Climate-driven temperature changes in the Arctic are estimated to be increasing at a rate of up to four times that of the rest of the planet (Rantenen, 2022), triggering a cascade of impacts in the region and across the planet. These impacts include consequences for Alaskan Indigenous cultural practices like subsistence, consequences for our national economy through Alaska’s substantial fisheries, and consequences for critical national energy and security infrastructure in the region. Effective decision-making in response to these consequences depends upon robust observing systems. Yet, the region’s observing systems present profound deficiencies compared to mid-latitudes, such as poor spatial coverage of in-situ observations. While many of these deficiencies can be attributed to polar conditions, one often overlooked consideration is that Arctic Indigenous peoples have lived in these ‘remote’ areas since time immemorial and routinely observe them in support of their subsistence, stewardship, and cultural practices. Recognizing this, Indigenous communities continue to call for increased funding for community-led observing systems supporting their self-determination in a changing climate. Therefore, policymakers, funders, and others engaged with improving Arctic observations must weigh diverse success criteria (e.g., community resilience and global indicators of change) and implementation strategies (e.g., conventional networks and community-led monitoring) to make strategic and equitable investments. In response, the United States Arctic Observing Network (US AON) has developed Benefit Assessment methods and a Benefit Tool to support informed solutions. By gathering structured input from Arctic subject matter experts, Benefit Assessments systematically link observational inputs to the data products, applications, and societal benefits they support. The Benefit Tool enables analysis and visualizations to support a variety of use cases for funders, community members, and researchers; Benefit examples for each use case will be highlighted to illustrate the potential of expanding this work.