International Funders for Indigenous Peoples is the only global donor affinity group dedicated solely to Indigenous peoples around the world. For the past seventeen years, IFIP has built momentum toward a new movement in philanthropy that recognizes Indigenous communities as high-impact investments. Their last conference, the Latin America Indigenous Funders Conference brought over 200 donors and Indigenous leaders from the region. Throughout the years, we have organized 14 major conferences, bringing thousands of donors and Indigenous leaders together.

Why Fund Indigenous Peoples Now?

More than 370 million-strong in over 90 countries, Indigenous Peoples constitute the largest minority in the world at almost 5% of the global population. Traditional Indigenous territories cover up to 24 percent of the world’s land surface and contain 80 percent of the earth’s global biodiversity priority areas. Indigenous Peoples are invaluable partners in solving many of today’s complex problems, such as climate change, biodiversity preservation, and sustainable management of natural resources.

Indigenous Peoples have a rich history of self-help and innovative sharing practices that are often humble, celebratory and equitable. These can provide useful ethical and practical lessons for philanthropy at large. Developing serious philanthropic relationships with them requires a readiness to accept alternative worldviews that can benefit both partners in surprising and unusual ways, helping to break down preconceived notions and to think “out of the box.”

Their Mission is to foster Indigenous solutions and partnerships among Indigenous Peoples and funders around the globe.

International Funders for Indigenous Peoples (IFIP) seeks to transform the relationship between the funding world and Indigenous Peoples to one of mutual understanding and benefit.

It recognizes the urgent need for solutions that are led and understood by Indigenous Peoples not only to improve lives in Indigenous communities, but also as a resource for solving social, economic and environmental challenges around the world for everyone.

IFIP is led by donors and Indigenous leaders to advance a new movement in philanthropy that better values, supports and partners with Indigenous communities. Donors and Indigenous leaders are afforded unique opportunities to respectfully learn from one another at their regional meetings and international donor summits. This face-to-face engagement plants the seeds for trust and enduring collaborations. They build capacity for both Indigenous communities seeking support and donors interested in high impact philanthropy. Personalized encounters, buttressed by social media, case studies and original research on best practices, form the cornerstones of IFIP’s strategy.

IFIP is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and is recognized affinity group of the Council on Foundations. It was started in 1999 as a project of the First Nations Development Institute.