CO-CHAIR
Suzanne Benally is currently the Executive Director of Swift Foundation. Before that, she served as the Executive Director of Cultural Survival. She came to Cultural Survival from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, where she served as the associate provost for institutional planning and assessment and associate vice president for academic affairs. She was also a core faculty member in environmental studies and a member of the president’s cabinet. Before starting at Naropa in 1999, she was deputy director and director of education programs at the American Indian Science and Engineering Society and director of the Institute on Ethnic Diversity at the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. She has been a teacher at the university level and has served as a consultant to philanthropic foundations, nonprofit organizations, and many higher education institutions. Additionally, she has worked extensively with American Indian communities. Her interests, teaching, and passions are focused on the relationship between land, spirituality, and people as reflected in stories, and in environmental issues and Indigenous rights.
CO-CHAIR
Monica Aleman Cunningham is a senior program officer on the Ford Foundation’s BUILD team, working to advance the foundation’s efforts to support and develop stronger, sustainable, and more effective social justice organizations and networks across the globe. Her areas of concentration in BUILD are Latin America; Civic Engagement and Government; and Gender, Race, and Ethnic Justice.
Previously, she was based in the foundation’s East Africa office, where her grant making focused on increasing the capacity of national, regional, and global groups and supporting national and regional networks to advance a constitutional framework that protects the rights of women and other minorities, increases the participation of women in governance structures, and consolidates the infrastructure of the women’s rights movement. In addition, Monica led grant-making efforts to explore the links between customary laws and customs as they relate to women and sexual expression, using culture and religion as key entry points into understanding social change.
Before joining the foundation in 2011, Monica was executive director of the International Indigenous Women’s Forum, a network of organizations in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Her extensive background encompasses expertise in community organizing, social movement building, and participatory monitoring and evaluation, all honed through her work over the years with national, regional, and global organizations.
TREASURER
Alice Phinizy is the Finance Director for the Disability Rights Fund and Disability Rights Advocacy Fund, international grantmakers that provide financial and technical resources to organizations of persons with disabilities to advocate for equal rights and full participation in society. Alice has over a decade of experience overseeing finance and operations for a variety of nonprofit and for-profit companies. She has worked in the affordable housing and social innovation fields, and has also managed the business operations of a world renowned brewery in Boston. Alice has experience building financial and operational procedures from the ground up, and has become a resource for compliance administration and risk management, offering assistance to nonprofit, university, and government organizations. In addition to being the Treasurer for IFIP, Alice is the Treasurer for the Official Liverpool Supporters Club of Boston; a Finance Committee member for Zumix; and a member of the Human Rights Funders Network’s Human Rights Grantmaking Operations Steering Committee. Alice holds a Masters of Business Administration in International Business and Organizational Development and a Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Information Systems, both from Bentley University in Massachusetts.
BOARD MEMBER
Steven Heim is a Managing Director and Director of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Research for Boston Common Asset Management, a globally recognized sustainable investment firm. Steven has over 25 years of experience in the responsible investment field and serves on the Board of Directors of the International Funders for Indigenous Peoples. Steven has worked to promote corporate transparency, accountability, and attention to sustainability issues. His efforts to protect the human rights of Indigenous Peoples have helped catalyze positive policy changes at U.S. and international companies including ConocoPhillips and Repsol that included direct engagement with Indigenous Peoples in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Most recently he has helped lead global investor engagements with major banks regarding the Dakota Access Pipeline and urging them to revise the Equator Principles to respect Indigenous Peoples rights including FPIC. Since 2007, Steven has chaired the advocacy subcommittee of the Investors & Indigenous Peoples Working Group and he serves on the Board of Directors of Cultural Survival as Vice Chair.
BOARD MEMBER
Manaia King (Tainui, Ngāti Haua and Ngāti Koroki Kahu Kura), is deputy chairman of the JR Mckenzie Trust Board, and chairman of Te Kawai Toro the Trust’s Maori Development Committee, Te Kawai Toro. He was appointed to the board in November 2012 as the NZ Law Society representative and was made deputy chairman of the board in November 2013. Manaia is a lawyer who specializes in public health. He is employed by the New Zealand Ministry of Health as the Manager of the Chronic Diseases Team. It is responsible and accountable for an annual budget of approximately $120m which is used to commission prevention and health promotion programs in the areas of tobacco, nutrition and physical activity, alcohol and drugs, and sexual health.
