Keepers of the Earth Fund (KOEF)

Keepers of the Earth Fund (KOEF)

Overview: An Indigenous Led Fund within Cultural Survival managed by Indigenous staff and designed to support Indigenous Peoples' community self-determined development projects.

Status: Active since 2017

Track Record: Supported 392 projects in 40 countries totaling $2,219,369 directly to Indigenous communities, collectives, organizations, and traditional governments

Eligibility

• Grassroots Indigenous-led organizations
• Indigenous collectives
• Traditional governments
• Projects must be self-determined and based on Indigenous values

Geographic Scope

Global (has funded projects in 40 countries)

Focus Areas

KOEF supports projects designed by Indigenous communities in accordance with their Indigenous values, including:
• Leadership of Indigenous women and youth
• Political sovereignty
• Economic sovereignty
• Food sovereignty
• Land and water rights
• Land titling, tenure, and stewardship
• Agroecology
• Environmental and biodiversity protection
• Climate change
• Carbon sequestration
• Intergenerational transmission of Traditional Knowledge
• Indigenous language and knowledge revitalization
• Movement-building
• Indigenous participation and representation in local, regional, national, and international spaces
• COVID-19 response

Approach

Rights-Based: Predicated on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Cultural Survival uses a rights-based approach to support grassroots Indigenous solutions through equitable distribution of resources to Indigenous communities.

Contact

Cultural Survival, Inc. 2067 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02140 (617) 441-5400 Email: [contact through website]

Organization Background

Cultural Survival is a non-profit organization with federal 501(c)(3) status (EIN: 23-7182593) advocating for Indigenous Peoples' rights since 1972.