Form 990 for tax year 2024

Totals

Total revenue

$4,055,512

Total expenses

$3,520,141

Contributions and grants received

$3,262,279

Grants paid

$32,094

Program service revenue

$246,971

Investment income

$629,407

Other revenue

-$83,145

Total assets, end of year

$13,346,211

Total liabilities, end of year

$1,018,517

Net assets or fund balances, end of year

$12,327,694

Program services expenses (Part IX)

$2,827,377

Management and general expenses

$460,917

Fundraising expenses

$231,847

Program service expenses (Part III)

$2,827,377

Program services were 80.3% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.

Line items

Every line the filer filed in Parts VIII, IX and X, as filed and in filed order. Blank columns are left out, and the lines are not forced to add up to the totals above.

Mission and programs · 2024

• Landscape and Site ProtectionSave History: The Save History campaign expanded prevention and outreach in 2024, distributing 2,000+ children's activity books, launching an oral history video project, and presenting at conferences, including the Society for American Archaeology, National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, and the Southwest Symposium. Media outreach included NPR's Here and Now, podcasts, and Tribal youth events. Through SaveHistory.org, 12 crime tips were relayed to law enforcement.Archaeological Resource Crime Response and Prevention: The Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) Assistance Program, funded through a contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), strengthened detection and response by completing fieldwork for seven Tribe-requested damage assessments, installing 75+ trail cameras, and distributing 500+ no-trespassing signs. We built national capacity for protecting cultural heritage through three 5-day ARPA trainings with over 100 total participants from 18 Tribal Nations and multiple agencies, plus custom seminars and regional sessions.Respect Great Bend 2024: Archaeology Southwest remains a lead organization in the Respect Great Bend Coalition. House of Representatives Bill (H.R.) 9257, the "Great Bend of the Gila National Monument Establishment Act," introduced by the late Congressman Raul Grijalva in late 2024, includes provisions for Tribal Commission co-stewardship of the proposed National Monument in southwestern AZ. This act was the subject of a well-received Congressional Hearing and multiple events organized by the Coalition to raise awareness for the proposed monument, including: EcoFlights with journalists and Tribal leaders, podcasts, trivia nights in Tucson and Phoenix, a Great Bend of the Gila beer from AZ Wilderness Brewing, and a fly-in to Washington DC for the "Monumental Day of Action" in April 2024. These events received favorable press coverage from KJZZ, Arizona Republic, Environment America, AZ Highways, AZPM news, Tucson Sentinel, and Channel 12 News. Engagement with the San Lucy District of the Tohono O'odham Nation resulted in a resolution of support.Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA, 1990): Archaeology Southwest contracted with the BIA to expand our collaboration to encompass assistance with consultations, repatriations, and compliance pursuant to NAGPRA. This contractual agreement follows on updated 2024 NAGPRA regulations, which provide clearer frameworks for institutions and prioritize Indigenous knowledge. Program Coordinator Amy Gillaspie joined our staff as lead, with Skylar Begay and others receiving training and assisting Gillaspie in working with museums, universities, and institutions across the US to facilitate the return of Indigenous Ancestors and their belongings to their descendants.Greater Chaco Cultural Landscape: In 2024, we continued to work hard to keep the Greater Chaco Landscape fully protected. The 2023-approved 20-year mineral withdrawal of federal lands and minerals within a 10-mile protection zone around Chaco Culture National Historical Park is in place. Our advocacy work continued to focus on interactions with Tribal and NGO partners to ensure future protection of Chaco's fragile landscape.

  Expenses $1,527,313 · Grants $600 · Revenue $214,998

• ResearchCultural Uses of Plants and Animals in the Southern Southwest: We have a National Science Foundation grant to study how people used animals and plants before, during, and after migrants from what is now northeastern Arizona moved south to join existing communities in southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. We have compiled substantial quantities of previously analyzed paleobotanical (plant) and osteofaunal (animal bone) data from published and unpublished sources, much of which is now in cyberSW (see below). We partnered with Desert Archaeology, Inc., to train an undergraduate research assistant who processed numerous 50-year-old flotation samples that are now being analyzed, and we continue to analyze additional zooarchaeological assemblages. Documenting Indigenous and Historical Trails: 2023 and 2024 grants from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)put us on the ground documenting trails in the Sonoran Desert National Monument and expanding that methodology to other BLM units in Arizona. The objective is to evaluate the relationship, if any, between the Butterfield Overland National Historic Trail and existing Indigenous trails on public lands across the state.

