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Effective movements and organizations require strategic clarity and understanding of what it means to be in authentic relationship with community - especially when chaos makes it nearly impossible to define the path ahead.
[ About ]■
We help changemakers grow influence, strengthen movements, and build enduring power for communities and nature. Specializing in community-centered conservation, climate change solutions, and environmental justice, we partner with nonprofits, coalitions, and philanthropic foundations to align vision and action through strategic planning, policy advocacy campaigns, government relations, program evaluation, trust-based and participatory grantmaking and philanthropic advising.
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Principals
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Ángel Peña
Ángel Peña is a visionary leader and architect of equitable conservation initiatives across the United States. A first-generation Mexican American raised in the Río Bravo Valley and father of four, he has dedicated his career to ensuring that historically excluded communities have a voice in shaping a conservation movement rooted in justice, science, and innovation. As the founding Executive Director of the Nuestra Tierra Conservation Project, Ángel has led transformative efforts to close the “nature gap,” championing access to the outdoors as a birthright rather than a privilege. He has played key roles in the creation of the New Mexico Outdoor Equity Fund, the protection of landscapes such as Castner Range, Organ Mountains–Desert Peaks, and Bears Ears National Monuments, and the advancement of national legislation to expand outdoor equity.
A founding member of the Next 100 Coalition, Ángel helped secure a Presidential Memorandum requiring federal land agencies to advance diversity and inclusion in public lands management. He is also a driving force behind the America the Beautiful for All Coalition and the Outdoor F.U.T.U.R.E. initiative, both of which center the voices of communities of color and other marginalized communities in national conservation policy and access to the outdoors. With more than 15 years of experience in conservation and grassroots leadership, Ángel continues to collaborate with federal and state agencies, Tribal Nations, and community organizations to enshrine equity in the nation’s conservation agenda. Grounded in empathy, authenticity, and his family’s history as immigrant laborers and landscapers, he sees conservation as both community-building and legacy-keeping—connecting people to land and to one another through justice-driven action, shared heritage, and belonging.
Amanda John Kimsey
Amanda John Kimsey is a nationally recognized strategist and coalition builder with more than 15 years of leadership advancing conservation and environmental justice across the United States. Guided by a “connection before content” philosophy, Amanda believes that centering people in their full humanity leads to stronger ideas and collective success. Her leadership has united broad alliances toward ambitious conservation goals—from defeating damaging development projects to securing major policy and campaign victories that protect ecologically and culturally significant landscapes. Growing up in New England, her love of nature began exploring Massachusetts tide pools with her grandmother, whose resilience as a high school drop out turned late-in-life marine biologist shaped Amanda’s lifelong commitment to inclusion, persistence, and equity. Based in New Mexico after years in Montana, she applies that spirit to every collaboration, particularly in her work centering sovereignty in philanthropy’s commitment to Indigenous-led conservation and helping build the historic America the Beautiful for All Coalition, one of the largest and most representative conservation networks in U.S. history.
Amanda’s career bridges philanthropy, national advocacy, state policy, and community organizing. As the former Philanthropic Strategies Officer at the National Congress of American Indians Foundation, she advised philanthropic foundations on aligning resources with consensus-based Tribal priorities and reducing administrative burdens. Her previous roles at The Wilderness Society, the National Parks Conservation Association, and Potomac Conservancy honed her expertise in policy advocacy, equitable coalition building, and inclusive leadership. Whether protecting national parks from incompatible development, strengthening watershed protections, or guiding the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) efforts of major organizations, Amanda has consistently combined strategic vision with a deep commitment to people and place. Her work continues to invest in a democracy that works for all, elevate underrepresented voices, and strengthen the environmental movement for a just and sustainable future where her children and others around the world inherit a healthy, safe and vibrant planet.
