Today is the third annual Donor Advised Fund (DAF) Day, but what exactly is a DAF? Why is every nonprofit talking about them? And… should you get one?

Many of the community leaders and our partners we work with in El Salvador, Honduras, or Guatemala have had to deal with a civil war in their country. Often forced to migrate to another country, abandoning their homes, families, and livelihoods. But regardless of the odds and incredible bravery, people come back to their communities and decide to make a positive change.

In late August, members of our Indigenous Lands team, alongside local Tribes, had the opportunity to participate in a traditional bison harvest at the Zapata Ranch Preserve.

On September 18th, we were thrilled to be joined by nearly 30 foundation and donor representatives to discuss the state of funding in Mesoamerica. 

This conversation was part of our broader effort, supported by the Ford Foundation, to analyze and support alternative economic initiatives in the region.

In the Spring of 2022, the Cerro Pelado fire burned more than 45,000 acres in the Southern Jemez Mountains of New Mexico. 

This was just one of the many widespread wildfires that have damaged ancestral lands and watersheds, vital not only to local Pueblos but to countless other communities downstream.

Our community partners face challenges, and are therefore building solutions, that are much more complex than tidy annual metrics.

But we know there is no one more invested in those solutions than they are.

One of those communities is el Asintal, an Indigenous community of 110 families who returned home with scarce resources after the Guatemalan civil war. They’ve since worked tirelessly to build livelihoods while also protecting the vulnerable forest landscapes they steward.

August is Make a Will Month and this is the fourth in a four part series about dedicating your legacy to a healthy climate future through Trees, Water & People (TWP). 

August is Make a Will Month and this is the third in a four part series about dedicating your legacy to a healthy climate future through Trees, Water & People (TWP). 

*August is Make a Will Month and this is the second in a four part series about dedicating your legacy to a healthy climate future through Trees, Water & People (TWP). 

August is Make a Will Month and this is the first in a four part series about dedicating your legacy to a healthy climate future through Trees, Water & People (TWP). 

In a time of great instability in Central America, it’s crucial our work focuses on the wellbeing of the communities stewarding the lands we seek to protect.

As we’ve learned time and time again, you can’t take care of the land without taking care of the people, and you can’t take care of the people without taking care of the land.

In so many ways, managing the interaction of landscapes is about facilitating the interaction of people. 

Both require working deeply and thoughtfully across divides.

It’s been a practice of mine to leave flower seeds behind when I move from one house to another. I suppose it’s a small act of reciprocity, trust, leaving something for the next temporary stewards.

At TWP, I’ve come to realize how much the organizations we support are doing this every day, in the big ways. 

They are investing everything in outcomes they will never see, because they know it’s the right thing to do. 

We all need to learn to do the same.

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.

When our partnership with them started in the late 90s, AHDESA was formed by only a few individuals who were investing everything they had in protecting local forests.

Today, the motivation remains the same, but that small nonprofit has grown into a robust organization serving thousands of families every year.

In the 2026 Stewards of the Southwest summit, TWP and partners brought forward the vital roles of Indigenous women in land stewardship. For the first time, we coordinated an Indigenous Women in Stewardship Panel as part of the summit, and we are honored to share some of the insights offered by our incredible panelists.

Amongst the hundreds of diverse grassroots organizations in Mesoamerica we’ve been learning from over the past year, the vast majority face shared challenges. 

In every country and nearly every conversation, the inclusion of youth has been brought forward as one of the most pressing.

Most of the work TWP supports will need to carry on long after we are gone. 

We face multigenerational challenges that require multigenerational responses, and bringing youth into leading them is the core of their continuity. 

We’ve been honored to be a part of that continuity within the Traditional Harvest Project in Southwest Colorado. In collaboration with the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe (UMUT), Montezuma Land Conservancy (MLC), and other partners, the Traditional Harvest Project has supported Tribal members in planting and accessing culturally-significant plants and restoring riparian habitat along the Mancos River.

Twenty-eight years ago, our organization started with a focus on planting trees. 

But since our founding, we’ve seen the need to attend to a whole context – forests aren’t sustained without people, and people aren’t sustained without opportunities for work, a connection to their culture, and a voice in the decisions that affect them.

Earlier this month, in Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico, TWP hosted the third annual Stewards of the Southwest Summit. 

Although this event is only in its third year, we’re amazed to see the relationships that have already grown. Attendees are returning to see familiar faces and continue where conversations left off, year after year.