BOARD MEMBER
Sofia Arroyo is the Co-Executive Director at EDGE Funders Alliance. Formally, she was the Executive Director at Sacred Fire Foundation, where she previously served as Director of Communications and Director of Grants and Partnerships. She is also a Steering Committee member at Kindle Project. She lives in Mexico City with her husband and two daughters. Sofia has a BA in Communications from Universidad Iberoamericana and worked in the film and advertising industry for many years before getting involved in the philanthropic world. While living in Geneva, she attended several UN meetings regarding indigenous issues and became interested in philanthropy. Sofia has since been a passionate and strong advocate for Indigenous Peoples worldwide and hopes to effect social change by raising awareness about the values and perspectives rooted in indigenous traditional knowledge.
BOARD MEMBER
Tricia Stevens has a strong belief that grassroots movements are essential for long-term systemic change both at a local and global level. Over the past two decades she has partnered with people fighting for social and environmental justice and the advancement of animal rights. She is Director of Strategic Partnerships at Kahani Pictures where she collaborates with diverse community voices in the creation of film and media that changes the narrative landscape, and create tools and resources to support movement building. In her previous role as Charitable Giving and Ethical Campaigns Manager for Lush North America, her team focused on providing grants to grassroots organizations and indigenous communities around the world. She worked directly with impacted communities to co-build consumer awareness campaigns that increase dialog and visibility for issues, hold governments accountable and improve corporate accountability.
BOARD MEMBER
Alejandra Garduño Martínez is director of Latin American and Caribbean programs. In this role, she provides leadership and oversight of the foundation’s longstanding investments in Mexico, Haiti and Latin America and the Caribbean to further create conditions that support thriving children, working families and equitable communities. Garduño Martínez, based in WKKF’s Mexico City office, leads the foundation’s regional grantmaking priorities in collaboration and partnership with the Mexico and Haiti teams, grantees, communities, and other stakeholders throughout the region. Alejandra Garduño joined the Kellogg Foundation as a program manager in 2012 and was promoted to program officer in 2013. In this role, she was responsible for supporting senior programming staff by collaborating with internal and external stakeholders, coordinating grant making activities and implementing a regional strategy in Mexico nationally and in WKKF’s microregions in Chiapas and the Yucatán Peninsula.
Prior to joining the foundation, she was a project director for Fundación para la Productividad en el Campo A.C. in Mexico City, where she oversaw rural economic development projects and coordinated efforts to connect rural communities in Mexico with diasporic groups. Garduño Martínez served as a project manager with Apoyo Integral al Campo, APINCA, S.C., a development organization based in Mexico City. She also worked as a university professor and researcher with Baden- Württemberg International, where she conducted research for European stakeholders seeking projects in Mexico. Garduño Martínez has been a contributing author in nonprofit and international development publications including Alliance Magazine for global philanthropy. In 2019, she was selected for Career Pathways, the Council on Foundation’s flagship leadership development program for increasing diverse executive talent in philanthropy. Garduño Martínez holds a master’s degree in business administration and a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México in Mexico City.
BOARD MEMBER
Salote Soqo is an indigenous woman from Kocoma, Cakaudrove and Naikeleyaga, Kabara in the Fiji Islands. Salote has over two decades of community-based environmental management and climate justice experience. She is currently the Director of Advocacy, Global Displacement at the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), an international human rights organization, where Salote leads and strengthens UUSC’s advocacy framework to advance rights-protection in national and international policies, laws, and practices. Prior to this, Salote led UUSC’s climate justice and disaster justice initiative that provides flexible funding and partner support to affected communities in the Pacific Islands, the United States and the Caribbean. Salote also managed UUSC’s transition of their Human Right to Water program with partners in Africa, Latin America and the United States. Before joining UUSC, Salote worked as a regional program coordinator in water equity and climate justice for the Environmental Justice Coalition for Water (EJCW) and as a climate and carbon management fellow. Before migrating to the United States, Salote worked in the environmental management and conservation field in Fiji as an environmental scientist and marine conservation project officer. Salote attained her undergraduate degrees from the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, and the University of the South Pacific, in Fiji. She also holds a master’s degree in environmental management from the University of San Francisco. Salote loves spending time with her son and family near the ocean.
BOARD MEMBER
Naomi Lenoi Leleto is the Coordinator for Global Indigenous Grantmaking at Global Greengrants Fund (GGF) where she shares collective learning about inclusive grantmaking that supports the rights, self-determination, and environmental work of Indigenous Peoples. A Maasai woman from Narok, Kenya, Naomi previously worked at the Kenyan Land Alliance as their Women Land Rights Programme officer, advocating for effective implementation of Constitutional provisions for secure women’s land rights. She has an M.A. in Legal Studies from the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program at the University of Arizona.
