Tribal budgets as well as the annual tribal audits are available upon the request of tribal members, at the tribal finance office. This is often not the case with crowd-sourced funding.

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By Avis Little Eagle and Georgianne Nienaber

A native woman is found frozen in her trailer due to lack of propane for her furnace. A few days earlier, a 54-year-old tribal member was found frozen behind a building, a 24-year-old woman froze to death, and her 29-year-old boyfriend was found frozen to death in a snow bank this week. This is the reality of life on the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux Reservations. Many do not own their own homes, cars, money for gas if they do have a car, and the per capita income on the Standing Rock Reservation is $13,474, less than half of U.S. per capita ($27,334). (Source: Northern Plains Reservation Aid)

How can this happen when the eyes of the world are focused on the Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline, and millions of dollars are pouring into Internet crowd sourcing sites? Estimates of the number of sites that use "Standing Rock" and "Sacred Stone" range from 5,000 to 20,000 including at least 10,000 GoFundMe accounts. Over 5,000 use the Standing Rock name, according to tribal officials. Where is the money going? The short answer is that no one knows.

Tribal budgets as well as the annual tribal audits are available upon the request of tribal members, at the tribal finance office. This is often not the case with crowd-sourced funding.

The National Crime Prevention Council suggests that online donors check out any unknown charity with a charity registration office, the Better Business Bureau, or a charity watchdog group such as Charity Watch, Give, and Guidestar. This investigation followed the NCPC guidelines and offered fundraisers the opportunity to respond by email if we could not locate the charity in question through charity watch organizations. GoFundMe, the number one crowd-sourcing website with over $3 billion raised for personal causes such as the Standing Rock protests, presents challenges in transparency.

When is a donation a "gift" and therefore tax-exempt? The courts have not yet clarified this, but crowd funding services have to report to the IRS campaigns that total at least $20,000 and 200 transactions, according to tax consultant Liberty Tax's website. Money collected from crowd funding is considered either income or a gift, and the "gift tax" is levied upon the donor. If a GoFundMe campaign benefits or is a registered non-profit organization or charity, taxes may not be necessary.

For now, it is up to the donor to be aware. Is it easy to contact the site? Is there a mailing address? Can donors reach the company by phone, email, or chat? If contact is established, do the owners of the campaign willingly provide clear answers as to how much money has been spent and how it has been allocated? Search for the fundraising site on the BBB's business search service. If the company is listed as a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC), it will be listed on the website of the state in which it is doing business.

Do you want to make a "gift" to an organization with absolutely no accountability, or would you rather work with an accredited 501 (c) (3) charity?

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is a federally recognized tribe of American Indians. 81 Federal Register 26826, 26830 (May 4, 2016). Under the Indian Tribal Government Tax Status Act of 1982, 26 U.S.C. 7871 et seq., Indian tribes are treated like states for purposes of federal income, estate and gift tax deductions for charitable contributions. The only "official" site for the Standing Rock Tribal Government (Stand With Standing Rock) does not solicit, but was set up as a means to accept free-will donations that were bogging down the PayPal account on the official Standing Rock Tribal Website.

To date, SRST has taken in $6 million that has been subsequently earmarked for legal defense in the lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers and DAPL, waste management at the camps, and budget shortfalls incurred because of the closure of Highway 1806 and local boycotts of the casinos. The annual Prairie Knights Casino intake was approximately $14 million in 2015 and dropped to near $8 million in 2016. The budgets and spreadsheets will be discussed in general terms later in this article. (See Sidebar)

Where Is the Money?

Over $6 million has been raised through a handful of other private sites, including the Sacred Stone Camp, Sacred Stone Legal Defense Fund, Last Real Indians, Unify, and the Lakota People's Law Project. These private donations are not reflected in, nor will they be included in, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's budget outlays. The $6 million for private sites in this investigation does not include monies raised on the Internet by thousands of other entities which use the Standing Rock name to raise funds for anything including, but not limited to, cameras, film projects, gasoline, wood, food, legal services, travel expenses, public relations, tiny barns for horses, yurts, tipis and other commodities too numerous to mention. It is anyone's guess what the total amount is and how to account for it.

