News Release 2.11.25
Impact Fund Makes Grants of $150,000
One grant funds a case seeking to recognize Indigenous land and marine rights in Haida Gwaii, Canada (pictured).
Berkeley, CA 2.11.25 – The Impact Fund has granted $150,000 in its winter grantmaking cycle to fund four impact lawsuits. These cases include efforts to recognize Indigenous rights to land in Canada, seek accountability for the illegal diversion of water in Hawaiʻi, and challenge racial and economic segregation in Minnesota public schools. This grantmaking cycle also represents a major milestone for the Impact Fund: we have now granted more than $10 million since our founding in 1992.
“This quarter, our grantees are enforcing basic rights to land, water, and education that have been denied for too long. We are grateful to support their efforts to hold powerful institutions accountable and build a more just and equal society,” said Impact Fund Executive Director Lindsay Nako.
The Impact Fund made a grant to the Council of the Haida Nation to support a case seeking Aboriginal rights and title claims over the islands of Haida Gwaii off the coast of British Columbia, Canada. The case alleges that these territories were unjustly colonized by the Canadian government without the Haida Nation’s consent, resulting in centuries of dispossession, cultural depletion, and environmental damage.
In 2023, the province of British Columbia conceded that the Haida Nation has rights over the land of Haida Gwaii — however, the Canadian government has not yet recognized these rights, and the case seeks to compel the government to do so. In addition, the case asks the court to recognize the Haida Nation’s right to the ocean spaces surrounding the islands. If successful, this case would be the first in Canada to acknowledge Aboriginal title to marine territories.
The sun rises over a field of kula, a traditional Hawaiian crop.
A grant was also made to the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation to support an environmental justice case challenging the excessive diversion of water from dozens of streams that run through an East Maui rural farming community. For more than 25 years, real estate and agricultural corporations have drained hundreds of millions of gallons of water from these streams to support their commercial operations dozens of miles away, despite the community’s efforts to stop them.
These diversions have dried up critical water sources, preventing Native Hawaiian farmers, fishers, and gatherers from using the water for subsistence. The diversions have additionally harmed the community’s cultural traditions and heritage and destroyed the habitats of endangered species. The goal of the case is to seek restitution for decades of illegal water diversions from these streams and to discourage further diversions.
Elizabeth Eckford attempts to enter Little Rock Central High on September 4, 1957. Almost 70 years after the fight to desegregate Little Rock Central High School, the struggle for equal education continues.
Minnesota law firm Shulman Buske Reams PLLC received a grant to support a civil rights class action challenging racial and economic segregation in K-12 public schools in the Twin Cities metropolitan area.
Despite a clause in Minnesota’s state constitution that guarantees the right to an adequate and equitable education, many Twin Cities public schools remain deeply segregated by race and income. Schools in larger cities such as Minneapolis and Saint Paul are comprised primarily of students of color and low-income students, while schools in the surrounding suburban areas are overwhelmingly white and affluent.
According to the case, this segregation deprives students of color and low-income students of educational opportunities and achievement, ultimately hindering their professional and social outcomes. The case aims to establish that state law forbids school segregation and to require the creation of a region-wide desegregation plan.
Elissa Gershon, Chair of the Impact Fund's Grant Advisory Committee, said, “These grants provide vital support to communities fighting for accountability and fairness, helping to build a more equitable world for everyone."
ENDS
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About the Impact Fund
The Impact Fund was founded in December 1992 to help advance economic, environmental, racial, and social justice through the courts. Originally envisioned as a purely grantmaking organization, the Impact Fund has made 800 grants totaling $10,060,129. Click here for Grant Criteria and information about Grant Deadlines.
Since its inception, the Impact Fund has grown to include both advocacy and education in its range of services. Today, the Impact Fund litigates a small number of cases directly, authors amicus briefs, provides a substantial amount of consulting to civil rights practitioners free of charge, and presents an annual conference for plaintiff-side class action practitioners, a training institute for budding public interest class action practitioners, and numerous seminars and webinars. Click here for the 2024 Annual Report.
What Is Impact Litigation?
Impact litigation is a lawsuit, often a class action, where the outcome of the case may have effects that reach beyond the parties to the case and advance economic, environmental, racial, and/or social justice for a community or a larger group of people who may not have access to the courts on their own.