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Our mission is to directly support Indigenous Peoples’ guardianship and elevate the role and influence of Indigenous Peoples as essential to ensuring planetary health and habitability. 
 

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Nia Tero raises money to fund Indigenous organizations and their trusted allies directly. To date, we have partnered with over 271 Indigenous Peoples and 113 organizations and awarded $85.2 million in grants. More than 90% of this money went directly to Indigenous Peoples’ organizations, their fiscal sponsors, or their chosen allies.

We also create our own short films in partnership with Indigenous creatives and Peoples, fund and mentor Indigenous storytellers, participate actively in global policy negotiations hosted by the United Nations that influence legislation and legal action at all levels of government, and invest in technologies such as solar transportation as well as new financing models.

Over 85 percent of our yearly budget is dedicated to grantmaking and programs.

We work closely with Indigenous Peoples to identify initiatives that promote guardianship of their traditional territories. These projects are carefully selected based on rigorous criteria that align with our mission and the trusted relationships with the Indigenous Peoples they elevate. Each project is monitored and evaluated to ensure progress and impact, maintaining transparency and accountability to our donors and each other.

Nia Tero is the only global organization focusing solely on Indigenous Peoples’ self-determined guardianship of collective territories. It is not an initiative within a larger mission; it is not focused on a single region to the exclusion of others or driven by one approach, such as rights or land tenure. Our board, advisory council and staff were built to reflect and support this unique mission with the aspiration that we can demonstrate and scale our model to inspire others.

In our direct partnerships, we follow the self-determined vision of the Indigenous Peoples we serve. In the rest of our work, we take what we learn and follow the guidance of Indigenous Peoples and their movements to use our position as Nia Tero to positively influence policies, legal frameworks, and political will.

Nia Tero is a global organization comprised of Indigenous and non-Indigenous team members. Our staff and colleagues are based across Amazonia, the Pacific Islands, Asia, and North America, with a large contingent in our home office in Seattle. We speak many languages, predominantly English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French, plus a wide range of Indigenous languages.

Our Board of Directors is similarly diverse in background and expertise, with a majority of Indigenous members. The board is accountable for providing council, insight, oversight, and direction on our enterprise strategy. Our global Indigenous Advisory Council provides non-fiduciary-related guidance and wisdom. We are grateful also to our regional advisory groups, which similarly provide regional guidance and wisdom to our place-anchored work.

Learn more:

• Board of Directors
• Advisory Council
• Our Team
• Global Consultants

Implicit in our vision and mission is recognizing and prioritizing Indigenous Peoples’ rights, sovereignty, self-determination, and cultural vitality within and beyond their homelands and waters.

We also acknowledge that Nia Tero’s work with Indigenous Peoples and their organizations is complementary to the many diverse and longstanding Indigenous movements that have existed for hundreds of years. We and those who have come before us and after us must join to meet this moment, and we are committed to sharing our approaches to partnership to make this happen.

With this in mind, all our work adheres to the following principles:

Take guidance from diverse Indigenous ways and means.

We aspire to live the humility and listening spirit necessary to work in service to diverse Indigenous Peoples across the Earth. We listen to both descendants and ancestors, and we work patiently to build relationships and trust.

Follow and respect the rights and self-determination of Indigenous Peoples.

Our work is guided by the priorities, systems of governance, decision-making, and ways and means of Indigenous Peoples. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is our starting point for all our work and partnerships.

Respect the diversity of Indigenous Peoples’ ways of being and doing.

Indigenous Peoples have diverse cultures, languages, ways of being, and protocols—and they live in geographically and ecologically diverse territories. Nia Tero acknowledges this spiritual and cultural diversity as essential, shaping our understanding of why the lands and waters that Indigenous Peoples inhabit remain among the healthiest and best cared for on Earth.

Value the full diversity of life.

In all our partnerships and choices, we center actions that sustain the abundance and diversity of life, including ecosystems, seascapes, humans, and all other species. Doing so honors and sustains diverse human identities and cultures that are inseparable from their homelands and waters.

Focus on Indigenous Peoples’ guardianship of collective territories.

All our work serves Indigenous Peoples living within their self-determined territories and nations. These territorial lines often pre-date and transcend modern nation-states.

Commit to long-term partnerships with Indigenous Peoples.

We seek to enter into enduring, trust-based partnerships with Indigenous leaders, communities, and nations. We place the survival of our partners above all else, and we are committed co-designing all of our efforts and sharing joint accountability with our partners.

We value every form of support. Beyond financial contributions, there are numerous ways to get involved. You can share our mission and the work of our Indigenous partners with your network, subscribe to our Seedcast podcast, or advocate for policy changes that support Indigenous Peoples' guardianship of their territories. To learn more, visit our Get Involved page.