About Spruce Root
An Indigenous institution investing in Southeast Alaska by providing entrepreneurs and communities access to business development resources — loans, coaching, workshops and catalytic investment — to catalyze local economies and steward place.
Focus Areas
Small business developmentEntrepreneurship trainingMicro and community lendingIndigenous economic developmentCommunity economic resilienceConservation-linked economic models
Who They Fund
Alaskan youth (youth stewards)Southeast regional organizations/communitiesCommunity partner coalitions
Funding Style
program fundingproject funding
About Spruce Root
Spruce Root Inc. centers Southeast Alaska through a mix of business support, lending, and catalytic regional investment. Its recent grant activity shows a strong emphasis on the Sustainable Southeast Partnership, including a $345,000 project grant to Hoonah Indian Association in 2024 and $134,000 to Sitka Conservation Society in 2025. Those awards sit alongside direct support for Alaska Native and community organizations working on place-based development, stewardship, and economic resilience. The foundation’s work connects entrepreneurship with local economies. It backs business development and training programs, offers loan services, and uses program-related investments to move capital into Alaska businesses and entrepreneurs. Active programs include the Path to Prosperity business competition, which awards cash prizes to Southeast Alaska businesses that show positive social, ecological, and economic impact, and the Seacoast Trust, described as a regional funding source grounded in Indigenous values. Recent grants also show repeat support to regional partners such as Ecotrust, The Nature Conservancy Alaska Chapter, and Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. The pattern points to a funder that combines project funding, partnership support, and business finance in service of Southeast Alaska communities.
What Spruce Root Funds
One major theme is regional sustainability. Spruce Root Inc. funded Sitka Conservation Society with $134,000 in 2025 and $89,614 in 2024 through the Sustainable Southeast Partnership Catalyst program, and it gave $61,000 to The Nature Conservancy Alaska Chapter in 2024 for the same partnership work. These grants align with the foundation’s conservation-linked economic models and environmental stewardship priorities. Another theme is Indigenous economic development. The foundation gave $87,000 to Hoonah Indian Association in 2025 and $55,000 to Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska in 2025 for Sustainable Southeast Partnership program and project funding. It also supported Kootznoowoo Incorporated and Klawock Cooperative Association through the same partnership. Youth stewardship appears as a separate strand. In 2023, Spruce Root Inc. awarded $36,540 to Organized Village of Kake for Sustainable Southeast Partnership project funding for Alaskan youth stewards, followed by $35,224 to Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska for the same youth-stewardship line.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$659K
Total Assets
$38.8M
Total Revenue
$12.1M
Total Expenses
$5M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $37K and $42K, with a median of $42K.
25th Percentile
$37K
Median
$42K
75th Percentile
$42K
Geographic Reach
Local2 states funded
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
ALANA PETERSON
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