2020: A Look Back
At TWP our mission is to help communities protect, conserve, and manage their natural resources. In 2020, we improved the lives of even more families with your support.
Photo by Evan Barrientos
Friends,
The economic impacts of the past year have left their mark on Central America and U.S Tribal Lands, and the only way to get people back on their own feet is by creating opportunities for them to thrive.
We’re doing this in Honduras, where TWP master stove builders, 28% of them women, are making a living while improving household health and reducing firewood consumption all over the country with Justa Clean Cookstoves.
Or on Pine Ridge, South Dakota and the Pueblos of New Mexico, where a coalition of partners is creating opportunities for Native Americans to lead reforestation, watershed restoration, and post-fire recovery on their own lands.
Projects like these don’t succeed if there’s not a clear leadership role for local people.
This has been a guiding principle of TWP’s work since the beginning, and has made all the difference in the quality of the work we do. Indigenous people across the Americas are fighting every day to protect their forests, their water, and food sources. TWP works with communities to identify their priorities and help fund those that increase local resilience.
So take pride in the impacts you helped create through your donations to Trees, Water & People. You helped us move mountains during one of the most challenging times in history.
Thank you,
Sebastian Africano
Executive Director
Reconnecting to the Land
by TWP National Staff
Photo by Evan Barrientos
TWP’s National Program faced challenges and uncertainties head-on in 2020, with a commitment to supporting our Tribal partners from afar. Despite the difficulties, we are grateful for a year of growth, learning, healing and new opportunities on the horizon.
Across Tribal Lands, COVID-19 forced Tribal governments and organizations to make many impossible decisions, including the cancellation of traditional activities in their communities. Many of these cultural activities deeply connect to the heart of the community and the overall well being of the people, so these decisions were not taken lightly.
Following thorough safety protocols and the direction of Tribal leadership, however, our partners in New Mexico and Pine Ridge took the proper precautions to forge ahead with the planting of over 39,890 trees in the last year alone.
In New Mexico, the Pueblos took 2020’s tree planting as an opportunity to deepen the connection between land restoration and cultural preservation. Language preservation, youth development, storytelling, and Traditional Ecological Knowledge exchange played a key role in helping bring the community together during tree planting this year. In South Dakota, Chief Henry Red Cloud spoke on the importance of honoring trees as relatives, now
more than ever. Our Tribal partners shared that tree planting provided critical opportunities for their community to gather and reconnect with one another amidst the cancellation of other traditional activities.
We also began filming a short documentary on Pine Ridge this spring, exploring the cultural significance of tree planting and climate resilience. We will primarily share the film with the Oyate (people) of the Oglala Sioux Tribe to determine how to disseminate it best in their community or with other tribes also interested in tree planting. We are excited to share more details on the project in the coming months!
Your support has helped us stay connected to our partners, provide direct assistance where it’s needed most, and ensure a bright future ahead of us. We have much to learn from the resiliency of our partners, and we are able to bring these lessons into our ongoing work thanks to your support!
2020-2021 Financial Report
Revenue
| Public Support | $655,390.00 |
| Corporate | $122,054.00 |
| Foundations | $599,674.00 |
| TWP Tours | $15,000.00 |
| Government | $124,130.00 |
| Investment Income | $39,674.00 |
| Interest income | $9,862.00 |
| Misc Income | $5,281.00 |
| In-kind Income | $35,245.00 |
| Total Cash Revenues | $1,606,310.00 |
| Volunteer Services | $24,480.00 |
| Total | $1,630,790.00 |
Expenses
| International | $816,886.00 |
| El Salvador | $111,832.00 |
| Guatemala | $211,165.00 |
| Nicaragua | $146,141.00 |
| Honduras | $347,748.00 |
| National | $428,316.00 |
| South Dakota | $312,671.00 |
| New Mexico | $85,663.00 |
| CO/Local | $29,982.00 |
| Support Services | $145,567.00 |
| Fundraising | $164,681.00 |
| Total Cash Expenses | $1,555,450.00 |
| Volunteer Services | $24,480.00 |
| Total | $1,579,930.00 |
Statement of Financial Position
| Cash Assets | $696,080.00 |
| Investments | $268,395.00 |
| Fixed & Other Assets | $471,510.00 |
| Total Assets | $1,435,985.00 |
| Total Liabilities | $104,559.00 |
| Net Assets | $1,331,426.00 |
80% of funds donated to TWP are invested in creating impact through our international and national programs.
Individual donors made up 42% of TWP’s income in 2020-21.
El Pueblo and the Climate Crisis in Central America
by Gemara Gifford, International Director
We build our work upon a foundation of authentic relationships and community-led efforts that help heal people and the land. In a “normal” year, this work takes a lot of courage and persistence, but what we experienced this past year led us to problem-solve in new ways.
We all witnessed the collision of extreme climate events and social injustices in Central America that displaced hundreds of thousands of people, and eroded local economies. These events, again, revealed how Indigenous and rural communities, especially women and children, face the most significant burdens of climate change. At the same time, we saw that the most effective solutions for a better future came from the bottom up—the people.
Solo el Pueblo Salva al Pueblo—Only the People Save the People—is a common phrase throughout Latin America, and is precisely what’s happened in Central America over the last year. Community members mobilized resources, facilitated access to medical care, and built coalitions across the region to respond to urgent needs. TWP’s most crucial role was to listen and support locally-driven solutions, as El Pueblo decided.
Channeling support to our community partners and friends in Central America during multiple crises was no easy feat. By activating our community-based network across four countries, eight grassroots conservation organizations, and 50 communities, we co-developed a grassroots response that reached over 2,000 families. In Honduras, 35 community-based stoves builders (Maestros Fogoneros) responded to local needs by delivering medical supplies and food, while in neighboring Guatemala, Indigenous women’s groups started communally-run seed banks to prepare for future shortages.
While we continue to keep a close eye on the future, we know that the solutions to some of the world’s most challenging problems are out there. Our local partners have demonstrated this through their creativity, courage, and compassion. By listening and building reciprocity, we can do our part in the climate crisis to support the most marginalized people and places on the good days and bad.
Thanks to these innovative partnerships, we have been able to complete important community-based sustainable development projects. To learn more about our Partners for a Sustainable Planet program, please visit treeswaterpeople.org/partners.
Fort Collins-based Motherlove grew into a global force for good, making quality organic herbal products for pregnant women, babies and new mothers. Motherlove was drawn to the benefits that TWP’s projects provide women and girls in Central America, and have been a Project Sponsor of various clean cookstove initiatives, offsetting their company’s CO2 footprint in the process.
Creating a global standard for sustainable forest product consumption, PrintReleaf guarantees to certifiably ‘releaf’ all paper products consumed by its customers. The patented technology measures consumption, and tracks reforestation partners, like TWP, to ensure fulfillment.
As a responsible and activist company, Avocado Mattress donates a portion of all their revenue through their 1% for the Planet membership, where they first found TWP. With various sustainability and climate certifications under their belt (including a pending B-Corp certification), their environmental and social responsibility goes beyond organic.
Since 2010, The Green Team Real Estate has supported TWP by donating after every home sale or purchase. In addition to helping home-buyers reduce their carbon footprint through energy-efficient homes, The Green Team has partnered with TWP to help fund our various projects in Central America and U.S. Tribal Lands.
Photo by Evan Barrientos