Strengthening communities with data services and organizational support

Research

Holistic research services grounded in community

Strategy

Aligning processes and actions with your mission and goals

Implementation

Data management systems to track your impact

Creative

Design services that capture your voice and vision

About us

For over 10 years, Sweet Grass has assisted mission-driven organizations dedicated to promoting self-determination, equity, and well-being. We are committed to participatory methods and have a combined 40+ years of experience in evaluation, research, strategy, and design.

Recent projects

Food Systems Study: Exploring the Local Food Economy of the Oglála Lakhóta Oyáte

Makoce Agriculture Development is working to transform Pine Ridge's food landscape by building a community-led, culturally rooted food system that reclaims sovereignty and promotes regenerative, local agriculture.

Find Your Story: Texas Indigenous Data Sovereignty Study

Texas Tribal Buffalo Project is using data on food, health, identity, life ways, and economic conditions to support community revitalization and strategic partnerships for Indigenous peoples in Texas and Northern Mexico.

Latest news

Three volunteers unloading fresh produce off a truck.

What philanthropy can learn from Indigenous funders

PHILANTHROPY | Mainstream philanthropy often operates on control and oversight. Indigenous leaders are showing a different way — one rooted in trust and cultural vitality. Learn how funders can stop leading and start listening.
Herd of buffalo moving across roads and grasslands in South Dakota.

Four Bands Community Fund uses data to transform Indigenous finance

PARTNER SPOTLIGHT | Blending data with deep community knowledge, Four Bands is reshaping what lending looks like on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation.

We partner with tribal, nonprofit, and mission-driven organizations to deliver and measure impact.

We take a holistic, systems approach to our work, where individuals, families, households, beliefs, ways of knowing, economies, environments, and governments all play a role.

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  • "Working with Sweet Grass was a huge win for our team. For years, we struggled to measure the impact of our work across the five-county region we serve. Choosing Sweet Grass was easy due to their impressive previous work and their engaging, understanding, and confident approach."

    Charitie Herbst, Sourcewell

  • "Sweet Grass’s contextual and cultural understanding of the Native CDFI markets is unsurpassed in the field . . . We appreciate the work they do to stay informed about our markets and to continually amplify our voices on the ground!

    Lakota Vogel, Four Bands Community Fund

  • "Flawless performance and were key to operating the project in a team environment. Always available and on task. Sweet Grass became more co-workers than contractors."

    Randy Finn, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe

  • "We've had so many projects with Sweetgrass, there's not many things you guys haven't touched! Market study, strategic plan, impact report, etc. This allowed for us to have a sense of direction with our products and programming and it helps us to tell the story of our impact."

    Skya Ducheneaux, Akiptan