Underinvestment in Indian Country: How federal and philanthropic funding to Native Americans falls short, and how to fix it

American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes and communities have seen significant shifts in federal funding in recent years.

近年来，美洲印第安人和阿拉斯加原住民部落和社区的联邦资金发生了重大变化。

Sweeping federal laws passed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and recession brought historic levels of funding to Tribal communities in areas such as infrastructure, health, education, clean energy, and economic development.

COVID-19 大流行和经济衰退后通过的全面联邦法律为部落社区在基础设施、卫生、教育、清洁能源和经济发展等领域提供了历史水平的资金。

However, since the start of 2025, the funding landscape has shifted.

然而，自 2025 年初以来，融资格局发生了变化。

Unfortunately, rather than move the U.S. closer to meeting the full funding needs of Tribal communities, recent fiscal policy decisions have moved it further away.

不幸的是，最近的财政政策决定非但没有让美国更接近满足部落社区的全部资金需求，反而让这一目标变得更远。

This report provides an overview of recent funding to Indian Country, outlines areas of critical need, and highlights service areas that have recently seen some of the largest funding reductions.

本报告概述了印度国家最近的资金情况，概述了急需的领域，并重点介绍了最近资金削减幅度最大的服务领域。

Real funding for Tribal nations, citizens, and communities remained flat throughout most of the Obama administration and saw only slight growth during most of the first Trump administration.

在奥巴马政府的大部分时间里，部落国家、公民和社区的实际资金保持不变，在特朗普第一届政府的大部分时间里只出现了小幅增长。

But with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and recession in 2020, the federal government significantly grew overall spending levels, including to Indian Country, where spending more than doubled between Fiscal Years 2020 and 2021.

但随着 COVID-19 大流行和 2020 年经济衰退的爆发，联邦政府显着提高了总体支出水平，其中包括印度乡村，其支出在 2020 年至 2021 财年期间增加了一倍多。

As emergency pandemic spending ended, funding for Indian Country reverted to the pre-pandemic inflation-adjusted baseline in FY 2022 and FY 2023.

随着紧急大流行支出结束，印度国家的资金在 2022 财年和 2023 财年恢复到大流行前的通胀调整基线。

However, between FY 2023 and FY 2024, funding for Indian Country saw another substantial increase, growing by 33% year-over-year.

然而，在 2023 财年至 2024 财年之间，印度乡村的资金再次大幅增长，同比增长 33%。

This growth was the result of Congress providing advance appropriations for the Indian Health Service (IHS), as well as new sources of funding for Indian Country from four major federal laws passed during the Biden administration: the American Rescue Plan Act, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act.

这一增长是国会为印第安人医疗服务体系（IHS）提供预拨款的结果，也是拜登政府期间通过的四项主要联邦法律为印第安人国家提供新资金来源的结果：《美国救援计划法》、《基础设施投资和就业法》、《CHIPS 和科学法》以及《降低通货膨胀法》。

Spending on Native Americans tracked generally with overall per capita nondefense spending from FY 2009 to FY 2019.

从 2009 财年到 2019 财年，美洲原住民的支出总体上与人均非国防支出总额保持一致。

However, that trend changed after the COVID-19 pandemic and recession.

然而，在 COVID-19 大流行和经济衰退之后，这种趋势发生了变化。

While all spending grew significantly in the wake of the pandemic, per capita spending on Native Americans reverted to pre-pandemic levels in FY 2022 and FY 2023, while overall nondefense spending remained significantly above FY 2019 levels.

尽管所有支出在大流行后均大幅增长，但美洲原住民的人均支出在 2022 财年和 2023 财年恢复到大流行前的水平，而总体非国防支出仍显着高于 2019 财年的水平。

This shows that while overall U.S. spending levels have increased in recent years, that increase hasn’t always flowed to Indian Country.

这表明，尽管近年来美国的总体支出水平有所增加，但这种增长并不总是流向印度国家。

Federal investment for Native Americans continues to fall short of Indian Country’s needs.

联邦对美洲原住民的投资仍然无法满足印第安人国家的需求。

There is no single topline estimate of the shortfall of federal investment compared to overall trust and treaty obligations.

与整体信托和条约义务相比，没有对联邦投资缺口的单一估计。

However, past efforts have attempted to quantify overall investment needs in specific topic areas and assess how federal funding compares.

然而，过去的努力试图量化特定主题领域的总体投资需求并评估联邦资金的比较。

For example, the federal government invested $41.5 million in Native American language revitalization in 2024 —less than 3% of the government’s own estimated annual need of $1.5 billion.

例如，联邦政府在 2024 年为振兴美洲原住民语言投资了 4150 万美元，不到政府自己估计的年度需求 15 亿美元的 3%。

The National Tribal Budget Formulation Workgroup (NTBFWG) calculates IHS annual funding needs at $73 billion —over 10 times more than the enacted IHS budget of $7.1 billion in FY 2024.

国家部落预算制定工作组 (NTBFWG) 计算 IHS 年度资金需求为 730 亿美元，是 2024 财年颁布的 IHS 预算 71 亿美元的 10 倍多。

Greater federal investment into Tribal communities is essential; however, it may take years for policy to change sufficiently enough to meet those needs.

联邦政府加大对部落社区的投资至关重要；然而，政策可能需要数年时间才能充分改变以满足这些需求。

In the interim, philanthropic funding can help close some of the investment gaps for Tribal nations, citizens, and communities.

在此期间，慈善资金可以帮助缩小部落国家、公民和社区的一些投资缺口。

Unfortunately, Native-serving grants account for a disproportionately small share of total giving in the United States.

不幸的是，为本地人提供的赠款在美国总赠款中所占的比例极小。

This analysis finds that just 0.88% of foundation and corporate philanthropic funding in 2024 was classified as serving Native communities or causes (inclusive of grants that also served other populations).

该分析发现，2024 年，只有 0.88% 的基金会和企业慈善资金被归类为服务原住民社区或事业（包括也服务其他人群的赠款）。

Contributions to Native-exclusive groups and causes account for an even lower share: In 2024, just 0.51% of foundation and corporate philanthropic funding went to grants that Brookings could confirm served exclusively Native communities.

对原住民专有团体和事业的捐款所占比例甚至更低：2024 年，只有 0.51% 的基金会和企业慈善资金用于布鲁金斯学会可以确认专门为原住民社区服务的赠款。

In no year have Native Americans received philanthropic investment at a rate commensurate with their population share, which ranges from 1% to 2.7% in Census Bureau estimates.

美洲原住民在任何一年中都没有获得与其人口比例相称的慈善投资，根据人口普查局的估计，其人口比例在 1% 到 2.7% 之间。

That shows that the philanthropic sector continues to fail to meet the investment needs of Indian Country.

这表明慈善领域仍然无法满足印度国家的投资需求。