2025-2026 Annual Report
Trees, Water & People (TWP) continues to amaze me as an organization.
After nine years as executive director, I’m constantly
astounded by the talent, passion and dedication of my team, who get up every day to make life better for others by protecting and restoring the planet.
As a supporter, we hope you see it too.
Our work is human-powered. In the past year we’ve seen local communities respond rapidly to drastic shifts in the global economy. As the world turns away from climate action and international cooperation, it’s abundantly clear that local actors hold the keys to the future.
At TWP, we make sure they’re equipped for the moment.
Over the past year we’ve surveyed 267 organizations and interviewed 131 in Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean to learn how they are keeping their local environment healthy and their economies vibrant in a time of great scarcity.
We helped 16 local nonprofits in five countries build strategic plans, assess strengths and weaknesses, and start pilot programs that will benefit forests and families. Then we brought them all together to share findings and learn from one another.
In New Mexico and Colorado, we convened hundreds of Tribal forest and fire leaders for the third Stewards of the Southwest Summit, where Indigenous voices guide the conversation about our climate future.
It’s no wonder that TWP is in our tenth consecutive year of growth. Our programs create ripple effects across an entire region - from South Dakota to Panama - and create environmentally beneficial jobs for 150 people annually.
We hope these stories inspire you to keep supporting our mission. Your support is the pebble that creates those ripples in the first place.
Thank you for trusting in Trees, Water & People,
Sebastian Africano
Executive Director
Trusting the Intangible
“Organization is the foundational pillar for our initiatives. We must consider who we are, what we do, and why we do it. Above all, this experience of mutual support has helped us to keep moving forward, ensuring that our initiatives remain strong, that they are not lost. And if we can combine this with the experiences of other organizations and those that will come in the future, it creates a vital chain of growth.”
– Areli Castellanos, LIMAXTUM
It’s been a practice of mine to leave flower seeds planted when I move from one house to another. I suppose it’s a small act of reciprocity - a gift for the next temporary stewards.
At TWP, I’ve come to realize how the organizations we support do this every day, investing everything in outcomes they will never see, but which they leave for future generations.
We could all benefit from doing the same.
16 TWP partner organizations recently gathered in Honduras, supported by the Climate and Land Use Alliance (CLUA), to share their experiences in TWP’s organizational strengthening program. The participants in this two year process have learned to evaluate their organization’s strengths and weaknesses, build long-term strategic plans, and apply those plans to pilot projects.
These outcomes are much less tangible than planting trees or building stoves. It’s hard to quantify what capacity building or strategic planning or knowledge exchanges “do.”
But it’s never been more clear to me than in Honduras.
When you see participants’ profound level of commitment, enthusiasm, and interest in learning from one another, there is no doubt that the insights of this gathering will change lives in places we may never go, in ways we may never see.
Ultimately, strengthening local organizations means that ancestral forests will be protected, that displaced communities will rebuild their livelihoods, and that thousands of women will breathe clean air in their homes. And most of all, it means that these efforts can be sustained beyond the lives of the individuals who began them.
As one of our participants said, “We don’t leave projects, we leave equipped people.”
To me, that’s the difference between leaving one beautiful flower, or leaving seeds for hundreds more beneath the soil.
by Hope Radford
– TWP Program Communications Coordinator
2023-2024 Financial Report
Revenue
| Foundations | $1,694,188.00 |
| Public Support | $975,151.00 |
| Government | $150,083.00 |
| Corporate | $127,717.00 |
| Interest Income | $23,684.00 |
| Fees for Service | $23,073.00 |
| Investment Income | $18,791.00 |
| Events | $17,264.00 |
| Misc. Income | $10,269.00 |
| Total | $3,040,220.00 |
Expenses
| Mesoamerica Program | $1,247,380.00 |
| Honduras | $721,414.00 |
| Guatemala | $414,180.00 |
| Mexico | $101,575.00 |
| El Salvador | $10,212.00 |
| Indigenous Lands Program | $1,080,564.00 |
| Southern Colorado | $770,012.00 |
| New Mexico | $306,674.00 |
| South Dakota | $3,878.00 |
| Management & General | $294,105.00 |
| Fundraising | $417,093.00 |
| Total | $3,039,142.00 |
Statement of Financial Position
| Current & Non-Current Assets | $1,408,560.00 |
| Property and Equipment | $934,412.00 |
| Total Assets | $2,342,972.00 |
| Total Liabilities | $510,289.00 |
| Net Assets | $1,832,683.00 |
| Total Liabilities & Net Assets | $2,342,972.00 |
| *Ending Net Assets | $1,832,683.00 |
Trees, Water & People’s Financial History
Just like any organization, our financial health influences everything from the long-term investments we make in our programs, to our employees’ well-being, and our ability to respond to shifting conditions in the places we work.
