Media & Publications

The Fall is a time to tend to the harvest and feast together. For The Circle, this means harvesting our collective wisdom and sharing that abundance with our members and the sector. We do this by braiding the following elements:

• Shared Learning
• Research for Action
• Knowledge Mobilization

The Circle is committed to engaging the wisdom of young leaders throughout our work and we are aware that there is a diversity of Indigenous peoples globally that self identify and define in a variety of ways. We extended an invitation to Njoki L Mbũrũ as someone that is connected to other territories and lands and is working to transform the sector in a diversity of ways. We invited her to join, listen and reflect on the conversations and abundance of stories shared at the Fall Feast to be able to share these with you all. Hopefully you enjoy these reflections as much as we did and we encourage you to share it with others that participated at the Fall Feast in October. 

Njoki is a grandchild of subsistence farmers who grow a variety of local fruits, vegetables, and trees in a beautiful village in Kenya’s Rift Valley region. She graduated from the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Science in International Development (June 2020). Informed by her experiences over the past years living in Kenya, Germany, and Canada, as well as her observations of the evolving political and environmental landscape in her birthplace, Njoki feels drawn to pursue a career in public policy, with a focus on advancing Indigenous land rights, community food security, and social impact investing. She is a Black settler living on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations

Hosted by The Circle on Philanthropy, in discussion with Indigenous Climate Action’s team members, Melina Laboucan Massimo and Pearl Gottschalk (Lujan). Hear about why wellness and collective care is needed in our lives, communities, and movements. Together we will learn what Healing Justice is and why it’s critical to invest in these practices to sustain transformation and resilience. The Circle hosts and honoured guests will center the nourishment of Indigenous peoples and uplift those on the frontlines, encouraging abundance for wellness.

In our society, the dominant culture that shapes our institutions, our media, the way we see ourselves and each other is that of the white, middle class. Racial equity trainer Tema Okun suggests that the characteristics of white dominant culture can be harmful not in and of themselves but ‘when they are used as norms and standards without being pro-actively named or chosen by the group…. These attitudes and behaviors can show up in any group or organization, whether it is white-led or predominantly white or people of color-led or predominantly people of color.’

The Circle adapted this worksheet for ACCE from an adaptation by Partners for Collaborative Change based on “White Supremacy Culture” By Tema Okun and Kenneth Jones, for large, majority white environmental organizations, using interviews with staff and partners of these organizations.

We’re excited to share that our collaborative edition of the PhiLanthropic Year, in collaboration with PhiLab is published! Curating this piece was an opportunity to grow, to learn, and to invite the settler-philanthropic sector to read, listen, colour & SHARE!

​Special thanks to Katherine Mac Donald for her editorial, curation and design work. Gratitude to all who contributed their wisdom to this piece.

CLICK HERE.

Graphic Recorder: Adriana Contreras Correal

Calls to Action for the Philanthropic Sector created by Dorla Tune and participants of the pre-summit session: Shifting Structures in Black Philanthropy.

Summit Workbook designed by Joey Cheung.

Summit Colouring Book featuring artists katia hernández velasco and Yaimel López Zaldivar. Designed by Joey Cheung.

SHIFTING STRUCTURES IN BLACK PHILANTHROPY
Facilitator: Dorla Tune
Graphic recorder: Adriana Contreras