The Hopi Education Endowment Fund (HEEF) was established in 2000 as a segregated fund of the Hopi Tribe. It operates under a Hopi tribal ordinance as a public benefit program for exclusively educational and charitable purposes. Under Section 7871 of the Internal Revenue Code, tribal government instrumentalities, such as HEEF, may receive tax deductible donations from individuals and corporations, qualified charitable distributions from individual retirement accounts, and grants that count as qualifying distributions from private foundations. For more than 25 years, the HEEF has been building a fund that ensures opportunities for education will always be available for Hopi students.