We are a people-first organization, so the quality of our work is directly related to the people we employ and how we value their talent, energy and contributions. When we invest in our people, they in turn give us their best.
As our annual revenue tripled over ten years, so did our payroll. Our staff grew from nine to 18 people during this time. Our Executive Director doesn’t make more than 2x our lowest paid employee, encouraging young professionals to pursue and stay in careers of service.
The Impact Your Donations Make
We work hard to ensure that all our income creates value towards our mission. Our expenses run very close to our revenue, and we build long-term stability through a reserve fund, owning our offices in Colorado and New Mexico, and endowments at local community foundations.
When you give an unrestricted gift to TWP, we invest those funds with an eye for impact. Funds might go to building a clean cookstove for a Honduran family, or to controlling erosion after a forest fire, or to convening partners to build a reforestation plan. Our teams are always close to the work, and understand the context, priorities, and needs on the ground.
Leaving a Legacy through TWP’s Canopy
TWP donors make tax-wise gifts through Donor Advised Funds (DAF), stock transfers, and qualified charitable
distributions (QCD) and Required Minimum Distributions (RMD) from their Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA). Making gifts of these assets is easy, tax smart, and provides a way to make a positive impact on the planet beyond your lifetime.
“TWP is really good at doing good. We support TWP because we have shared values.”
“It was always our dream, to be philanthropists, to have tons of money and just give it away. TWP’s canopy program fits nicely into that, in terms of doing good with what we’ve done. TWP’s programs are focused on making people’s lives better. By providing supplies, mentoring, etc., you’re a resource center for folks. We’re so impressed how efficient, and ethical, and focused on diversity that TWP
is, and doing all that on a very small budget. We like that with TWP there’s a personal connection, with us locally but also with the folks you’re trying to serve...using their learned knowledge and wisdom, and partnering with them.”
Phil and Lynn Beedle – TWP Canopy Members
Indigenous Sovereignty through
Indigenous Organizations
It’s been more than 20 years since we met Chief Henry Red Cloud.
At the time, he was building the foundations of Lakota Solar Enterprises – one of the first Native-owned renewable energy companies in the U.S. – to support his community in the Pine Ridge Reservation of South Dakota.
As their work gained interest from Tribes across the U.S., Chief Henry and his team explored the idea of creating a nonprofit to support education and workforce training around renewable energy. In collaboration with TWP, Red Cloud Renewable was born, and continues to grow steadily to this day.
“We as Indigenous people have always been engineers, we have always been constantly changing. We have a philosophy, a way of looking at the world, but we utilize new technology to kind of bring that in. So that’s what Chief Henry has been doing with renewable energy, using those old teachings with the technology we see today.” – Phillip Chavez, ILP Outreach Coordinator
Over the years, TWP’s collaboration with Red Cloud
Renewable has included planting of hundreds of thousands of trees on Pine Ridge lands, solar energy education with Native youth, and establishment of the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center, which serves as a central hub of renewable energy training for Tribes across the country.
“In the early days, TWP had a lot of involvement in strategic planning, grant writing, and managing funds. But over time, Red Cloud Renewable was able to organize internally, build a strong structure, bring in more funds, and now they’ve grown their staff and capacity exponentially...Our partnership shows how established non-profits can really guide and assist the development of others, specifically in marginalized communities.” – James Calabaza, ILP Dir.
As Red Cloud Renewables has grown, TWP has stepped back. We still deliver a few hundred trees every year, and are always happy to see our dear friends at Pine Ridge.
As glad as we are to have been a part of it, though, this isn’t our story anymore.
CORPORATE PARTNERS
B1G1 is a social enterprise that has transformed a membership model into an opportunity for businesses to give back and create positive impact for communities around the world. Since Trees, Water & People became a Worthy Cause in 2020, the B1G1 community has contributed more than $73,500 to support many of our initiatives across Mesoamerica.
From reforestation projects in the United States and Guatemala to forest protection and clean cookstove initiatives in Honduras, B1G1 has enabled businesses to support our work by integrating philanthropy into their day-to-day operations and organizational culture.
Coffee Libre is a Korean specialty coffee company committed to sourcing coffee sustainably and trading ethically with producers from many origins, including Central America. By supporting TWP’s Clean Cookstove Program in Honduras, the company demonstrates its commitment to climate action and community solidarity.
Since 2023, Coffee Libre has helped build 338 Justa clean cookstoves, offsetting 1,590 metric tons of CO₂ emissions and preventing the harvest of 6,020 trees.
Become a Partner for a Sustainable Planet
Trees, Water & People can help your business:
• Create lasting social and environmental impact
• Achieve your business sustainability goals
• Differentiate your brand
To learn more visit: twp.org/partners or contact
Hellen Castro: Hellen@twp.org