A set of questions about budgets and charity registrations was sent to the Sacred Stone Camp, Sacred Stone Legal Defense Fund, Last Real Indians, Unify, and the Lakota People's Law Project. To date, the Sacred Stone Camp, the Lakota People's Law Project and the Sacred Stone Legal Defense Fund have replied by email.

As of this writing the "Official Sacred Stone Camp" has raised over $3 million through a GoFundMe campaign. "We are asking for financial support for water-propane - food and blankets for the camp," according to the website.

After an initial email response, followed by a request for a partial redaction, Sacred Stone's spokeswoman Ladonna Allard expressed her concern that the information would somehow benefit DAPL proponents. We are honoring her request for a partial redaction. According to Allard, the GoFundMe account was initiated "'by a man named 'Howaste,' for Sacred Stone." (Howaste means Good Voice in Lakota). The $3 Million is being managed by her bank and will be used to build infrastructure on what she says is her privately owned land.

An inquiry to the tribe revealed Sacred Stone Camp is not entirely on private allotted land. It is on US Army Corps of Engineers land and on a fractionated allotment of which the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has interest.

At a January 4, 2017 informational meeting at Standing Rock Tribal Headquarters, Allard publicly stated that they have repaired 44 cars with some of the money, but did not offer a dollar amount. The email conversation said additional funds were used to "help elderly travel home," and "hotel for media," among other projects.

According to Allard, Sacred Stone has four paid positions: a bookkeeper, a CPA, a "youth media and media liaison," and a 501 (c) (3) to develop a permanent camp. After extensive searches, the 501 (c) (3) number is not publicly available.

When asked for an EIN number, Allard was unable or unwilling to provide it. An Employer Identification Number (EIN) is also known as a Federal Tax Identification Number, and is used to identify a business entity. Generally, businesses need an EIN, especially if they have people on a payroll. Allard also made it clear that "our focus is the people who live in Sacred Stone Camp," and not the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

When people donate to the Standing Rock Protests, they assume that they are donating, some with great personal sacrifice, to fight the Dakota Access Pipeline and assist members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Obvious questions arise.

Why did none of these funds reach the three people who froze to death outside of the camp, but on reservation land? Are they not worthy of protection? Who is responsible, if anyone? This is not the first year that people have frozen to death on reservation land because of lack of fuel for heating, and it would seem that people are making donations in order to alleviate suffering on the reservation. Are people aware that donations are going to travel expenses and hotel rooms for media?

The Lakota People's Law Project exists under the umbrella of the Romero Institute, an interfaith team of attorneys, organizers, and researchers from Santa Cruz, CA. Romero is registered with Charity Navigator 501(c)(3) as a tax-exempt organization, but has no rating. The latest Form 990 return from December 2015 indicates an income of $1,087,902. $476,353 is listed as salaries, with $450,000 spent by the Lakota People's Law Project. $75,000 for the "chief counsel was (sic) invited to be a guest lecturer at the University of California, Santa Cruz. With the back up of our team he taught a class on the Trajectory of Justice in America." Currently, the main focus of the Lakota People's Law project, according to the website is to "defund DAPL."

An email was sent to Sara Nelson, Executive Director, Romero Institute and the Lakota People's Law Project (LPLP), along with a follow-up that was answered by Press Director Ardy Raghian. Raghian promised an accounting from the organization's Treasurer by email that same day. It has not arrived, but Teton Times will publish it when and if it is received.

The connection between the Lakota People's Law Project, Last Real Indians, and Sacred Stone Camp remains murky. According to its website, the Lakota People's Law Project "has joined a coalition of environmental and Indigenous organizations" which includes Greenpeace, Indigenous Environmental Network, the Rainforest Coalition and others. The Facebook Page clearly has a donation button dedicated to Standing Rock (Standing With Water Protectors)

The LPLP website sponsors "Dispatches From Indian Country," and promises that if donors "Stand With Standing Rock into 2017 and Beyond," "a generous donor will match all contributions made before the end of the year, up to $100,000. Every donation you make today will go twice as far."

