I want to find an efficient and effective charity for American Indians
which are truly needy. I understand that Googol is not allowed to make
recommendations and the government agency I wrote to looking for a
recommendation is also prohibited from making recommendations. In that
case can you give me names of unbiased sources which I can write a
letter to and get from them an explicit recommendation?

Hi Steve0,

What a great question.  I have found an excellent guide to non-profits
that allows you to find specific information about charities that
serve Native-American communities:

Guidestar is an on-line searchable database that provides contact and
financial information about hundreds of charities.  You can receive
basic information for free.  You must subscribe if you want more
in-depth information.

The Home Page can be found at:

http://www.guidestar.org/

I searched using the keywords “Native American” and found more than
700 organizations.

This can be a useful starting point for analyzing the goals of
different organizations.

JustGive.org also provides some tips for making productive donations:

http://www.justgive.org/html/don_info/tips.html

The guide from this organization also allows you to contact
JustGive.org to ask for help in deciding on a charity that meets your
criteria.  Scroll to bottom of page to e-mail from the “contact us”
link or write/call them at:

JustGive.org
P.O. Box 70063
Oakland, CA 94612
Phone: 1-866-JUSTGIVE (587-8448)  

If you find an organization that you like included on the JustGive
site, you can donate on-line in several ways.  Check the frequently
asked questions (FAQ) for donors at:

http://www.justgive.org/html/don_info/donorfaq.html

Of course you do not have to donate through this organization, it’s
just a possibility.

After reviewing the above sites I found them to be relatively
“unbiased” because their selection of organizations is based on IRS
and other financial information and they provide a wide spectrum of
organizations from which to choose.

I did find other links from Native American sources such as Native-Web
and the Index of Native American Non-Profit Resources on the Internet.

Native-Web offers a list of 71 organizations, most of which are in the
United States:
http://www.nativeweb.org/resources/organizations/non-profit_organizations/


the Index of Native American Non-Profit Resources on the Internet
offers a list of organizations in North America (U.S. and Canada):

http://www.hanksville.org/NAresources/indices/NAnonprof.html


As an example of some the organizations I found using these lists
please see the following links.  Please note that these are not
recommendations, simply examples.

Red Feather Development Group:  “Our approach builds on the strengths
of native cultural traditions and works with all generations to
achieve family and community development.”

http://www.redfeather.org/

This organization also recently won the Use Your Life Award on the
Oprah Winfrey Show.

http://www.oprah.com/uyl/angel/uyl_angel_20020211_award.jhtml


Tohono O’dham Community Action “is a community- based organization
dedicated to creating cultural revitalization and sustainable
community development on the Tohono O'odham Nation.”

http://www.tocaonline.org/homepage.html

More information about this organization can be found at the following
OXFAM America site:
http://www.oxfamamerica.org/global/art4144.html


I hope this has been helpful.  Please be sure to request a
clarification if you require any more information within the scope of
this question.

Regards,
Gitana

Search Strategy:

Key words in Google:  "Native American Non-Profit Organizations"
"Non-Profit Guide"

After finding specific organizations I used their names as keywords to
find more information.