Transcript:
Each year, donors and foundations give billions of dollars to groups working to address climate change.
But Edgar Villanueva of the Lumbee Tribe in North Carolina says only a tiny fraction goes to Indigenous communities, who have long cared for the Earth.
Villanueva: “I often think of those communities as having solutions – the best solutions – to the problems that we are facing.”
He says members of tribal communities may not have connections to wealthy donors or may lack certain credentials that foundations are looking for.
Villanueva: “I stay up at night worrying about folks that I know who are so critical to this movement and yet have to spend half time or more out begging for resources to do their work.”
So to help relieve that pressure, his organization, the Decolonizing Wealth Project, created the Indigenous Earth Fund.
They raise money from donors and foundations, then distribute those funds to projects chosen by a group of Indigenous advisers.
Since 2021, they’ve granted more than $5 million to projects in clean energy, forest management, and more – all led by Indigenous people.
Villanueva: “Folks who I truly believe we can trust to guide us into the future and take care of this planet because they have stewarded it … for so, so long.”
Reporting credit: Sarah Kennedy / ChavoBart Digital Media