Tara Houska, National Campaigns Director, Honor the Earth, and Dallas Goldtooth, Keep it in the Ground Organizer, Indigenous Environmental Network, are frequently associated with the Lakota People's Law Project and the Sacred Stone Camp.

For example, the crowd-funding site, FundRazr, is hosting the Sacred Stone Legal Defense Fund, which is also heavily promoted in the November 25, 2016 online blog of Vogue Magazine. Currently this fund has raised $2,729,388 out of a $3 million goal, and has 49,946 contributions received. This easily surpasses the taxation requirements for the IRS. An email was sent to Honor the Earth's Tara Houska to determine how the money is being allocated. The website says the "Sacred Stone Legal Defense Fund supports the legal defense of warriors protecting land, water, and human rights. The Camp of the Sacred Stones is a spiritual and cultural camp on the Standing Rock Reservation resisting the Dakota Access oil pipeline thru non-violent direct action."

Houska responded to the Teton Times in general terms, but not with an actual dollar amount.

"Freshet Collective is a registered 501(c) (4) non-profit with a board of directors composed of folks in the encampments at Standing Rock. We'll be subject to the same requirements of any non-profit, including a publicly available annual report of all expenditures, Houska said.

"The Sacred Stone Legal Fund is what Freshet Collective manages - 100% of the funds go to the legal defense and bail of water protectors," says Houska.

The IRS says, "To be tax-exempt as a social welfare organization described in Internal Revenue Code (IRC) section 501(c)(4), an organization must not be organized for profit and must be operated exclusively to promote social welfare."

The blurring of lines between funding, hosting and organizations is widespread. Direct contributions can be made to the fund via PayPal "to reduce processing fees" according to the "Sacred Stone Solidarity Collective" fact website. There is no public accounting for contributions made through PayPal. (Source) In addition, "a team called the Red Owl Legal Collective maintains a legal support tent at the camp and consults with people while in custody."

Without proper accounting and paperwork, the blurring of lines between the legal collective, Sacred Stone and Red Owl is not a model of transparency. Are members of the Red Owl Collective paid for their legal work? If so, there should be another EIN number unless they fall under the umbrella of the Sacred Stone Camp, which so far has not provided one.

A second email was sent requesting numbers to that effect. Thane Maxwell of the Freshet Collective, and also of Honor the Earth, responded. Maxwell offered the clarification that the 501 (c) (4) status has not yet been received, but that Freshnet is incorporated as a non-profit in the State of Minnesota.

Maxwell also said, "Our bookkeeper is currently preparing a 2016 financial summary and we are happy to pass that on to you once it is complete. I can tell you that we have spent over $500,000 so far and that the vast majority of that went towards bonds to get people out of jail (many of those bonds were blatantly inflated)."

The website says, "So far, we have spent nearly $300,000 just to get people out of jail." That leaves $200,000 unaccounted for if Maxwell is correct in his estimation.

Surprisingly, Maxwell insisted, "It is critical that whenever we talk about this legal defense fund, we emphasize the fact that The Freshet Collective has no legal obligation to provide funds for anyone. We exist to support water protectors who do not have the resources to defend themselves, but our decisions regarding fund use and dispersal are entirely discretionary."

This brings us back to the IRS mandate that requires a 501(c) (4) organization must not be organized for profit and must be operated exclusively to promote social welfare. It would seem to indicate a legal obligation.

Like Allard, Maxwell seemed to want to err on the side of caution when it comes to transparency. In an email to the Teton Times he said, "We want transparency too and the people have a right to know what's going on with this money. But we also have to be careful."

According to the website, Last Real Indians (lastrealindians.com) is "sponsored by their Fiscal Agent, the People's Press Project, a Moorhead, MN based Media justice nonprofit that was granted its tax-exempt status by the IRS on May 5, 2012." The PPP has started a fund to support the development and advancement of Lastrealindians.com. "We are asking for on-line donations to support the further development of Indigenous news."

