Halito akana (hello friends),
After an incredible year of hard work and deep impact, I am excited to share Cultural Survival’s 2025 Annual Report with you!
Reflecting on 2025, I’m grateful for the relationships we have begun and those we have deepened, and I’m proud of what we have accomplished. It’s an honor to work alongside Indigenous Peoples as together we defend our rights, territories, lands, and waters, and continuously revitalize our languages, cultures, and lifeways. Thank you for being in community with us and for contributing to this meaningful work!
As an example of the strength of our collective efforts, I want to share a significant outcome of our work in Brazil in 2025. Cultural Survival supported representatives of the Pataxó and Arana Peoples to attend the United Nations climate change conference (COP 30) in Brazil and meet with authorities. Through our media channels, Cultural Survival amplified the Pataxó’s advocacy to defend and demarcate their lands. After ceremonies and meaningful engagement with authorities during COP 30, they achieved one of their goals: the demarcation of one of their lands!
We couldn't do this work with you. Thanks to our funders and supporters like you, in 2025, we also accomplished the following:
- 65 grassroots Indigenous communities were resourced to carry out self-determined projects through our Keepers of the Earth Fund, totaling $531,000 in 26 countries.
- 63 Indigenous Media projects were resourced through our Indigenous Community Media Fund, totaling $502,000 in 29 countries.
- 56 Indigenous youth from 13 countries strengthened their leadership skills through our Youther Fellowship Program.
- 160 Indigenous partners participated in 6 events supporting pathways for communities to share and exchange.
- 157 Indigenous Rights Radio programs released in Spanish, English, and 17 Indigenous languages.
- 4 issues of the Cultural Survival Quarterly magazine produced, providing a platform for Indigenous voices and thought leadership.
- 4 Cultural Survival Bazaars that hosted 70 vendors, impacting the lives of over 2,950 Indigenous People, representing 100 Indigenous communities globally.
- Denounced violations to Indigenous Peoples’ collective and human rights via 7 reports to the United Nations and provided advocacy accompaniment to 9 communities that resulted in emergency funding for rights and environmental defenders, water and soil testing in areas violated by mining and mine waste, urgent community meetings, and more.
- Brought Indigenous-authored content and storytelling to 138,000 people via our social media platforms, including 6.1 million impressions and 4,789 social media posts.
While it’s important to celebrate these victories and all we accomplished in 2025 – as you’ll read about in this report – there is much work still to be done in Brazil and around the world. In these challenging times, Cultural Survival continues to walk alongside Indigenous Peoples on the front lines of protecting their communities and biodiversity while also facing disproportionate climate change impacts and the deeply harmful greediness of extractive industries. Over millennia, Indigenous Peoples have seen empires and economic systems rise and fall, and yet we remain, continuously returning to the wisdom of our ancestors for solutions as we collectively dream and co-create a future of mutual flourishing. I hope we can also count on you for continued support and collaboration.
Hטchi yakoke li hoke (I thank you all so much),
Aimee Roberson (Choctaw and Chickasaw)
Executive Director
