We can all recognize our collective responsibility and relationship to Native peoples. Make your legacy one of reconciliation, repair, and rematriation.
The Manna-hatta Fund is an invitation to all settlers and non-Native people who wish to acknowledge the legacy of theft and genocide that comprise the history of New York City and the United States.
The people who inhabited this land at the time of European arrival, including the Munsee Lenape, Canarsee, Rockaway, Wappinger, Manahatin, Reckgawanc, Unkechaug, Matinecock, Haudenosaunee, and more, were brutally annihilated, assimilated, or displaced altogether to create European-led settlements and government. The violence of colonization is ongoing even while millions of Native people follow in the footsteps of their ancestors to repair and restore their communities.
Native survival in the face of such violence and loss requires community, and for 52 years the American Indian Community House has been a lifeline for the estimated 111,000 Native people living in New York City. Acting as a community hub for our metropolitan region, AICH provides health and wellness services, cultural events, community, and a voice for Indigenous Peoples.
100% of all Manna-hatta Fund donations go directly to American Indian Community House. American Indian Community House uses the funds to support their operations and programs, and also makes grants to other Indigenous organizations working in NYC such as American Indian Law Alliance and Lunaapew, the Lenape diaspora project.
If you live in the five boroughs, or anywhere else in North America, you live on Native land. You can help break the legacy of theft and violence.
“I was told by my home community to seek out AICH when I arrived in NYC - that I would find a welcoming community for Natives there.”
Want to learn more about AICH? Check out: “Where does my gift go?”
Give $24 a month to recognize and repair
Why $24? Manhattan's founding myth is a shady settler real estate deal. Colonizing Europeans “paid” the Canarsie Nation $24 for the whole island, so claim our settler courts and textbooks, but Indigenous people did not practice private land ownership and exchanging gifts certainly did not equal a sale. This deliberate theft is at the origin of our city, but it has never been acknowledged by our colonial government or culture. It’s time for that to change, and it all starts with your monthly gift.
Want more guidance on your particular gift? Check out: “How much should I give?” in our FAQ.