According to Charity Navigator, this organization "is not eligible to be rated by Charity Navigator because it is not required to file the full IRS Form 990. It is required to file a form 990-N. This form provides some information, but it lacks the level of data we require to issue a rating."

What does it mean that this organization isn't rated?

"It simply means that the organization doesn't meet our criteria. A lack of a rating does not indicate a positive or negative assessment by Charity Navigator."

Using the EIN number (27-2409590) and a search on GuideStar yielded an address in Moorhead Minnesota and the Principal Officer, Duke Gomez-Schempp. All other financials are missing. The Better Business Bureau has no listing, and there are no other ratings currently available on the Internet that we could find. There is no confirmation at this date about how much money has been raised and or is being managed by the People's Press Project as the fiscal agent for Last Real Indians' donations.

Two emails were sent to Chase Iron Eyes, who is the contact person for the website domain lastrealindians.com. He has not replied as of this writing. The domain is owned by Sovereign Fires, LLC, but a check of registries for open corporations shows that the LLC (DL020794) has been dissolved and there are no records of it in the South Dakota Secretary of State's database, where Sovereign Fires was first incorporated. Chase Iron Eye's address in Fort Yates is listed as the contact.

The organization "Unify" is yet another Internet entity that functions either as promoter or fundraiser for Chase Iron Eyes and Last Real Indians. An email was sent to Unify's website asking for clarification on the amount of money collected for Standing Rock.

Unify was also asked to clarify its connection with UPLIFT, which has a presence at Standing Rock. Is Uplift the same as "Uplift Media," which has raised over $13,000 on a GoFundMe campaign organized by Lindsay E. Nance as "WeAreDine?" Nance registered as a media organization/journalist at the Morton County Courthouse, but was observed praying with protestors outside of the courtroom on December 19.

The website says: "We need to be able to pay for lodging to protect our gear and supplies - the warriors depend on us to tell their stories to refute police statements, get the message out, and to raise money so they can stay here for the long term." Is this the definition of a media representative or journalist?

To say the connections are murky is probably not the best description.

Fundraising and crowd sourcing is more like the head of a hydra. Those who remember their Greek mythology recall the Hydra was a giant water snake with a number of heads that could be as few as 5 and as many as 100. One of the 12 labors of Hercules was to kill the Hydra. Certainly investigating crowd-sourced fundraising based on the Standing Rock name is a Herculean task.

Part II: Prayerful Protest Turns Violent and the Poor Are Plundered

Note: Standing Rock Tribal Member Avis Little Eagle, has served as Councilwoman, Vice Chairwoman and Councilwoman-at-large for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. She is a 1987 graduate of Sitting Bull College and attended Black Hills State University where she majored in Mass Communications with a minor in Native Studies. She began her career as a journalist in 1990, working at The Lakota Times Newspaper. She eventually worked her way from newspaper reporter to managing editor at the newspaper, which later became Indian Country Today. She resides in McLaughlin, S.D., where she also is the publisher of the Teton Times, a newspaper covering the Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux Reservations. This article was initially published in the Teton Times, which does not have an online presence.

Authors Website: http://www.georgianne-nienaber.com

Authors Bio:

Georgianne Nienaber is an investigative environmental and political writer. She lives in rural northern Minnesota and South Florida. Her articles have appeared in The Society of Professional Journalists' Online Quill Magazine, the Huffington Post, The Ugandan Independent, Rwanda's New Times, India's TerraGreen, COA News, ZNET, OpEdNews, Glide Magazine, The Journal of the International Primate Protection League, Africa Front, The United Nations Publication, A Civil Society Observer, Bitch Magazine, and Zimbabwe's The Daily Mirror. Her fiction expose of insurance fraud in the horse industry, Horse Sense, was re-released in early 2006. Gorilla Dreams: The Legacy of Dian Fossey was also released in 2006. Nienaber spent much of 2007 doing research in South Africa, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. She was in DRC as a MONUC-accredited journalist, and was living in Southern Louisiana investigating hurricane reconstruction and getting to know the people there in 2007. Nienaber is continuing "to explore the magic of the Deep South." She was a member of the Memphis Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and is a current member of Investigative Rorters and Editors.