International Funders for Indigenous Peoples

We at the International Funders for Indigenous Peoples wish you and yours a joyous holiday season and peace in the New Year.

As this year closes, we celebrate our many accomplishments and re-energize for the exciting work ahead. IFIP would like to express our deepest gratitude for the generosity of our donors, partners, associates, and friends, all of whom make its mission possible.

You made history with IFIP this year
In May we launched the pioneering Grantmakers Guide: Strengthening International Indigenous Philanthropy. This collection of experience from philanthropies and Indigenous communities demonstrates the high impact achieved when these two worlds meet. The Grantmakers Guide was so highly acclaimed that we were asked to develop a training curriculum. We are now planning four regional trainings across the country, from San Francisco to New York to Chicago to Boston. Watch for a regional meeting in your area.

This year IFIP organized two conferences on opposite sides of the globe:
the Asia Pacific Funders Summit in Bali, Indonesia and our annual conference in Haudenosaunee Territory, New York. The Asia Summit was the first of its kind in the region. Participants were so inspired they committed to organizing another in the Australian-Pacific region themselves. This success motivates us to convene with a Latin America Funders Summit in 2013. Given the potential for massive environmental destruction from mega highway and energy projects – and Indigenous resistance to them – this Summit also promises to make history.

Next year our annual conference will be held in San Francisco, part of a strategy to alternate between Indigenous and philanthropic communities. As always, IFIP will provide Indigenous Scholarships to enable leaders who might not be able to attend. The Indigenous Scholarship Fund is a feature that sets IFIP apart from its peers. We are the only affinity group that gives donors access to Indigenous leaders who are not already funded.

Unlike any other conference, IFIP’s annual meetings introduce donors to Indigenous leaders who work under the radar of the philanthropic world. Donor access to these new ideas often results in truly high-impact philanthropy that sets new benchmarks.

Those who attend our conferences for the first time are always moved by what happens there. We call it Relationship Philanthropy. Save the dates of May 16, 17 and 18, 2012 for our next annual conference in beautiful San Francisco, California.

You alone decide whether this unique and effective work will continue. Please back up your commitment to those on the frontlines of the world’s most important struggles. A new paradigm of philanthropy will only happen with your active support. Whatever amount you give will ripple into the Indigenous and philanthropic worlds, and ultimately your own.
You can make a difference by giving a tax deductible donation right now.

In solidarity and respect,
Evelyn Arce
IFIP Executive Director