501(c)(3) Foundation
Osage Foundation
Pour la préservation de la langue, le service des étudiants, et la garde du registre.
Charitable foundation of the Osage ecosystem. Cultural and linguistic preservation; education in the sciences, arts, and military service; care of the historical record.
Mission
The Foundation exists to direct philanthropic capital toward three enduring concerns: the cultural and linguistic preservation of the Osage Nation; the education of Native American and rural-American students in the sciences, arts, and military service; and the historical record — the care of archives, monuments, and memorials that keep Osage history legible to those who come after.
We are a small house. We do not run a press operation. We measure ourselves by what stays in the record after the grant cycle closes.
Standing programs
Wazhazhe Archive
A long-running grant program funding the digitization, translation, and publication of Osage-language materials, in partnership with the Osage Nation Museum (founded 1938, the oldest tribally owned museum in the United States) and academic linguists. Awards run from $5,000 for short oral-history projects to $250,000 multi-year capital grants for archival infrastructure.
Open cycle. Applications accepted on a rolling basis. Final review twice yearly (March, September).
Tinker Scholars
Annual scholarships for Native American students entering the United States service academies, ROTC programs, or undergraduate programs in aeronautics, engineering, and applied sciences. The program is named for the Foundation’s namesake, Maj. Gen. Clarence L. Tinker (1887–1942), Chairman Emeritus of the Osage Brothers board. Awards cover full tuition, fees, and a stipend; recipients remain in cohort with prior years.
Annual cycle.Applications open December 1, close April 1; awards announced June 7 each year — the anniversary of the General’s loss at Midway.
Pawhuska Heritage Fund
Capital grants to historical-preservation projects in Osage County, Oklahoma — physical sites, oral histories, photographic and film archives. Funding is restricted to projects within the historical Osage reservation as constituted in 1872, with priority to projects coordinated with the Osage Nation, the Osage Nation Museum, and the four traditional districts.
Annual cycle. RFPs published in February; awards announced in October.
Apply
A short letter of inquiry (under 500 words) to [email protected] opens the conversation. Full applications are invited from letters that match the program. We respond to every letter within 30 days.
Charter & Governance
- Statute. Chartered as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization under the laws of the State of Oklahoma, United States of America. Donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent permitted by law. Federal Employer Identification Number furnished on written request.
- Patron.The Foundation is held under the patronage of the Tinker family, in standing memory of the late Maj. Gen. Clarence L. Tinker (1887–1942), Chairman Emeritus of the Osage Brothers board. The patronage is honorary and carries no operational authority over the Foundation’s programmes.
- Trustees. The Foundation is governed by an independent five-member Board of Trustees, separate from the Osage Brothers holding-company board. Composition includes a Tinker family delegate, an Osage Nation liaison (acting in consultation with the Nation, and not as an officer of the Nation), and three at-large Trustees with expertise in archives, education, and finance.
- Audit. Annual audit by an independent firm. Audited financials and Form 990 posted at this address by 1 August each year.
- Disbursement posture. The Foundation targets a programme-spending ratio above the typical 501(c)(3) median; no development office is maintained, and overhead is held under ten per cent of disbursements.
- Sister entity. The international civic arm, Osage NGO, operates beyond the Foundation’s charitable mandate.
Contact
- Donations: [email protected]
- Grant applications: [email protected]
- Press: [email protected]
- Mailing address provided on request.