This fund offers an opportunity for all of us - professionals, practitioners, and advocates in plant medicine & psychedelic spaces - to engage in reciprocity with indigenous communities and lineage holders right here in Colorado!
Your donation into this fund provides unrestricted small grants to local indigenous communities, local indigenous medicine holders, and the international communities that local medicine holders carry lineage with.
Help us honor the people and communities who continue to carry the wisdom of medicine traditions, deep relationship with the spirits of plant, fungi, and cacti medicine, and who help all of us find our way back to remembering.
We are incredibly grateful for your one-time tax-deductible donation of any size or a recurring monthly contribution, both available via the Donate Now button below.
What is the purpose of the Indigenous Reciprocity Fund?
The Indigenous Reciprocity Fund is intended to provide unrestricted small grants and compensation for indigenous communities and indigenous medicine practitioners residing on the ancestral homelands of the Cheyenne, Arapahoe, Ute and many other indigenous tribes and nations (present day Colorado) and/or international indigenous communities connected by lineage or study to medicine practitioners residing in present day Colorado. It offers an opportunity for all of us to engage in tangible reciprocity with indigenous communities and lineage holders.
What does my donation go toward supporting?
This fund was launched in 2024 and has already supported multiple community needs.
This year, funds raised have supported ceremony holders with the Native American Church in Colorado.
Your donations helped make repairs to a maloka following a bad storm for a Colombian community that is connected to a Colorado-based medicine keeper. For the Kuyaloma Community in Tena, Ecuador, funds are being used to help promote their healing and ancestral practices in sustainable ways. A Colorado-based indigenous medicine practitioner has been working with the Kuyaloma Community for many years, having been adopted by the community and sharing their wisdom and practices with us who live in Colorado.
Importantly, note that 100% of your donation goes directly to the communities supported through this Fund.
How can I contribute to the Fund?
Contributing to the Fund is easy! You can make a Paypal donation here. One-time donations of any size are appreciated or you can set up a recurring monthly donation via the Paypal link. For larger donations, wire transfers, checks, or to request a tax-deductible receipt for your donation, email us at treasurer@nowaksociety.org
If you own a business offering goods or services related to plant medicine or psychedelic support, therapy, or education, we invite you to consider pledging a percentage of monthly or annual profits to supporting Indigenous Reciprocity. For psychedelic businesses, we suggest starting with even just 1% or 2% of annual profits or revenues committed to reciprocity initiatives like this Fund. If you have a specific cause or community you would like to support through your commitment, you can even earmark your donation and we will be sure that 100% of your financial offering goes to that cause.
How can my community apply to receive funds?
Individuals and organizations are invited to submit a funding request by downloading and completing the funding request application here. Completed requests for funding can be emailed as an attachment to: indigenous.reciprocity@nowaksociety.org. The Indigenous Reciprocity Fund of Colorado is managed by a team that includes at least one Nowak Society Board Member and two medicine practitioners who reside in Colorado and who hold indigeneity.
Funding requests must be associated with activities that are educational in nature or otherwise legal, decriminalized, or protected in the state of Colorado and may cover the following uses:
● Unrestricted grants to local or international indigenous communities per the above mentioned purpose of the fund
● Compensation for indigenous medicine practitioners residing in Colorado to speak, host, or take a lead role in community educational events in Colorado
● Reimbursement of travel expenses for international indigenous elders or medicine keepers to come to Colorado to speak or participate in community educational events
Once a funding request is received by our team, a representative from the Fund will reach out with any questions and a funding decision within three weeks. Note that all requests are dependent on the availability of funds.