Photo courstesy of Bari Wesna As we close out 2025, I’m reaching out with gratitude — and a simple request. We asked for your support recently, to raise $110,000 and inspired donors have already given $95,000! Today, a $20,000 matching grant means that if you MAKE A DONATION TODAY, the value of your donation will be doubled! CONTINUING GLOBAL IMPACT … Read More
Gratitude for Nearly 30 Years of Work Together
On behalf of myself and the Tribal Trust Foundation Board of Directors, we want to express our heartfelt appreciation for you, our collaborators, donors, partners, and friends. Thank you for caring about Indigenous-led programming to preserve and uplift ancient wisdom ways to meet the challenges of our time. Thank you for believing in a worldview anchored in reciprocity, collaboration, and … Read More
Traveling to Bhutan for Documentary Film and Friendship
In 2006, the Tribal Trust Foundation answered a call from the Monpa people of Bhutan to document their ancient culture, one of the last Indigenous communities in the Himalayas still living in close harmony with the natural world. Upon their request, while the government had begun plans for a genocide of these peace-loving people, we began filming in order to … Read More
Two Eyed Seeing School in Namibia
In 2021, the local leadership of the the San Ju/’hoansi — Namibia’s First People, recognized as Indigenous to Southern Africa and Namibia — reached out to TTF saying, “Our children currently travel far to attend boarding school; the journey is dangerous and conditions there are difficult. We believe we can do better for our children in our own village, and … Read More
We All Come From an Indigenous Lineage
I recently returned from a deeply moving journey to Ireland—a pilgrimage of the heart and spirit to the land of my ancestors. As I walked the ancient paths, stood beneath moss-covered trees, and sat in stillness on ancient mountain tops, I could feel the presence of those who came before me. In honoring Indigenous traditions across the world through the … Read More
Honoring Our Elders: A New Home for Shipibo-Konibo Teachers
One of the many critical values we can learn from Indigenous peoples is the deep respect for, and care of, our Elders our wisdom keepers. They are the carriers of story, the transmitters of tradition, and the guardians of ancestral knowledge. In early 2025, we received a powerful request from our trusted partner, Bari Wesna, an Indigenous-led intercultural nonprofit based … Read More
Monpa Elders Prioritizing Indigenous Language Preservation
UNESCO International Decade of Indigenous Languages 2022-2032 recognizes, “Languages are one of the most significant emblems of human diversity, revealing how we can perceive, relate to, and understand the world differently. Languages are vehicles of our cultures, collective memory, and values. They are an essential component of our identities.” The Monpas are translating their oral language into Dzongkha and English … Read More
Board Member Spotlight: Téana David of Illuminate Film Festival
The Tribal Trust Foundation’s accomplishments would not be possible without the dedicated support of our Board of Directors. It is an honor to share news from our Board. TTF Vice President Téana David is the Artistic Director of the ILLUMINATE Film Festival, which just celebrated another successful year in Santa Barbara, California. The Festival’s mission is to elevate human consciousness … Read More
Continuing to Support Indigenous Education Amid Funding Cuts
Today, more than ever, we are called to stand in solidarity with Indigenous peoples who are being disproportionately harmed by continued extractive policies and practices of our dominant culture and now, the recent devastating cuts in U.S. government funding. “We have already witnessed unbelievable rollbacks on our civil liberties, human rights, and environmental and climate justice laws and policies that we … Read More
Honoring the Mother
In this month of May, where in America we celebrate Mother’s Day, honoring the nurturing presence of mothers in our lives, I want to give thanks for Mother Nature and Mother Earth, and the web of life of which we are a part. At Tribal Trust Foundation, we believe that the wisdom of Indigenous peoples, the regenerative principles of Nature, … Read More
Passing on Ancestral Knowledge with Bari Wesna
We are proud to partner with, and be part of, passing on ancestral knowledge with Bari Wesna in Péru. Support their recent Traditional Singing & Medicinal Plants workshops was an honor. Held in the children’s library ‘’Jainoax Axeti Xobo’’ in the Intercultural community Bena Jema, and led by the wise Betty Muñoz, ancestral knowledge was shared with 25 boys and … Read More
The Power of Connection, Water, and Earth
In February, the Tribal Trust Foundation responded to the request of Maya Shaw Gale, a life-long advocate of indigenous wisdom, past TTF Board Member, and current TTF Advisor, to sponsor Adrian Salas Xopan, a Mayan ceremonialist and healer, to participate in the Indigenous Earth Day Tikal Conference in Guatemala. The intention of the Tikal convergence of spiritual leaders and wisdom … Read More