Answering the Call: CCJFG Annual Giving to Sorgorea Te’ Land Trust
The Sogorea Te’ Land Trust—an Indigenous women-led trust that facilitates the return of Indigenous land in the Bay Area—recently i
nitiated a call to action to philanthropic institutions to pay institutional Shuumi Land Tax.
CCJFG answered this call. Beginning in 2021, we will pay 1% of our budget annually in institutional land tax to Sorgorea Te’ Land Trust. This action is just one critical step to recognize the ways in which organizations, along with individuals, benefit from the genocide waged against the Ohlone people and theft of Indigenous land. Given the immense power of our sector—power sustained by accumulated wealth—we know philanthropy has a crucial role to play in redirecting resources, transforming our relationships to land, and supporting Indigenous-led sovereignty and land back movements.
All prisons in California are built on Indigenous land and Native people are overrepresented in the criminal legal system. The movements for Indigenous sovereignty and land rematriation are foundational to CCJFG’s vision of racial, economic, and gender justice and community access to the resources for health, safety, and self-determination without relying on criminalization. Our commitment to paying our annual institutional land tax is one step towards this vision.
Below are a few steps you can take to begin this conversation:
- Learn whose land you live and work on at Native-Land.ca and how to support the financial self-determination of the tribes local to your region
- Watch Justice Funders recent webinar Giving Shuumi: Philanthropy’s Role in Redistributing Wealth and Supporting the Return of Indigenous Land (*this webinar is relevant for foundations beyond the Bay Area and across the state)
- Read the Shuumi Land Tax: Guidance for Foundations written by Sogorea Te’ Land Trust
- Read Land Reparation & Indigenous Solidarity Toolkit by Resource Generation
- Talk with your colleagues and board of trustees about your foundation paying its institutional land tax
- Reach out to us with your ideas for how to center this dialogue within CCJFG, your foundations, and philanthropic community
In community,
CCJFG Steering Committee