The Justice Funders’ office was originally located on the unceded land of the Lisjan Ohlone people. Today, as a national organization, our staff live and work across the lands of many Indigenous communities, including the Lisjan Ohlone, Tamien Ohlone, Amah Mutsin, Ramaytush Ohlone, Tongva, Tewa, Paiute, Shoshone, Washoe, Jumanos, Coahuiltecan, Lipan Apache, Tonkawa, Shawnee, Cherokee, Catawba, Sugaree, Waxhaw, Anishinaabe, Lenape, Chumash, Massa-adchu-es-et, Pawtucket, Pocumtuc, Nipmuc, and Abenaki peoples. We acknowledge that, like all non-Indigenous people on Turtle Island, we have inadvertently benefitted from the genocide waged against Indigenous people and the theft and occupation of their land.

We believe that philanthropic institutions, as stewards of wealth that has been accumulated through the extraction of Indigenous lands and the exploitation of communities of color, bear a profound responsibility to contribute to the healing of the lands they occupy and to enter into a restorative relationship with their local Indigenous communities. In 2021, Justice Funders began paying Indigenous Honor and Land Taxes annually, starting with the Shuumi Land Tax, a voluntary annual contribution to support the vital work of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust to return Lisjan Ohlone land to its people.

In 2024, Justice Funders grew our land tax contributions to reflect our growing operating budget (learn more about our journey here). We now pay three Indigenous Honor and Land Taxes:

• Institutional Shuumi Land Tax: supporting the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust in their efforts to return Indigenous land to Indigenous people.
• Yunakin Land Tax: supporting the work of the Association of Ramaytush Ohlone, the original peoples of the San Francisco Peninsula.
• Kuuy Nahwá’a Guest Exchange: supporting the work of Tongva Taraxat Paxaavxa Conservancy, a Tongva-led organization created to steward lands in Tovaangar, the traditional Tongva region, encompassing the greater Los Angeles basin.

We encourage philanthropies across the U.S. to learn whose land you are on, support your local Indigenous communities and pay land taxes where your staff, board of directors, and grantees, live and work. Paying Indigenous Honor & Land Taxes is one step in a long-term process of healing, action, and repair. Learn more about the Indigenous land you occupy at native-land.ca.