Program Aims
Supporting Indigenous knowledge keepers and working to strengthen cultural and intellectual infrastructure in Native communities
Cultural knowledges are at the heart of Native identities, community strength, and sovereignty. The Henry Luce Foundation supports knowledge keepers who seek to preserve and perpetuate their nations’ cultures. To amplify their work, we also invest in the cultural, intellectual, and policy systems that are critical to the resilience and vitality of Indian Country. Through these efforts, the Luce Foundation helps to ensure that Native America has the human and cultural resources it needs to thrive.
Indigenous Knowledge Initiative by the Numbers - 2023
Recent Grants
Program Administrators
Raymond joined the Foundation in April 2023 as the Foundation’s inaugural program director for the Indigenous Knowledge Initiative. Prior to joining the Foundation, Raymond served as vice president for First Nations Development Institute, a national Native-led organization that works with Native American communities on community and economic development.
Raymond holds a PhD in political science from the University of Colorado at Boulder and has an extensive research background focused on Indigenous politics, democracy and social development in the U.S. and Latin America. In 2021-2022 he served as a visiting scholar in the political science department at the University of New Mexico. He currently serves on the board of directors for the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation and the American Political Science Association. He is a former board member of the Women’s Foundation of Colorado and Native Public Media.
Tati Cosper (she/her/they/them) is the program assistant for the Religion & Theology and Indigenous Knowledge programs at the Henry Luce Foundation. Tati is an enrolled citizen of the Mvskoke Nation and is a second-generation German American. They were born and raised in Wichita, Kansas, and holds a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Kansas.
Tati moved to New York City in 2019 to begin their career volunteering for local non-profit organizations with the AmeriCorps Program. Through AmeriCorps, Tati learned to uplift funding resources through development and grant support for organizations like the Queer Detainee Empowerment Project. Before working with the Henry Luce Foundation, Tati worked with the Urban Indigenous Collective providing development support to increase wellness and educational resources for local Indigenous communities.
