Our Land Acknowledgement and Commitment to Decolonization

As a foundation dedicated to advancing climate justice and environmental protection, we understand that Indigenous Peoples are the traditional stewards of our land, and have been at the frontlines of conservation efforts for centuries. Therefore, a powerful climate movement must embrace Indigenous knowledge and center Indigenous people if it is to be equitable and sustainable. 

As NorthLight’s funding spans across the United States, we recognize that all of the places where our staff, trustees, and grantees live and work are located on Indigenous lands. We offer our humble gratitude and respect to their elders past, present, and emerging.

The NorthLight Foundation recognizes that our primary place of work is located on the traditional and unceded territory of the Lenni Lenape, as well as the unceded territory of neighboring nations. We acknowledge that the location of our institution is the result of intentional and harmful exclusion and erasure of many Indigenous Peoples, including but not limited to those upon whose land the NorthLight Foundation resides. With this acknowledgement, we endeavor to honor the ancestors of these nations, as well as present and future generations, and acknowledge their continued existence and ongoing efforts to affirm the sovereignty of their nations. 

This acknowledgement aims to demonstrate our commitment to beginning the process of dismantling the legacy of settler colonialism in the context of our work. We understand that merely recognizing we are on stolen land does little to materially impact Indigenous Peoples. With the intention of honoring the ancestors, current and future members of the Indigenous Nations upon whose land the foundation is based, we pledge to move land and resources to Native communities, both in the New York area and beyond. This includes expanded grantmaking, building on our long-time support of Native-led campaigns to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, including the Arctic Refuge Defense Campaign, the Gwich’in Steering Committee, and Native Movement. As signatories to the Climate Funders Justice Pledge, we have dedicated 30% of our annual climate grantmaking dollars to Black, Indigenous and People of Color-led organizations, and aim to grow that percentage in a concerted effort to shift resources to BIPOC communities. 

We also recognize our special obligation to the Lenape and surrounding Native communities who were and are still based in New York City, where we maintain our primary office. To right our relationship with these communities, we have begun to build relations with leaders of the New York-based Native community, recognizing both our individual role as uninvited settlers on Native territory, and institutional role as keepers of stolen land and wealth. We are working in partnership with local Native leaders to determine how the foundation can provide long-term support that addresses the needs of the Native communities, including but not limited to land return and financial contributions. We have begun with a grant to the American Indian Community House, an organization that has been serving the Indigenous community in New York City for over 50 years, and have built a coalition of aligned funders and Indigenous leaders to strategize securing an Indigenous Center in Manhattan called the Land Back Action Circle. It is our hope these forms of support will help to sustain the sovereignty and vitality of Indigenous Peoples in New York City and beyond.

Lastly, while NorthLight Foundation recognizes that each institution has a unique responsibility to the Indigenous Peoples whose land they occupy, we also hope to use our experience and knowledge gained throughout our decolonization efforts to encourage our peers to join a growing movement of reconciliation between settlers in the field of philanthropy and Indigenous communities. We understand that part of our responsibility as settlers, and as funders, lies in organizing peer institutions to also engage in the decolonization process by building relations with and shifting resources to Indigenous communities. To this end, our most recent Environmental Grantmakers Association Fellow, Tiana Wilson-Blindman, Oglala Lakota, developed this Land Acknowledgement Toolkit to guide funders through the land acknowledgement process. The Toolkit explains what a land acknowledgement means and how the philanthropic community specifically can initiate this work within their foundations.