2019 Grand Entry at the Oklahoma Indian Nations Powwow held annually in Concho, Okla.
(CONCHO, OK) A bill to create the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes Powwow Donation Act is one of 20 resolutions set to be voted on by the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes 10th Legislature on April 13.
According to the resolution, “the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes recognizes the necessity of supporting powwows to sustain and promote the Tribes’ cultures and donations to powwow committees is integral to the continued success and cultural significance of the Tribes.”
The 10th Legislature found it necessary to enact a law that outlines the requirements for powwow committees to receive donations from the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes after an incident of embezzlement occurred last year with a committee member of the Colony Labor Day Powwow committee.
Hearing of the proposed act, there has been speculation among tribal citizens and the communities about what the proposed act entails.
The findings listed in the act suggest that the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes lack a central repository for approving powwow committee donations which result in potential mishandling of funds, the tribes are in need of laws establishing requirements for requesting powwow funds and requiring formal organization for powwow committees will “open the door for additional funding from non-tribal resources.”
Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes Compliance Officer Bill Tallbear said the purpose of the act is to create a central repository for awarding and distributing donations of tribal funds for powwow committee donation requests.
In continuing to support powwows and cultural development through tribal funds, the act serves to avoid mishandling of tribal funds. Only powwow committees recognized by the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes Executive Office as a formally organized powwow committee will be entitled to funding and donations will be in the form of a check made out to the powwow committee entity’s name, or will be directly deposited into a bank account held in the powwow committee entity’s name.
The resolution also states that only powwow committees who comply with the provisions in the act will be entitled to funding.
“The administration doesn’t want to give a check to an individual in the individual names anymore that’s a member of the committee. They want to give the check to the powwow committees, for example, ‘Colony Powwow Committee,’ or ‘Indian Nation Powwow committee,’” Tallbear said.
The act was drafted jointly between the executive branch and the legislature. Honia Jackson, associate general counsel for the Office of Tribal Attorney said the act creates a central location for all donations to be given from the tribe in regards to powwows and their powwow committees.
“The tribes can keep better track and that way the tribes are aware of how much they are actually giving, instead of it coming from many different sources,” Jackson said.
Jackson said it also helps create checks and balances and oversight, so that it is less likely for the funds to become embezzled by committee members, as there is nothing in place to prevent individuals from doing so.
“As it is right now, if the tribes were to give money for these powwow committees and one member decides to spend it, it’s pretty easy for them to do so,” Jackson said.
As part of the provisions in order to receive funding, there are requirements for each committee to have including having a business bank account.
Jackson said when checks are written, “it’s not to an individual member, so that individuals can’t go and cash it and spend it on themselves, that way they know for a fact it’s going to the committee.”
From there, the other request is that for any checks that that business account has, it will have to have two signatures.
“That way it will take two committee members to actually sign off on them … we’re hoping this will actually prevent any other embezzlement issues, any issues where it’s one member taking all the funds, spending it on something else, we’re trying to prevent those issues,” Jackson said.
Cited within the act, powwow committee is defined in part as a ‘formally organized non-profit entity in accordance with Cheyenne and Arapaho law.’
To better understand what is required is regards to a non-profit entity, Jackson said it is not what is being requested by the Tribes. But is rather an issue in regards to setting up a business bank account.
“The issue is that when you set up a business bank account, that’s what the bank is actually going to require, you’re going to have to be a business and that’s where that’s coming from,” Jackson said.
Jackson said the office of tribal attorney has been trying to help committees.
“We don’t require it, but a bank will and the best option they have is to be able to set up their committee as a non-profit corporation, so that way they could be tax exempt, that’s why we were suggesting they do that but we don’t require it, the bank is actually going to require all the documents in order to open up that account,” Jackson said.
Some concerns were raised regarding the proposed powwow donation act and how it would affect locally known Cheyenne and Arapaho powwow committees.
Dara Franklin, with the Oklahoma Indian Nations committee, which is a non-profit organization, said they looked forward to receiving donations every year from the tribes.
“I appreciate the tribes help though because it takes money to have dances, you spend money to have dances, sometimes you don’t make any money but what you bring in to have your dances. We’ve got to keep our culture going somehow, keep our people involved and we do have people that love doing it and helping, serving our communities and that’s what I like, seeing our people come together,” Franklin said.
In complying with what is expected as a powwow committee, Franklin said it was recommended by the culture program to obtain a non-profit status to ensure they show what is done with funds, how much is given to contestants and to have a budget.
“We’ve always done that, I think it’s important if we’re going to get money from the tribe, we’ve got to show what we spent it for, that protects us,” Franklin said.
With the provisions in place with the act, Janelle Birdshead-Sharp, chairwoman of the Colony Labor Day Powwow Committee said it would have prevented the incident that happened to their committee last year when their powwow funds were stolen.
“It could have prevented it, but there was nothing in place so it gave an opportunity for people that aren’t trustworthy or someone that wasn’t thinking correctly,” Birdshead-Sharp said.
Speaking on behalf of the committee, Birdshead-Sharp said the committee is grateful for whatever donations they get and they do not ask for a specific amount. According to the act, the donation amounts set for powwows would be limited to a maximum amount of $15,000 for Oklahoma Indian Nations and Colony Powwow Committees and all other powwows would be allowed a max donation of $10,000.
“It has it’s pros and cons I’m sure there will be other powwow committees that still have their concerns, my only concern is going through all the hoops of getting the nonprofit status, I looked at it and if you’re not educated it is a little confusing,” Birdshead-Sharp said.
Sarah Orange, with the Red Moon Powwow Committee said their committee is not in agreement with the act as it poses concerns with new and incoming committee members.
“Will they have to face the situation we’re in right now and we also believe that it’s unfair for two of the powwows to get $15,000 and Red Moon to get only $10,000. We’re in our 52nd annual powwow, my grandma was on the committee back in the 90s and so I’m very honored to be on the committee,” Orange said.
Orange said while they aren’t in agreement with the donation act, the committee does appreciate the tribe’s help. Some of the concerns with Red Moon powwow committee in particular are getting the requirements done within a certain amount of time as their powwow is held in May.
“We’re one of the first powwows to happen, it’ll mean us trying to hurry quickly to get the things done that are needed in order to comply with this act and I think it’s going to be problematic for us to get done in that short amount of time,” Orange said.
As the vote for the powwow donation act is scheduled to take place during the 4th regular session on April 13, Orange said it gives the committee a short amount of time to comply with the act’s provisions in order to receive funding.
During the public hearing held on April 11, the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes Legislative Attorney, Seth Schwenn said during the previous working sessions it was requested that there be changes made, which included naming specifically which powwow committees would be entitled to funds.
“To name four which would be Star Hawk Society, Red Moon, OIN, Colony, it was also requested that the donation amount be equal across the board which that was discussed to be $10,000 for each powwow committee,” Schwenn said.
It was also asked that the money that is donated to be required to be used for prize money.
“The purpose of that being a lot of these powwow committees they don’t really have to pay out a ton of prize money and it would be ideal to go ahead and pay out more prize money so that it could potentially grow these powwows and help enhance the culture amongst the tribe and other individuals,” Schwenn said.
An updated resolution on the Powwow Donation Act with the changes will be uploaded to the legislative branch page on the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes website: https://www.cheyenneandarapaho-nsn.gov/government/legislative.
The Powwow Donation Act will be voted on during the fourth regular session 9 a.m. Saturday April 13 in Concho, Okla.
By Latoya Lonelodge, Senior Reporter
Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribal Tribune 