2022-2023 Annual Report
At TWP our mission is to help communities protect, conserve, and manage their natural resources. In 2022, we improved the lives of even more families with your support.
Dear Friends,
We’re so proud to celebrate our 25th anniversary with you, and thrilled about the direction Trees, Water & People (TWP) is going. Twenty-five is a coming of age, with new expectations, possibilities, and responsibilities, as well as new challenges and higher stakes in the work that we do.
You’ve watched us grow up, and if there is one thing we’ve learned along the way, it’s that we can’t make forward progress on the challenges we face without networks of dedicated people who care enough to do the work.
Earlier this year in Fort Collins, home to TWP’s headquarters, we were able to host founding partners from Central America to thank them for their years of work with the organization. It really drove home the importance of authentic relationships based on trust, love, and service when tackling difficult challenges. As the adage says — If you want to go far, go together.
TWP’s next chapter will be a beautiful one — marked by new partnerships and alliances, greater impact, and a stronger, more diverse network stretching from the Rocky Mountains to Central America. We’re building on our success as a convener of talented local organizations, and providing them with resources to create change in the communities they serve. We’re betting on the next generation, and developing talent among young people that want to steward the earth, advance equity, and improve their societies from within.
Over the next 25 years, the stories to come will continue to build TWP’s legacy as an organization that mattered, and that left a positive mark on communities across the Americas.
We can’t wait to share them with you.
We’re grateful for your support, and want to thank you for another year of helping people and the planet through Trees, Water & People.
Here’s to many more!
Sebastian Africano
Executive Director
A Maestra Fogonera Leads a Network
of Lenca Women in Honduras
By TWP Central America Program Staff
Elsa Rodríguez - Maestra Fogonera, Master Stove Builder
“Without the support of women’s groups, it would be more difficult to socialize the project in the communities.”
Elsa Rodríguez, Dulce Nombre Togopala
At Trees, Water & People (TWP), we recognize and value the fundamental role that women have historically played in agriculture, food production, and the development of their communities. As women strengthened their leadership in these areas, they have faced many challenges that threaten their equality of rights and dignified livelihood. The Justa Clean Cookstove project and the stove builders’s network — a joint initiative between TWP and strategic partners in Honduras like AHDESA, has supported the women’s efforts by increasing their active participation up to 40% in the construction of clean cookstoves, individual economic ventures, and other similar actions at the community level.
Elsa Rodríguez is an inspiring example of women empowerment in this sector. She is a Lenca stovebuilder from the Dulce Nombre Togopala community, who has succeeded in generating environmental awareness in the indigenous communities, promoting local economic ventures, and advocating for Indigenous women’s rights. Through the Clean Cookstove project, Elsa created an alliance with the Intibucá Municipal Women’s office (OMM), which allocates
about 5% of the municipal budget to women’s groups in the areas of economic entrepreneurship, human rights, and gender equity. To date, they have supported more than 118 women’s groups, in 64 communities in this municipality. This agreement between the governmental entities and the women’s groups facilitated the ecotechnology dissemination to 300 households.
Elsa describes her strategy as follows: “We and the OMM take advantage of the women’s network meetings to talk about the stoves, so that I can help the women to have one and be able to take the smoke out of their homes.” In 2023, Elsa was ratified as the municipal president of the Lenca women’s network of Intibucá. With her new leadership role, in collaboration with TWP, the project’s coverage will be expanded to 150 homes. Elsa is an example among several women, whose advocacy at the community and municipal level, are a vital force in the struggle for social and environmental justice, and gender equality in rural communities, especially Indigenous communities.
