The Indigenous Leadership Initiative Receives Major Gift from the Mastercard Foundation
September 9, 2025
Mashteuiatsh: September 9, 2025: The Indigenous Leadership Initiative is honoured to receive $10 million from the Mastercard Foundation to support the work of advancing Indigenous-led conservation and stewardship and delivering impact in the lives of Indigenous youth. The gift is part of Mastercard Foundation’s landmark commitment to supporting opportunities for Indigenous youth to learn, grow, and lead.
The Indigenous Leadership Initiative (ILI) is dedicated to strengthening Indigenous Nationhood as a path to fulfilling the responsibility to care for lands and waters. It is the only national Indigenous-led conservation and stewardship-focused organization in Canada, and it works in partnership with First Nations to support their efforts in asserting their responsibilities to lands and waters.
“We are deeply honoured and humbled by this gift,” said Valérie Courtois, the Executive Director of the Indigenous Leadership Initiative. “It recognizes the relationship between caring for the land and nurturing the next generation. I have seen the excitement in young people’s faces when they discover they can become Guardians,” Courtois continued. “And I have heard the pride in their voices when they connect more deeply with knowledge keepers and their cultural practices, learning how to monitor caribou, restore wetlands, or make their communities more resilient in the face of wildfire. They know their work matters because it’s building a better future for everyone.”
Jennifer Brennan, the Senior Director, Canada Programs at the Mastercard Foundation, shared that “The Indigenous Leadership Initiative occupies a vitally important role in Canada, creating pathways for young people to strengthen the self-determination and Nationhood of their people through stewardship of their lands, waters, ice, and fire. We made a commitment to young Indigenous people that we would walk alongside them to transform post-secondary education in ways that support them to live a good life. This exemplary organization is contributing to that change and to a stronger country for us all.”
Founded in 2013, ILI draws on its policy, advocacy, on-the-land, and communications expertise to advance First Nations’ self-determination and decision making on the land. Since its inception, ILI has:
Helped catalyze, support and expand the Indigenous Guardians movement, which has now grown from approximately 30 programs in 2016 to over 200 programs.
Provided support to First Nations across the country in creating land use plans, planning and establishing Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas and developing guardians programs.
Helped convene the historic NWT: Our Land for the Future partnership that brings together 21 Indigenous Governments, federal and territorial governments, and private donors that is investing $375 million to support Indigenous-led conservation and stewardship across the Northwest Territories.
“The real leadership in conservation and stewardship is coming from First Nations. ILI has the privilege of amplifying and uplifting their collective action,” said Courtois. “We see ourselves as champions of their leadership and conveners within the larger Indigenous-led conservation and stewardship movement. This gift will enable us to deliver even more transformative results and on-the-ground benefits including for young people, whether that’s more Indigenous youth feeling empowered to address climate impacts in their communities or finding meaningful jobs rooted in culture and connected to the land.”
Having just received the news of this remarkable gift, ILI is in the early stages of planning for the funds. Initial considerations include launching an Indigenous-led conservation and stewardship fund—a catalytic matching fund for partners to invest in initiatives that generate outsized benefits for lands, waters, communities, economies, and the country.
“We want this investment to create maximum benefits for First Nations. That’s why we will create an inclusive process for designing the fund,” said Courtois. “Our goal with this gift is to become the best partners we can be and to generate the next round of gains—for First Nations and for Canada.”
“We are deeply honoured by the Mastercard Foundation’s decision to invest in ILI,” said Courtois. “Their commitment to reconciliation and youth empowerment is making a lasting impact on our country—and on our organization. Indigenous-led conservation and stewardship is guided by love: love for the land, love for our communities, and love for our future generations. Together we can ensure more young people are inspired by this love.”