TEAM
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Lourdes Inga has over two decades of experience in international philanthropy at foundations and nonprofits dedicated to indigenous rights, gender equality, and social justice. Lourdes is Executive Director of International Funders for Indigenous Peoples (IFIP). Under her leadership, IFIP is expanding Indigenous Philanthropy, supporting the leadership of Indigenous-Led Funds, and advocating for greater funding resources for Indigenous Peoples. Prior to joining IFIP, she was with The Christensen Fund a private foundation focused on Indigenous Peoples’ rights and biocultural diversity and before that with The Global Fund for Women a public foundation focused on advancing women’s rights globally. Lourdes recently joined the Board of the Equality Fund a groundbreaking new initiative to shift power and resources to women’s movements across the globe. She is a member of the Indigenous Philanthropic Advisory Group, Decolonizing Wealth. Lourdes has served on multiple boards and advisory roles, including founding Board Member of EDGE Funders Alliance and board member of Grantmakers without Borders. Born in Lima; she is Quechua descent from Peru.
OPERATIONS DIRECTOR
Michelle Toth has over 25 years of experience as a senior executive in tribal and nonprofit organizations where she has dedicated her career to enhancing operational efficiency, advocating for marginalized communities, building coalitions, developing DEI strategies, negotiating contracts, streamlining operations and capacity, providing training and technical assistance, working in behavioral health and domestic violence, and implementing change management processes to promote sustainable growth and revenue strategies. She has held various roles, including CEO/Executive Director for the California Hispanic Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, Executive Director of the California Indian Basketweavers Association, and Executive Director and Director of Training of the American Indian Training Institute. She has served on boards, councils, task forces, and advisory roles addressing issues affecting indigenous families and communities. Michelle is deeply committed to improving the lives of Indigenous people and is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe (Miniconjou Band) and Cherokee Tribe (Wolf Clan). Through her experience in advocating for underserved communities and helping them thrive, Michelle continues to use her expertise to shape innovative initiatives that impact the well-being of those around her.
PROGRAM DIRECTOR
Chanda Thapa has experience of more than a decade in multiple fields, including Indigenous People’s rights, gender equality, and peacebuilding, in Nepal and Asia. Prior to IFIP, Chana worked with Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) based in Thailand as Deputy Secretary-General (DSG) from 2017-2020 and Regional Indigenous Women Program Coordinator 2014-2016. While working with AIPP, Chanda played a key role in institutional strengthening and movement building for the organization including establishing and strengthening Indigenous Women and Youth Networks in Asia. Prior to joining AIPP, she worked at Sankalpa– an alliance of 10 issue-based women’s organizations in Nepal– as Program Manager. Chanda holds Master’s Degrees in Rural Development and Development Studies from Tribhuvan University, Nepal, and the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, respectively. Chanda belongs to Magar Indigenous Peoples from Nepal. She loves traveling and cooking in her leisure time.
PROGRAM COORDINATOR
Anabel Lopez has worked with indigenous communities in rural Mexico and with indigenous immigrant communities residing in the United States. In 2010, Anabel obtained a scholarship to complete graduate studies in Education and Public Affairs at Portland State University, Oregon, USA. For her dissertation research, Anabel significantly modified the established framework for analyzing immigrant engagement to better incorporate indigenous and undocumented immigrants with strong histories of civic engagement. She added discourse related to their participation through their community of origin’s traditional system of government and their engagement in pro-immigrant organizations, some with strong political representation in Oregon. Her research on adult education and community development has helped Anabel contribute to and work towards the effective inclusion of indigenous and non-indigenous immigrants in North America. Anabel moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, in October 2017. She became a researcher at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and an advocate for Indigenous Peoples and immigrants’ rights in Canada. Anabel is a Mixtec from Oaxaca. Mixtecs or Mixtecos, are indigenous Mesoamerican peoples of Mexico. She loves doing yoga and hiking in her leisure time.
MEMBERSHIP AND COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR
Winnie Kodi has worked with indigenous peoples with a focus on communications, community development, capacity building and issues concerning indigenous women and girls. She has an educational background in Development Communication. She has worked with indigenous peoples in multiple spaces especially indigenous women and girls. She uses the skills she has combined with the experience she has gained to contribute to and work towards effective inclusion of women and girls in all processes. In 2018, she was selected to be one of the European Parliament Sakharov and later in the same year, at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Indigenous Fellow. This further enhanced her knowledge on Indigenous peoples and the different mechanisms available to them. She is an advocate for Indigenous Peoples rights both locally and internationally. Winnie is from the Nuba peoples in Sudan. She loves to travel, read and occasionally makes handicrafts from mostly recycled materials.
