Foundation
The Humunya Foundation of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band is a 501 (c) (3) Private Foundation under the Internal Revenue Code. As such, donations made to the Humunya Foundation are tax deductable. The Humunya Foundation was created to fund raise, facilitate Tribal cultural activities and conduct outreach to the public.
AMAH MUTSUN TRIBAL BAND
DONATE NOW (via Tribe’s Humunya Foundaton.)
Since the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band does not have federal recognition status, we receive no support from the State or Federal governments. Therefore we must fundraise to support many of our activities including:
- Federal Recognition: The petition that was submitted to the Office of Federal Acknowledgement of the Bureau of Indian Affairs currently has many deficiencies and needs to be supplemented. This work must be completed by legal and anthropological professionals. The Humunya Foundation currently has a campaign to fundraise for this effort.
- High Speed Rail: The proposed alignment of the High Speed Rail passes through two village sites and one Sacred Site. We have been attempting to consult with the High Speed Rail regarding our concerns since 2004 and to date they have refused to consult with us. At this point we feel we must prepare a legal challenge to the alignment.
- Develop educational curriculum: The Amah Mutsun seeks to work with educational professionals to develop an educational curriculum that is sensitive to the age of the students but accurately tells the history of Missions San Juan Bautista and Santa Cruz.
- Language revitalization: Fundraising is required to raise money in support of our language revitalization program. Currently the Smithsonian Institute holds documents on the Mutsun language and technical linguistic research must be completed on these source documents. Financial support is also needed to support our bi-monthly language lessons.
- Amah Mutsun Relearning Garden: Financial support is needed to help develop the 54 acre Amah Mutsun Relearning Garden at the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum.
- Twice a year the Mutsun Speaker Series presents a nationally known scholar to present on issues of importance to all Native Americans. Most of these programs to date have focused on Native American mental health issues. Each program cost approximately $4,000 -$5,000.
- Tribal Office: Currently the Amah Mutsun do not have a Tribal Office. We would like to open a Tribal office within our traditional Tribal territory.
- There are many other expenses for which fund raising is required. We hope the public will understand our needs and support our efforts.
Regarding the Humunya Foundation’s efforts to facilitate Tribal cultural activities and conduct outreach to the public, the Humunya Foundation is responsible for coordinating language classes, teaching jewelry making to both Tribal members and the public, help schedule dances and dance practices, coordinates our annual gathering, and offers activity booths at public events to introduce children to Mutsun culture and helps the Tribe in any way they can.