Why Contribute?
Since 2009, settlers have been contributing to the Dakota land recovery project, first through the parent nonprofit Oyate Nipi Kte and now through the nonprofit Makoce Ikikcupi. As individuals wrestled with their roles as beneficiaries of land theft and genocide, they sought to contribute to a project that would have a tangible benefit to Dakota survivors of injustice. Realizing that a verbal expression of remorse or guilt did nothing to address the reality of historic and ongoing injustices, they exhibited a desire to take positive action to help repair the most fundamental harm of settler-colonialism –- Indigenous disconnection from the land. Thus, each and every donation demonstrates a personal commitment to reparative justice.
Financially Contribute
Tax-deductible donations may be sent by mail to: Makoce Ikikcupi, PO Box 21, Granite Falls, MN 56241. Or, they may be paid by credit card through our story page at GiveMN. Donations of all sizes are appreciated. Our donor contributions have ranged from $2-$33,000 as individuals contributed a few bucks at an event, or have sold family land and contributed a share of their land-sale interests. Some donors contribute once, while others make monthly contributions in the form of “back-rent” (such a contribution may be set-up easily through the online site in the link below). Others have contributed the amount of the property tax they also pay to their county, or they make a regular end-of-the-year donation to our nonprofit. More recently, individuals are writing donation bequests into their wills.
What Will Your Financial Donation Support?
$1,500-$7,000
1-Acre of Land in MN
$4,800
Logs for one earthlodge
$60
10 trees and tree tubes
$200
100 Fruit Bush Seedlings
$300
100 Deciduous Tree Seedlings
Other Ways to Contribute
While financial donations allow us to purchase land and land recovery is our reason for being, there are other ways to support our organization.
Find Land Opportunities
Perhaps you know someone who may be interested in making a tax- deductible donation, or partial donation, of land. Please keep us apprised of possible land opportunities in your area or within your circle of friends and family. Eventually we hope to have many village sites within our ancestral territory and land is central to this. We would also welcome land bequests that may be written into your will.
Volunteer
Your time and energy is also of value to us. If you can swing a hammer, plant a tree, scrape bark, pour concrete, build a compost outhouse, cook food, chances are we could use your help. Or, if you have accounting skills, media skills, grant-writing skills, or political lobbying skills, your talents would be most welcome.
Provide a Supportive Testimonial
Send us a statement about why you believe this land project is im- portant and why others may want to support our work. We can draw from these comments for our fundraising and outreach efforts. You may submit them in the comment section of our Contact page.
Contribute Items on our Wish List
We are always in need of supplies that help our work. If you have access to any of these supplies, we would welcome donations: Landscape tiles, Gas/Visa cards, Nails/Screws (esp. torx screws), Fire brick, 50-gallon drums, Wooden fence posts, Lumber (2x4s, 2x6s), Sandbags, Canvas tarps, Rope, Foam board insulation, Wood cookstoves, Axes, Handsaws, Trees (esp. Native species, fruit-bearing), Bushes (esp. Native species, fruit-bearing) and Tree guards.
Since the land project began, all work with Makoce Ikikcupi has been conducted on a volunteer-basis and 100 percent of donations have gone directly to the land fund. However, since purchasing our first land parcel in 2019, the workload has exponentially increased and we now need to create some paid staff positions. Beginning in January 2021, we will retain 10 percent of donations to be used toward operating expenses. This will be combined with grant monies and the royalties from Waziyatawin’s book, What Does Justice Look Like? The Struggle for Liberation in Dakota Homeland (St. Paul: Living Justice Press, 2008) to help support our operating expenses.
Nina wopida! Many thanks!
Hear From Our Contributors
As a settler who lives on Dakota land in the Twin Cities, supporting Makoce Ikikcupi is an act of reparation. By contributing money I’ve inherited from my people’s accumulation of resources on Indigenous land, I hope to move toward repair and healing. I am grateful to be connected to the project of Dakota land reclamation and to be engaged in a process of decolonization.
Nell Schaefer
Please know that I am joining the movement in my home state of Minnesota for truth-telling, taking down the symbols of white supremacy, and reparative justice. The true story is one of Dakota genocide, forced removal and land theft for the continuing benefit of the white settlers and their descendants. As one of these descendants and hopefully a white ally, I pledge myself to the cause of decolonization for the colonized and the colonizer alike in the hope of a future of real peace based on justice for all of us.
John Stoesz
This is a very small effort to begin paying the back-rent I owe on the land I now call home. I recognize that this land is not mine to own and has roots in the genocide, ecocide and displacement of indigenous people. So while I have to continue paying property taxes to hennepin county, I will also begin to pay what I can to support the reclamation of this land to by its first human inhabitants, who cared for and respected it.
Charmagne Patton
After learning about the history of Dakota genocide and the genocidal practices that the U.S. government continues to enact against the indigenous peoples of this land base, I decided to do something about it. As a settler colonizer of Dakota lands, I’m making a monthly contribution to this organization as “back pay” or “rent.” I hope you folks living in MN will consider doing the same. Every little bit counts. Let’s do our part to help the Dakota nation get their land back!
Soojin Pate, Ph. D.
Our house contributes regularly to Makoce Ikikcupi’s land project, and we consider our donation a monthly expense that we call “back rent.” We feel strongly that Dakota reclamation of Minnesota lands is vital. It is a step towards reparations with Dakota people, decolonization, and a small gesture towards creating a just world. To that end we are not only honored to contribute, but see it as our duty.
Josina Manu
My tax bill for the 2nd installment of 2011 property taxes arrived today. Because I do not recognize Hennepin County as the legitimate authority to whom I should be paying taxes for the right to “own” property on this stolen land, I would very much like to pay an equal amount to an organization that represents the actual legitimate holders of this land.
Anonymous
I dedicate this donation to all indigenous people who’ve been erased and forgotten by the power majority.
Sukriti Dabral
Makoce Ikikcupi (Land Recovery) 