2022-2023 Financial Report
Revenue
| Public Support | $914,340.00 |
| Corporate | $165,143.00 |
| Foundations | $1,047,665.00 |
| TWP Tours | $11,990.00 |
| Events | $6,378.00 |
| Endowments | -$1,512.00 |
| Interest Income | $2,772.00 |
| Misc Income | $4,836.00 |
| Fees for Services | $83,783.00 |
| Total Cash Revenues | $2,235,395.00 |
| Total | $2,178,372.00 |
Expenses
| Central America | $1,015,011.00 |
| El Salvador | $114,432.00 |
| Guatemala | $358,704.00 |
| Honduras | $541,875.00 |
| Nicaragua | -- |
| Indigenous Lands | $637,760.00 |
| South Dakota | $97,560.00 |
| New Mexico | $19,570.00 |
| CO/Local | $520,630.00 |
| Management & General | $161,273.00 |
| Fundraising | $243,443.00 |
| Total Cash Expenses | $1,975,487.00 |
| Total | $2,057,487.00 |
Statement of Financial Position
| Cash Assets | $991,384.00 |
| Investments | $242,906.00 |
| Fixed & Other Assets | $476,432.00 |
| Total Assets | $1,710,722.00 |
| Total Liabilities | $25,459.00 |
| Net Assets | $1,685,263.00 |
| Total Liabilities & Net Assets | $1,710,722.00 |
Caring and Coexisting with the Land
by TWP Indigenous Lands Program Staff
In today’s world, the term “environmental stewardship” has become heavily integrated into common language. We often hear about different approaches to protecting our lands, preserving our natural resources, and ensuring that future generations will have the same access to these resources. The reach of this idea is so far and deep that it has become a global movement.
But this philosophy is not new. It has existed long before modern climate change started to impact our lives. Indigenous peoples across the world have been living and implementing these practices since time immemorial. The survival of their cultures has always been inextricable to how their people would care and coexist with the land.
At Trees, Water & People, we’re privileged to be engaged with Indigenous communities who share this story and resilience strategies. The deep connection these communities have to the land is remarkable; they’ve been able to pass down critical knowledge of the land from one generation to another. From understanding changes in seasonal weather patterns to analyzing how landscapes react to natural disturbances, Indigenous communities have always been grounded with the land.
Today, our joint efforts with Tribes in land stewardship are imperative. The challenges around climate and development continue to be more persistent and devastating to many vulnerable ecosystems. Our collaborative work is developing new solutions that recapture centuries-old Indigenous practices of stewardship and combining it with new tactical methods of western science that can boost resilience and longevity towards a shifting climate.
From Central America to the United States, Indigenous peoples are practicing environmental stewardship everyday. It’s deeply rooted in their languages, songs, and foods. So next time a business or organization or even a radio ad mentions “environmental stewardship,” remember that it’s about more than protecting land or making a singular financial investment. It’s also about preserving cultures and ensuring Indigenous communities’ methods and ways of life are being respected and upheld.
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.
Together with its generous community, Humble Bundle has contributed over $200,000,000 to important causes around the world since its inception in 2010. The Humble community fundraised over $150,000 for Trees, Water & People in 2022 which allowed them to make an impactful investment in our community-based sustainable development.
To date Positive Legacy has offset over 40,000 tons of CO2 from music festivals by helping plant trees and build cookstoves through TWP. Given the challenging times for the live music industry, Positive Legacy and Cloud 9 Adventures launched a COVID-19 Relief Fund to benefit music industry workers and artist crews currently out of work, as well as a back-to-school program for low income youth.
In 2022, a sponsorship from the Dutch Bros Foundation made it possible for all students from the CSU Upward Bound Program to attend a TWP Tour to Pine Ridge, South Dakota, where they visited an Indigenous community for the first time. The students met with local organizations at Pine Ridge and Cheyenne River Reservations and saw firsthand the challenging realities of Indigenous communities and how they are working nonstop to restore their environment, culture, and identity.
Counter Culture Coffee. Founded in 1995, Counter Culture Coffee (CCC) stands as one of the largest independent specialty coffee roasters in the United States. CCC has made an impactful investment in offsetting their footprint by funding the installation of 393 clean cookstoves in rural Honduran households so far, which will prevent 4,243 metric tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere.
“Trees, Water & People’s work in advancing traditional values of stewardship
is so inspiring because it suggests a model for the future of conservation,
stewardship, and restoration that is rooted in justice and social equity. Their
work demonstrates that Tribally led approaches need to be at the forefront
of our collective efforts to address the systems-level socio-environmental
issues of the 21st century.”
— Jonathan Peterson, Program Manager, Network for Landscape Conservation