective way to connect the Wests emerging new ideas about people ecosystems and the law to the published Indigenous scholarship about these things thats being ignored by the dominant culture. 6423 0 0 1679178 true true 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 false false false false false false false false false false false false true 0 0 2 true 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 Dawn Hill Adams PhD Co-President of Board and Tapestry 70.00 0.00 X X 25833 0 0 Jo Belasco Esq Co-President of Board and Tapestry 70.00 0.00 X X 25833 0 0 Shawn Wilson PhD Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Vicki Solomon Vice President of Board and Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Jessica Venable PhD 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 51666 0 0 0 false false false 0 0 0 0 0 1773903 0 1773903 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 1885 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 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 1775788 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 51667 51667 0 0 73000 73000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4261 4261 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5570 3713 1857 0 0 0 0 0 1196 797 399 0 3293 2195 1098 0 0 0 0 0 7813 5209 2604 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 59 59 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ranch, ranch equipment, ranch supplies 1480930 1480930 0 0 Horses, horse care 55243 55243 0 0 Research materials and association dues 2005 2005 0 0 Corporate filings and mailings 149 99 50 0 0 0 0 0 1685186 1679178 6008 0 0 0 0 0 10178 1938 8390 107232 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1460167 9071 4900 1451096 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 23468 1560266 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 15219 1560266 8250 0 23469 1560266 23469 1560266 90602 0 0 0 0 1446195 X false false false X 10595 20085 20395 37401 198901 287377 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10595 20085 20395 37401 198901 287377 152644 134733 0 0 1 0 1886 1887 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 289264 0 0.4658 0.1523 X Part II - Line 1, Unusual Grant Lists | Name of the Contributor:, Date of Grant:, Year:, Amount:, Description:| Not disclosed per IRS instructions, "2023", $200000, Tapestry received 200,000 toward the purchase of property and items supporting our programs on that property.| Not disclosed per IRS instructions, "2023", $1375000, Tapestry received a donation of 1,375,000 for the purchase of a specific piece of property in order to run our nonprofit programs.| Not disclosed per IRS instructions, "2022", $25000, Tapestry received 25000 from a donor to support our nonprofit programs. This amount was an unusual grant for us at the time because Tapestry received minimal funding from 2007 through 2023 ranging from no funding at all to 10,000 in 2018 which was a large amount to us leading to the filing of 990Ns during that time period.| RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED 0 1372789 1372789 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 81253 6622 74632 0 6125 2450 3675 1451096 Part III, line 2 When we filed prior 990s we had just purchased property to which we had not yet moved and our horses were at an urban facility waiting for us to transport them to our new facility. At the beginning of the fiscal year we moved into the newly-purchased ranch facility and had the horses trailered in from Colorado. This is when we began to plan and implement in multiple ways new as well as old to expand Horse Ibachakali. Once we got to the ranch we could also see how we needed to help the prairie and wetlands here recover health and natural vitality that would let them engage effectively with people participating in our programs of learning. So we launched a program to survey explore understand and document the changes these habitats undergo as we protect and nurture them. Finally although wed been working on the IKhana Fund project before this fiscal year and had published an important report already the impetus to write a continuing series of books we started during that year -- publications that would bridge the gap between Indigenous people and the funders who want to support our work -- was not even in progress until we moved to the ranch in September of 2023. The ranch itself inspired these books particularly the first two volumes that were completed and being finalized for print by the end of this fiscal year. Part III, line 3 We did not cease conducting any of our program services in this fiscal year. But we made significant changes in how we conduct some of them and we began to significantly extend the reach of our program services. We changed how we conduct Horse Ibachakali in the following ways: relocating from an urban area to a rural area on ranch land returning horses of the program to more suitable habitat in which they are healthier and can engage more meaningfully with people in the program beginning to retrain and upgrade training for these horses public engagement rehabilitating the horses for life in a rural area again and moving the horses back into service through engagement with learners who are both visitor-guests and members of the general public. We changed how we conduct program services through our IKhana Fund program in the following ways: significant increase in the nature and scale of our program publications multiple book-length volumes under preparation and establishing an agenda for educational outreach to members of the general public through these publications. The prairie and wetland program we initiated in this fiscal year could not exist until we purchased the property that will host our programs and were then able to evaluate its needs. Our resulting efforts to start helping the prairie habitat regain its health immediately started changing the way we conduct our services because it engages us with members of our community of ranchers grasslands and range management practitioners outdoors people and others who are deeply interested in what were doing. They offer local knowledge that helps us think in a wider range of ways about the nuances of restoring the prairie and wetlands here. This is a new way of community-level engagement for us and one in which the beneficial service flows two ways between ourselves and people of our local community. Part VI, Line 2 Harrison John Adams Choctaw is on the Board of Directors. Dawn Hill Adams Ph.D. Choctaw Tapestrys Founder and Co-President is his mother. 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 XI, Line 9 | Description:, Explanation:, Amount:| Tapestry was able to purchase a ranch facility for 1,372,789 a truck for 51,185 and a tractor for 30,068. The net asset amounts for the truck and tractor at the end of the year figured in depreciation amounts of 6622 for a total of 1,447,420. There was additional depreciation of two Macbook computers purchased in 2022 in the amount of 1225., Several unusual grants allowed Tapestry buy a ranch facility and equipment for its programs., $1446195| 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 by May 15 2024. She applied for an extension on filing the 2023 990 - based on our new fiscal year dates of January 1 2023 through December 31 2023 -- and it was granted. On 5 14 26 Ms. Belasco e-filed Tapestrys 2023 990 for our new fiscal year dates of January 1 2023 through December 31 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 including one for 2024 that had been granted for filings that were based on 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 2023 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.