Looking Behind, Looking Ahead
In our recent Four-Year Reflection Report, SGF looked back on the work we’ve done and the impact we’ve had within the Indigenous community in the years since the COVID-19 crisis took hold. As others pulled back, we did our best to reach out. Our grantmaking grew, our Fellowships expanded, our Affiliates thrived, and when it was safe to gather together again, we did. Below is an excerpt regarding our work moving forward.
As Indigenous Peoples, we are constantly walking in our Ancestors’ prayers and building toward a brighter future for the seventh generation yet to come. In 2023, we premiered our film, “Time of Prophecy: Walking in the Prayers of Our Ancestors,” which featured Indigenous wisdom, experience, and cultural knowledge in the context of COVID-19, climate change, and Indigenous Peoples’ healing and futurity. It encompasses so much of the resilience we witness across our communities, and it helped sharpen our focus for the work that remains.
Our achievements over the past four years have not been without struggle, and we realize that many challenges still lay ahead, but we are strengthened by the legacy and movement we belong to — a movement that was initiated long before any of us were born.
We did not get here alone. Over the years, we have relied on the good thoughts of those encountered along the way of this fantastic movement-building effort in Indian Country, the vision our founders and community members set forth, our philanthropic partners’ good intentions and commitments, and most importantly our Ancestors’ prayers and dreams. We are committed to our partners’ strength and will continue building a stronger community for Indigenous Peoples throughout the world.
Our Ancestors’ presence helps provide the stamina and fortification to have a long vision and plan for the work that lies ahead. We’ve begun work on initiatives that serve our Peoples and communities well. This includes the Spiral Braid, which focuses and empowers emerging and present projects in the U.S. Southwest and Northern Mexico territories; Instituo Cientifico de Culturas Indigenas, in Ecuador, which has begun collaborating and connecting with projects in South and Central America; and the Elder’s Program, a collaboration with philanthropic partners to better serve Indigenous elders in the regions of Montana and North and South Dakota. And we are excited to continue development of our ongoing relationship-building and direct support in the continent of Africa.
We are grateful for our many value-aligned partnerships that continue to help shape the collective work of building an Indigenous Peoples Movement. Partners such as Grantmakers for Girls of Color and Hawaii’s People’s Fund are critical to advising our self-determined approach to philanthropy. Partners such as these are meaningful to our organizations and represent sister organizations with which we can co-create, dream, and help define this very unique, value-laden approach to philanthropy. It is through these critical, meaningful, strategic relationships that we are able to offer increased grant support to our communities and multiyear grant support to projects in Indian Country.
As we look forward to the long path of movement-building, establishing relationships, and community organizing that lies ahead, it is essential that we take a moment to look back at the work that we’ve collectively accomplished thus far. It’s important that we engage our Elders for their wisdom and expertise and take the time to speak with them to help us plan for future endeavors. We understand that relying on traditional knowledges will no doubt provide the best opportunities of success for the seventh generation to come.
If you’re interested in learning more about our work over the last four years, you can read the full Four-Year Reflection Report which goes into greater detail on the work we’ve been able to achieve.
