MARCH 2020 NEWSLETTER
MESSAGE FROM THE IFIP TEAM
Dear Members and Friends,
As the Coronavirus continues to bring changes to our communities and across the world we send everyone wishes for good health. These are worrisome times for many. Let’s do our best to take care of others, be with loved ones, and be kind and thoughtful in all our interactions.
IFIP is collaborating with other funder networks to keep members informed and to ensure that responses from the funding community includes support to indigenous-led organizations and indigenous communities. Please reach out to us if you have questions on how to support Indigenous Peoples during the COVID-19 crisis.
We hope that amidst all these changes and disruptions, we can remind ourselves of the importance of taking time to reflect and recalibrate our lifestyles, strategies and plans to be in balance with Mother Earth and in alignment with the wisdom and values of Indigenous Peoples.
While we are practicing physical distancing, please take the time to read IFIP’s March e-newsletter. This edition highlights Indigenous-led funds signaling their organizing, leadership, and their critical role in supporting Indigenous communities globally. Indigenous-led Funds’ expertise, knowledge, and skills can amplify and increase the effectiveness of philanthropy to advance Indigenous Peoples’ priorities and rights. IFIP recently launched an Indigenous Led Funds working group to provide a platform to collaborate with Indigenous-led funds (ILFs) with tools, research and exchanges as they strengthen, deepen funding for equality, justice, rights and self-determination, and share lessons with the broader funding community.
A reminder of the Four Rs of Indigenous Philanthropy
We entered a new decade having been witness to the devastating fires in the Amazon and Australia. Our sisters and brothers in East Africa and parts of South Asia, are experiencing devastating losses due to the infestation of locust. Ecosystems and Indigenous communities in the Pacific and the Arctic are facing rapid changes as a result of climate change.
If you have not read Alliance Magazine Special Feature on Indigenous Philanthropy, take a moment to read it. Reach out to your peers who contributed with articles and IFIP, to partner and strategize collectively. We ask IFIP’s Global Community to lift up even more indigenous practices and values.
4Rs of Indigenous Philanthropy
RESPECT: Honor traditions and respect the ideas of Indigenous Peoples. Use processes and approaches that are transparent, open, adaptable, and flexible. Work directly with communities to gain understanding and knowledge about the community, issues and solutions.
RECIPROCITY: Embrace the idea that giving and receiving connect people, beliefs and actions. It is not all about money, funders also need to be open to receiving, and acknowledging that we all have knowledge and wisdom to share and learn from.
RESPONSIBILITY: Recognize that Indigenous Peoples should speak for themselves and be responsible for their own voice in meetings. Seek to uphold the principles articulated in the UN Declaration of Rights for Indigenous People (UNDRIP).
RELATIONSHIPS: Go beyond making grants and think about building long-term relationships and self-reliant communities. Relationships based on mutual respect eliminate the tendency to exert power over another.
Continuity of Programs and Operations
In consideration of everyone’s health and wellbeing, many of our originally announced in-person events and programs have changed.
Between March 16 and April 17, the IFIP team will be operating virtually. Furthermore, due to school closures and to balance family needs, IFIP staff will modify its hours of operations. Between March 16 and April 17, IFIP will operate virtually and be available for virtual meetings between 8 am and Noon Pacific.
Our programs will continue virtually and later on in-person!
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Alliance Magazine Indigenous Philanthropy Breakfast Club panel has been rescheduled for later in the year, 2020. Stay tuned! Date and time will be announced at a later date.
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IFIP Learning Institute, November 9 and 10, 2020 at Asilomar, Pacific Grove. Encourage your peers to join. Indigenous knowledge, wisdom, and leadership is visibly absent from philanthropy and yet to capture the attention of the funding community. It is time for real action and increased funding to Indigenous communities.
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IFIP Indigenous Philanthropy Convening, November 11-13, 2020 at Asilomar, Pacific Grove, California. This will be a by invitation only funder convening.
We will keep you updated of upcoming virtual programming. To stay informed please follow us on social media.
In Solidarity,
The IFIP Team
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