Overview:
The Decolonizing Wealth Project awarded $1 million to 35 Indigenous-led conservation initiatives across the United States and released a guide encouraging philanthropic investment in the return of ancestral lands to Tribal communities.
Thirty-five Indigenous-led conservation efforts are getting a $1 million boost from a nonprofit working to empower disenfranchised communities through wealth building.
The Decolonizing Wealth Project (DWP) announced the 2026 Indigenous Earth Fund (IEF) awardees, a $1 million funding round supported by Liberated Capital and DWP’s giving community. The funds will support Tribes and Indigenous organizations across the United States advancing climate solutions rooted in ancestral wisdom and ecological stewardship.
DWP is led by CEO and Founder Edgar Villanueva (Lumbee), a 2025 TIME 100 Climate Leader and New York Times Climate Forward Changemaker.
Alongside this year’s grant awards, DWP released Land As Medicine: A Practical Guide for Funders, Advisors, and Donors Exploring Land Return as a Reparative Giving Strategy, now available to help the philanthropic community understand the urgency, possibility, and impact of funding Tribal land return.
Land As Medicine draws on DWP’s expertise as an Indigenous-led organization, with over 65 years of combined grantmaking experience across the team and their experience from the first two years of its California Tribal Land Return Initiative. The guide offers funders, advisors, and donors case studies, historical context, and practical steps to start funding land return. The guide’s central argument is that land return is a reparative giving strategy that reaches well beyond climate and conservation into economic development, food sovereignty, mental health, youth and education, and arts and culture.
DWP has invested over $17 million in Indigenous communities across the United States through IEF and other funds, including its California Tribal Land Return Initiative, which provides both capital and technical assistance to California Tribes working to acquire land. Through the Initiative, DWP has granted $2.35M to a cohort representing thirty-one Tribes and Tribal organizations, supporting the return of 17,613 acres of ancestral lands with combined estimated purchase prices exceeding $36 million, based on reported purchase amounts and acquisition budgets.
“For Indigenous communities, land is medicine. It sustains our cultures, nourishes our families, and connects generations,” Villanueva said in a statement. “Our Indigenous Earth Fund grantees are putting ancestral knowledge into action to address the climate crisis and build thriving futures for their communities. With these grants and our first-of-its-kind Land As Medicine guide, we’re inviting philanthropy to deepen its commitment: trust Indigenous leadership, move flexible resources, and support the return of ancestral lands. Wherever your giving is focused, land return offers a powerful opportunity to advance healing.
Among this year’s grantees are:
- California Indigenous Youth Collective: restoring Indigenous youth leadership in land and water stewardship through culture, healing, and collective power
- Ekvn-Yefolecv Maskoke Ecovillage: revitalizing the Maskoke language and culture while restoring ancestral homelands through ecologically regenerative lifeways
- Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission: developing a Kuskokwim Tribal Salmon Recovery Plan to restore salmon populations and strengthen climate–resilient fisheries and communities
- Native Conservancy: advancing Indigenous food sovereignty through Oceanback and Native Sea Trust while restoring marine ecosystems and revitalizing traditional food practices
- Nihikeya’s Diné Agroecology Project: addressing food and water insecurity on the Dzil Yijiin (Black Mesa) region of the Navajo Nation through the use of local knowledge, ancestral wisdom, and innovative solutions emerging through regenerative practices.
- Tanka Fund: supporting the integration of regenerative and climate-resilient Buffalo stewardship practices. This is the only known national organization that works solely with independent Indigenous family- and community-owned Buffalo ranches.
- Water Protector Legal Collective: providing legal representation, advocacy, and community education to defend and protect sacred sites and Indigenous land, support Water Protectors seeking to defend the Earth, and uphold Indigenous sovereignty
“Tribes and Native organizations across the nation are doing extraordinary work to protect their lands, advance food sovereignty, and preserve their cultures,” said Dr. Dana Arviso, Director, Indigenous Programs, Decolonizing Wealth Project. “The 225 proposals we received this year combined total request of nearly $10 million. They reflected a full range of earth and climate interventions, from salmon recovery and Buffalo stewardship to youth leadership and the defense of sacred sites. We’re proud to fund 35 of them, and many more strong projects are ready for support. We invite individuals and funders interested in resourcing proven climate and nature-protecting activities to reach out to learn more about our Earth and Climate funding priority.”