  Expenses $503,912 · Grants $4,800 · Revenue $33,046

• cyberSWcyberSW: With the support of three National Science Foundation grants, the cyberSW team (Joshua Watts, Manager; Andre Takagi, Senior Systems Analyst/Developer; Caitlynn Mayhew [Din], Native American Fellow; Sarah Oas, Preservation Archaeologist; and Jeff Clark, Vice President for Research, serving in an advisory capacity) continued standardizing and adding information about pottery, plant & animal remains, and stone tools & artifacts recovered from ancient Indigenous settlements in AZ's Tonto, Phoenix, & Tucson Basins, southwestern NM, and southwestern CO. By the end of 2024, they had added data from more than 200 settlements. In late 2024, we were awarded a $350,000 grant from the National Endowment for Humanities' prestigious Digital Humanities Advancement Grant program. Funding will help us develop a digital field guide to O'Odham keystone plant & animal species, and help us improve the web platform in general. Work will build upon Mayhew's pilot project on Indigenous Knowledge & use of bird species.

  Expenses $441,292 · Grants $26,694 · Revenue $51

• Outreach and EducationPreservation Archaeology Position Papers: : John Welch, Paul Reed, Ashleigh Thompson, and Skylar Begay published a position paper: "Tribal Co-Management: What Works, Where and How." The paper complements attendance by Thompson and Begay at two "Bears Ears Gatherings," where members of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and the Bears Ears Commission planned co-management with the BLM and the US Forest Service. The paper blends the deliberations over Bears Ears with the results of international academic research and considerations of opportunities to structure co-management for the Great Bend of the Gila. Plans are in place for a new position paper on how Archaeology Southwest might uphold Indigenous data sovereignty principles.Archaeology Cafe: We concluded the 2023-2024 season of Archaeology Cafe, Nourishing Body, Soul, & Earth: Traditional Foods & Foodways, with a mix of in-person and virtual meetups. Later in 2024, we launched our 16th season with a fully in-person format at Catalyst, a community-creative space run by the Southern Arizona Arts & Cultural Alliance. Dogs! Exploring Canine Cultural Histories in North America proved to be vibrant and well-received, including by the very good dogs in attendance.Archaeology Southwest Magazine: In 2024, we published "Better for It: Archaeology Conceived in Collaboration with Community" (Archaeology Southwest Magazine Vol. 36, Nos. 3 & 4), a companion to our 2022-2023 season of Archaeology Caf. Contributors explored the challenges, scope, and rewards of collaborative archaeology. We completed a redesign that debuted early in 2025 with the 64-page Vol. 37, No. 1, "Continuity and Connections: The Living Landscapes of Mesa Verde," which was six years in development.Hands-On Archaeology: Preservation Archaeologist and Ancient Technologies Expert Allen Denoyer, Director of Outreach Sara Anderson, and volunteer Rocky Hettinger were busy in 2024: The Hands-On Archaeology program delivered 30 experiential learning events & workshops that directly engaged community members of all ages through recurring programs at metro Tucson's Steam Pump Ranch and Mission Garden. Additional appearances at the Tucson Festival of Books, Native Nations Day, Camp Cooper 60th anniversary, and World Atlatl Day at Catalina State Park helped broaden our community of supporters and advocates. Volunteers: In 2024, 107 individuals contributed a total of 5,034 hours of service across a wide range of projects. Two major collections-care projects were completed: the Robinson Project wrapped up after years of dedicated artifact analysis, and the Roadrunner Vista Project came to a close with the successful delivery of its materials to the Amerind Foundation. Volunteers also played vital roles in fieldwork. They logged nearly 1,800 hours on the Desert Trails Survey and Sabino Canyon Survey, and assisted with archaeological and conservation work in the San Pedro Valley.

  Expenses $354,860 · Revenue $11,123

As filed on the 2024 return. The filer continues this part on Schedule O, which is not shown here.

Listed in Part VII

Compensation is as filed in Part VII: reportable pay from this organization and from related organizations, other compensation, and hours per week. The total, marked calculated, is our sum of the three dollar columns, with a blank column counted as $0; the form itself has no total. On a Form 990-EZ the columns are Part IV's instead, and on a Form 990-PF Part VIII's — compensation, contributions to benefit plans, and expense account — and the total sums those. A Schedule J breakdown is as filed: base pay, bonus, other, deferred compensation and nontaxable benefits from this organization, with any from related organizations beside each, and the filer's own total. It is shown with the Part VII listing of the same name on the same return. The form gives no key between the two, so that pairing is ours, and is marked matched by us.

Schedule J

Part I's answers as filed. A line not listed was left unanswered; on lines 1a and 3 that means the box was not checked.

Grants on this return

• University of Colorado

  $16,980

  CyberSW programming

• University of Arizona

  $9,715

  CyberSW programming

Taxable family on this return

Schedule R Parts I, III and IV, as filed. These record ownership and control, not shared board members or money moved.

Provenance

Return type

form_990

Tax year

2024

Filed

27 October 2025

IRS schema version

2024v5.2

Source object

202543029349302379

Check it against the return as filed: the GivingTuesday Data Lake hosts a public copy of the original XML.

The source document this was parsed from is served over the API, which is where bulk and document access live.