Doris Duke Foundation seeks to ensure that the conservation, restoration and stewardship of nature yield meaningful and equitable benefit to people, particularly in historically marginalized BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) communities. We pursue this goal through two paths: Indigenous-led conservation and inclusive conservation.
Indigenous-led Conservation
DDF’s Indigenous-led Conservation initiative elevates and strengthens Indigenous leadership in conservation efforts across the United States.
The initiative is focused on three, intersecting pillars of work:
- Catalyzing Public and Private Investment in Indigenous-led Conservation: We support efforts that expand tribes’ access to federal resources, secure new federal natural resource funding for tribes and mobilize the philanthropic sector in support of Indigenous-led conservation. In 2023, DDF joined 14 philanthropies to commit a total of $102.5 million to the Tribal Nations Conservation Pledge.
- Strengthening the Indigenous Conservation Community: We support efforts that build the field of Indigenous-led conservation, with a focus on tribal co-stewardship and co-management of federal public lands, and Indigenous land protection and return. This includes projects that build capacity of tribes and Indigenous communities through education, technical assistance and peer learning. This also includes initiatives that 1) identify and implement field-wide priorities; 2) fund research that advances the case for Indigenous-led conservation and 3) build bridges across a diverse set of actors through convenings, partnerships and coalitions.
- Supporting Indigenous-led Land Conservation Models: We support projects that showcase and validate the impact of Indigenous-led conservation. We focus on models that demonstrate tribal co-stewardship and co-management of public lands, and land protection and return.
Inclusive Conservation
DDF aims to foster a more diverse, inclusive conservation movement. We do this by investing in coalitions and organizations that enable BIPOC communities to have greater voice in conservation actions, programs and policies at the national level. Current grantees include the America the Beautiful for All Coalition, Hispanic Access Foundation, and the Next 100 Coalition. We also seek opportunities to uplift the voices of BIPOC leaders and communities within the conservation field through communications, convenings and other approaches.
A Note on the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program
In 2013, DDF launched the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program, a two-year undergraduate program to support the next generation of diverse environmental conservation professionals. The program has supported approximately 750 Scholars through the following participating university partners: Northern Arizona University, the University of California, Santa Cruz, University of Michigan, University of Washington, Yale University and the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program Collaborative, a consortium of universities that have included Cornell University, University of Arizona, University of Florida, University of Idaho, North Carolina State University and University of Massachusetts Amherst. The program has recruited its final cohort and will end in 2025.
