Program

Giving Back to Indigenous Communities

The IRI Program’s purpose is to encourage investment into Indigenous communities. The money donated will be distributed evenly among the grantee organizations showcased in the IRI webpage, discounting an administrative fee of 7.5% by the Chacruna Institute, and a report on the money raised is issued at the end of each calendar year. The IRI Program is one unified pathway to support all the grassroots organizations involved—however, in order to keep the resource open and allow for unmediated support, everyone still has the option of donating directly to an initiative of their choice by using the IRI resource page to immediately connect with any of the projects.

It is vital that members of the psychedelic community help support Indigenous groups and the traditional ecological knowledge they practice. Many organizations and individuals have a genuine desire to help, but struggle to find ways of connecting directly with local communities. Sometimes, the only option is donating to massive non-governmental organizations (NGOs) based in Western countries. Many who care about the environment and its interdependency with Indigenous lives are aware that money given to large NGOs often fails to reach the people on the ground due to the large infrastructural costs needed to run these organizations. Yet, small grassroots groups doing the most impactful work often labor to connect with people wanting to offer direct support through donations. For this reason, Chacruna has created the Indigenous Reciprocity Initiative of the Americas.

Introduction

Heartbreaking news of fires ravaging the rainforest leaves many feeling helpless in the face of overwhelming crises, compounded by new challenges resulting from a novel coronavirus. Home to the highest biodiversity of plant species on Earth, the Amazon is incalculably valuable to humanity; however, the local peoples who protect and maintain it are under constant threat from the myriad forces of globalization. While falling emissions and reduced pollution had many in the West patting themselves on the back, deforestation jumped to record highs when their backs were turned. Indigenous activists and leaders are being murdered and predatory land-grabs are being conducted by opportunistic developers. Local peoples who already strain to find the support and protection they need are uniquely vulnerable to the devastation caused by deforestation, economic instability, food insecurity, and lack of political autonomy, all of which is only amplified in the context of a global pandemic.

The connection between biological and cultural diversity is well established, including the correlation between healthy forests and Indigenous people, whose territories hold 80% of the world’s biodiversity, while only comprising 5% of the world’s population. With an abundance of research linking forest loss to the emergence of diseases like COVID-19, the fact that Indigenous-managed land is home to significantly more biodiversity than protected areas makes the case for supporting forest peoples more prescient than ever. The current pandemic crystallizes the importance of grassroots efforts that value biocultural relationships, strengthen sustainability and conservation, and build the foundation for a lasting future of healthy Indigenous communities.

The Program

In addition to individual acts of reciprocity from our readers, IRI strives to foster a relationship of reciprocity between the rapidly growing industry generated by the mainstreaming of psychedelics in the Global North, often far removed from the needs and struggles of Indigenous peoples. Going beyond symbolic acts, retreat centers catering to Western visitors, or income streams from the tourism economy, we created the IRI Program to act as a mechanism for businesses, foundations, and private donors to address the disparities stemming from the globalization of psychedelic plant medicines.

In the United States alone, philanthropic contributions supporting Native Americans have declined by 54% over a period of just 10 years, amounting to less than 0.4% of total foundation giving between 2002 and 2016. Meanwhile, the urgent needs of Indigenous communities have grown as they remain at the forefront of combatting climate change, nurturing biodiversity, and supporting local food economies. At a time when less than 1% of philanthropy in the U.S. goes to Indigenous groups (the majority of which goes through non-Indigenous organizations), there is a vital need to decolonize philanthropy and bridge this massive gap. The IRI Program is an opportunity to direct some of the enormous profits anticipated by the commercialization of psychedelics back into the hands of Indigenous people.

Criteria (How were these organizations chosen?):

  • Each organization is small-scale, targeting specific group of local communities.
  • Each featured initiative is operated by members of the Indigenous communities being supported.
  • Each initiative is locally-designed and implemented to address self-determined needs and priorities.
  • The majority of organizations deal directly with one specific Indigenous group or region.
  • Each project, as well as the majority of featured organizations, is wholly Indigenous-run.
  • More than half of the featured projects are led by Indigenous women and focused primarily on women’s issues.
  • The non-profits that are externally-based or helmed by non-Indigenous organizers are run by Indigenous leaders and directed by community consensus on a local level.
  • Each organization is multidimensional, aimed at strengthening community resilience and autonomy.
  • Each project is framed around long-term, sustainable strategies, rather than short-term relief efforts.

IRI’s diversity of Indigenous traditions stresses relationships to the land irrespective of psychoactive plant use, striving to include Indigenous groups often left out of the conversation in psychedelic circles and tourism. The community-centered nature of IRI’s projects focuses on collective efforts and avoids concentrating funds in the hands of one or two well-connected families or solo shamans. With a structure that avoids intermediaries wherever possible, the IRI Program seeks to serve Indigenous communities without creating extra bureaucracies or barriers to funding, ensuring that the agency, autonomy, and focus remains with the recipients rather than with the donors.