Giving Shuumi Part 2: Exploring the Extractive Origins of Philanthropic Wealth and Moving Towards Repair

This webinar explores how philanthropy could play a critical role in redistributing wealth and supporting the return of Indigenous land.

In recent years, the philanthropic community has begun to grapple with its current and historical practices of extraction and exploitation. This includes the ways in which the accumulation of philanthropic wealth has caused generations of harm to Black, Indigenous and other communities of color – dating back to slavery, colonization, and the theft and occupation of Indigenous land and the attempted genocide of Indigenous people.

We are clear that institutional philanthropy has a unique responsibility to contribute to the healing of the lands they occupy and enter into a restorative relationship with the communities who have been most harmed.

Since the spring of 2021, Justice Funders has been honored to partner with Sogorea Te’ Land Trust and allied philanthropic leaders to encourage Bay Area foundations to pay their institutional Shuumi Land Tax, a voluntary annual contribution to support the critical work of returning Indigenous land to Indigenous people. Our collective efforts have led to a small but growing number of foundations that are taking concrete action to redistribute wealth and support the return of Indigenous land.

In the Fall of 2022, we teamed up with Sogorea Té Land Trust to host another webinar that built on this learning and action journey by examining the link between the accumulated wealth of Bay Area foundations and the colonial occupation of ancestral Lisjan Ohlone lands and the violent displacement of its people.

Please watch this recording to hear truth–telling, strategies for healing and repair, and learn how philanthropy can play a critical role in supporting rematriation of Indigenous lands and the self-determination and sovereignty of local Indigenous communities.

Speakers:

Corrina Gould, Sogorea Te’ Land Trust
Pia Infante, The Whitman Institute
Supriya Lopez Pillai & Tara Brown, Hidden Leaf Foundation

Co-sponsors: Bay Area Asset Funders Network, EPIP Bay Area, Integrated Rural Strategies Group, Native Americans in Philanthropy, Neighborhood Funders Group

Closed captioning in English and ASL interpretation were available.