Shuumi Land Tax: Guidance for Foundations

The Shuumi Land Tax is an invitation to acknowledge the history of this land and contribute to its healing, to enter into a restorative relationship with the local Indigenous community.

Consider your foundation’s footprint in the Territory of Lisjan

• Does your foundation have offices located here? 
• Does your grantmaking occur here? 
• Do your staff, board members, trustees, consultants, or donors live here?

In operating here, your foundation is inadvertently benefitting from the genocide waged against the Ohlone people and the theft of their land. The civic infrastructure, the financial system, the private development and the consumption of natural resources in our society are all connected to and in different ways built upon the colonial occupation of this land and the violent displacement of the Ohlone. In particular, consider the role and responsibility of your foundation, and philanthropy in general, as stewards of accumulated wealth, often directly or indirectly extracted from Indigenous lands and the exploitation of communities of color. 

• Where did the wealth that your foundation manages come from? 
• Whose land was used to generate that wealth? Whose labor? 

Philanthropy has an important role to play in repairing our broken relationships with each other and the land we live on, in proportion to the resources and power the sector directs.  

No amount of money will undo the damage that’s been done, bring back the lost lives or erase the suffering of the people. But this is a step in a long-term process of healing, an important way you can, right now, participate in the work our ancestors and future generations are calling us all to do.

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The Shuumi Land Tax makes three key invitations: relationships, redistribution and leverage.

Shuumi is about relationships. This is an invitation to move towards being in right relationship with the Lisjan Ohlone people, to commit to continually learning and taking action in an ongoing journey as we figure out how to do this work together. 

• How are you, your colleagues, and your families learning the histories of the Lisjan Ohlone people, and about their current day efforts to take care of this land? 
• Have you and your colleagues had the opportunity to participate in gatherings, teach-ins, or actions hosted by the Lisjan Ohlone as part of building relationships? 
• Are you reflecting together on how these learnings are shaping your understanding of how to relate with the Indigenous people of this place, and this land?

Shuumi is about redistribution. This is an invitation to make an annual “no strings attached,” “no paperwork required” financial contribution relative to your foundation’s accumulated wealth. Shuumi means “gift” in the Ohlone language Chochenyo and is a critical part of redistributing the resources necessary to support the ongoing work of rematriation and the self determination and sovereignty of the local Indigenous community.

Shuumi is about leverage. This is an invitation to leverage the particular institutional resources your foundation has to support the work of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust. What access to land, buildings, or infrastructure, what professional expertise, what political power, what platform, privileges, or audience base can your foundation yield in support of rematriation?

How to Use the Calculator

What type of institution do you represent? 

The Institutional Shuumi Land Tax Calculator is based on whether your organization is nonprofit or for-profit. 

For foundations spending out/down entirely within the next 5 – 10 years, use the non-profit calculator on the Institutional Shuumi Land Tax page according to your annual budget.* This is how the calculations break down:

• $0 – $100,000: annual budget x 0.0025 = your recommended annual Shuumi contribution
• $100,001 – $750,000: annual budget x 0.004 = your recommended annual Shuumi contribution
• $750,001 – $1,500,000: annual budget x 0.007 = your recommended annual Shuumi contribution
• $1,500,001 and above: annual budget x 0.01 = your recommended annual Shuumi contribution

For foundations paying out 5 –10% of the endowment each year, use the for–profit option as we consider the endless growth of endowments for the purpose of existing in perpetuity to be a for-profit endeavor. Use the for-profit calculator on the Institutional Shuumi Land Tax page according to your annual budget.* This is how the calculations break down:

• $0 – $500,000: annual budget x 0.005 = your recommended annual Shuumi contribution
• $500,001 – $1,500,000: annual budget x 0.01 = your recommended annual Shuumi contribution
• $1,500,001 – $3,000,000: annual budget x 0.02 = your recommended annual Shuumi contribution
• $3,000,001 and above: annual budget x 0.04 = your recommended annual Shuumi contribution

*What is your organization’s annual budget?

There are two annual budgets to consider: administrative/operating and grantmaking. 

• If all of your operations and grantmaking occurs on Lisjan Ohlone land, we invite you to use the sum of both budgets for your Shuumi calculations. 
• If a portion of your operations and grantmaking occur on Lisjan Ohlone land, consider a relative percentage of each budget to calculate your Shuumi. 

Questions to consider include: 

• Do you have physical offices on Lisjan Ohlone land? 
• Do your staff, board members, trustees, consultants, or donors live here?
• How much of your grantmaking is dedicated here?

Take time to discuss with your staff, board and colleagues how your work is based in this place, on this land, and how that might inform your relative contribution to Shuumi. Calculate the percentage of your annual administrative and grant making budgets that are based in Lisjan Ohlone land and translate them to a dollar value. Use that number for the second question in the Institutional Shuumi calculator. That will produce your recommended annual Shuumi contribution.

If some of your operations and grantmaking occur in other places, find the local Indigenous Tribes and organizations that are doing good work and contribute proportionately to support them. For more information about other Indigenous funding platforms, check out our FAQs.  

More than numbers: the spirit of Shuumi 

This calculator is just a tool to catalyze conversation, contribution and ultimately transformation. We invite you to seriously engage with your recommended Shuumi, but don’t get lost in the numbers. If there is an element that is not factored into these calculations that inspires you to give more or requires you to give less, then do so, and do so with truth and accountability.

In the spirit of healing, consider where the wealth comes from, and the accumulated benefit, economic opportunities, and cultural capital your foundation may have acquired from existing on Lisjan Ohlone land over time. While it may be impossible to quantify in a dollar amount, what is a meaningful and transformative contribution your foundation can make? 

Do you have questions about how to engage with Shuumi at your foundation? Are you interested in 1:1 peer coaching or participating in a learning group? Contact Ariel Luckey at ariel (at) rematriatetheland (dot) org to learn more.

The impacts of colonization have accumulated over time and oppressed generations of Lisjan Ohlone people. Our response should be proportional. What is appropriate and feasible will vary from institution to institution. Shuumi invites you to think about what your foundation can offer, find out what is useful, and make it happen.

Give Shuumi. Rematriate the Land.