July 2024 Newsletter
The Christensen Fund Attends the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
This April, The Christensen Fund’s entire board and staff came together with our partners to participate in the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Our Board made the decision to gather everyone together with our partners during this year’s Permanent Forum to manifest our deeply held commitments and values to stand in solidarity with our partners in our shared work. We were also fortunate to harness this unique opportunity to listen, learn, and deepen our connectivity to the organizations and communities we serve.
Program Related Investment: Raven Indigenous Outcomes Fund
As part of The Christensen Fund’s pledge to provide catalytic capital for projects that can have a transformative impact for Indigenous communities, we have committed $2 million over a seven year term to support the Raven Indigenous Outcomes Fund (RIOF.) The RIOF is founded by and for Indigenous communities. It is a groundbreaking Indigenous-led fund of $50M CAD ($37.5M USD) dedicated to Indigenous outcomes-based financing deals, otherwise known as “pay for performance” projects.
2023 Annual Report
We are excited to share our 2023 annual report. As always, our values are rooted in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). To support the self-determination of Indigenous Peoples, we prioritize Indigenous-led organizations, including Indigenous-led funds. We invite you to dive into our 2023 year in review here.
Indigenous Leaders Cohort
We are honored to introduce and welcome our 2024-2025 Indigenous Leaders Program Participants. The program celebrates four Indigenous leaders from Mexico, Cameroon, Indonesia, and the United States who are advancing the inherent rights, dignity, and self-determination of their communities, Nations, and Peoples while working to achieve the promise of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
The Leaders Program was developed collaboratively with these Indigenous leaders in order to respect their prior commitments and demands on their time. In the spirit of self determination, these leaders will focus on issues or projects that they determine themselves. The program also holds space for these leaders to collaborate, learn from each other, and share reflections on the issues most important to them while enjoying the full support of each of their knowledge and experiences.
Yásnaya Elena Aguilar Gil (Mexico)
Yasnaya is an Ayuuk Indigenous writer, linguist, translator, researcher, and activist. Her work focuses on the promotion and study of the linguistic diversity and the endangered Indigenous languages in México. She is part of the COLMIX Collective, devoted to the research and promotion of the Indigenous Mixe Culture.
Basiru Isu (Cameroon)
Mr. Basiru is an energetic leader from Cameroon. He is currently the Secretary General of the Network of Indigenous and Local Communities for the Sustainable Management of Forest Ecosystems in Central Africa (REPALEAC), which coordinates the work of Indigenous Peoples across 8 countries in the Congo Basin.
Rukka Sombolinggi (Indonesia)
Rukka Sombolinggi is in her second term as secretary-general of the Indigenous Peoples’ Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN). She was born and raised in Toraja, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, and belongs to the Indigenous Toraja, who inhabit the highlands of South Sulawesi.
Kyle Whyte (United States)
Kyle Whyte is a faculty member teaching environmental justice at the University of Michigan, where he is George Willis Pack Professor, University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor, and Professor of Philosophy and Native American Studies. His research focuses on Indigenous climate policy, planning, and justice, and the ethics of cooperative relationships between Indigenous Peoples and science organizations.
Recent Partner News
IllumiNative expands its leadership team and launches Media Company – Announcement
Tocabe has started a new YouTube series to highlight Native food producers and their communities. Watch the first episode here
IMDEC launched its Learning Communities for an Emancipatory Practice training space 2024 – Info
Ujamaa Community Resource Team (UCRT) named a winner of the 2024 Ashden Award for their work in Natural Climate Solutions – Announcement
Tenure Facility announces partnership with Turning Tides – From the Forest to the Sea: Uniting for Tenure Rights
Tero Mustonen of Snowchange Cooperative Awarded 2023 Goldman Prize
The Christensen Fund would like to congratulate the 2023 Goldman Prize recipients. Each year, the Goldman Prize recognizes the work of extraordinary grassroots leaders and their incredible work in safeguarding the environment. We are especially pleased that the amazing work of Tero Mustonen, President of our partner Snowchange Cooperative, was highlighted for his important work to restore landscapes across Finland.
Snowchange Cooperative is an Indigenous-led pan-arctic organization based in Finland. Since their founding in 2000, Snowchange Cooperative has supported many organizations throughout the Arctic, advanced global policy, created a small grants program that has been transformative for communities who are traditionally overlooked by most grant-making mechanisms, and used traditional knowledge to restore thousands of hectares of peatlands.
Unrestricted support from The Christensen Fund will further help to advance operations and programs of Snowchange and will arrive at a critical time due to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, which could compromise the ability to support certain communities in the Arctic. The Christensen Fund is honored to have supported the work of Snowchange Cooperative since 2018.
Please join us in congratulating Tero and all of the 2023 Goldman Prize recipients! Read more about this award and how you can support Snowchange Cooperative here.