Samdhana Institute

What Samdhana Institute does

Samdhana Institute is a nonprofit grant-making foundation that supports Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) across Southeast Asia, with operational offices in Indonesia (Bogor) and the Philippines (Cagayan de Oro City and Quezon City), and a registered presence in Washington, DC. The organization provides direct grants, technical assistance, and capacity-building to IPLC partners working on land rights, natural resource management, climate change adaptation, food sovereignty, gender equality, and indigenous rights in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Myanmar. It is led by Executive Director Cristi Marie C Nozawa (since 2016) and Director for Indonesia Operations Dr. Martua T. Sirait (since 2018), and operates a network of over 50 fellows with expertise in environmental law, indigenous rights, forestry, and community development.

The organization's core products and platforms include the Direct Grants Mechanism (DGM) Indonesia (a World Bank-funded program under the Forest Investment Programme), the Samdhana Fellows Programme, the Southeast Asia Regional Forum, a Grant Proposal Submission Portal, and a Grievance Redress Mechanism. It also operates an open-source Library Management System (SLiMS) through its Resources Portal at elibrary.samdhana.org, hosting digital publications on environmental management, participatory mapping, indigenous rights, and natural resource governance. The organization publishes annual reports (2023, 2024, 2025), financial statements (2022-2024), and policy briefs including the GEDSI Pocket Book and food sovereignty summit call to action.

Samdhana's revenue model is grant-based rather than commercial. The organization is funded through institutional partnerships — most notably the World Bank's DGM-Indonesia program and the Alliance of Funds with Global Greengrants, where Samdhana serves as the Southeast Asia Independent Fund — as well as through membership in international alliances including IUCN, the Fair Green and Global Alliance, and the International Funders for Indigenous Peoples. Specific grant amounts and revenue figures are not publicly disclosed. The organization reaches IPLCs through dedicated regional proposal-submission email channels, on-ground fieldwork, regional forums, and a digital knowledge portal, with a community-led go-to-market model that prioritizes relationship-building over geographic expansion.

Name

Samdhana Institute

Legal name

The Samdhana Institute

Website

https://samdhana.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Samdhana Institute is a nonprofit grant-making foundation headquartered in Washington, DC with regional offices in Indonesia and the Philippines, providing direct grants, technical assistance, and capacity building to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities across Southeast Asia.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Bogor

HQ country

Indonesia

HQ region

Asia

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Grant Funding: Samdhana Institute operates as an independent fund providing grants to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs). The organization is part of the Alliance of Funds with Global Greengrants and receives funding from organizations including the World Bank's Direct Grants Mechanism (DGM-Indonesia).
2. Annual Reports and Publications: The organization publishes annual reports (2023, 2024, 2025), financial statements, and policy briefs including the GEDSI Pocket Book and food sovereignty summit call to action.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Samdhana Institute is a nonprofit grantmaking foundation and fellowship network that channels donor funds to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) in Southeast Asia. It provides direct grants, policy support, capacity building, and knowledge resources, while operating the DGM-Indonesia World Bank program, a digital eLibrary, and a fellows network of regional experts.

Product overview

Samdhana Institute operates as a nonprofit organization providing grant programs, fellowship opportunities, and digital resource platforms for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) in Southeast Asia. The organization offers the Direct Grants Mechanism (DGM) Indonesia, the Southeast Asia Regional Forum, and a Samdhana Fellows Programme alongside an eLibrary powered by open-source SLiMS technology. Core services include grant proposal submission, a grievance redress mechanism, and publications covering environmental justice, agrarian reform, and community resilience themes.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Samdhana Fellows Programme: A fellowship network of activists and practitioners supporting Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities in Southeast Asia
• DGM-Indonesia
• 2nd SouthEast Asia Regional Forum 2025
• Resources Portal (elibrary.samdhana.org)

Products and services

• Resources Portal (eLibrary)

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSamdhana Institute is a member of IUCN, participating in environmental conservation initiatives and leveraging the union's global network for indigenous peoples and local communities advocacy.
• Fair, Green and Global Alliance (FGG)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMember of the Fair, Green and Global Alliance, collaborating on environmental and social justice initiatives across the Global South.
• Alianza Socio-Ambiental Fondos del SurminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMember of the Alliance of Socio-Environmental Southern Funds, collaborating with other funds focused on environmental and social justice in the Global South.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI): RRI is a global coalition advancing forest tenure and indigenous rights; it overlaps heavily with Samdhana's mandate on land rights, natural resource governance, and IPLC empowerment at a broader international scale.
• Ford Foundation: Ford Foundation is a large incumbent grantmaker with significant indigenous and environmental programming, including in Southeast Asia; it shares Samdhana's philanthropic infrastructure model at a much larger global scale.

Direct peers

• Tebtebba (Indigenous Peoples' International Centre for Policy Research and Education): Tebtebba is an indigenous-led policy and research organization supporting IPLCs globally, with strong Southeast Asia roots; it parallels Samdhana's combination of research, advocacy, capacity-building, and convening for indigenous communities.
• Global Greengrants: Global Greengrants is the umbrella organization in the Alliance of Funds of which Samdhana Institute is the Southeast Asia Independent Fund; both pool small-grant resources to grassroots environmental and indigenous groups, making the operating models directly comparable.
• The Tenure Facility: The Tenure Facility is a dedicated fund supporting indigenous and community land tenure worldwide; Samdhana's IPLC land rights work in Indonesia and the Philippines makes it a comparable specialized land-tenure grantmaker with a similar funder base.
• International Funders for Indigenous Peoples (IFIP): IFIP is a network of foundations funding indigenous peoples worldwide, of which Samdhana is a member; both mobilize philanthropic capital for IPLC causes, coordinate across funders, and convene grantmakers supporting indigenous rights and stewardship.
• Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP): AIPP is a regional indigenous peoples' network covering much of the same Southeast Asia geography as Samdhana, and both engage in rights-based advocacy, capacity-building, and grant/fund flows to indigenous communities across the region.
• Climate and Land Use Alliance (CLUA): CLUA is a philanthropic alliance funding forest and land-use climate solutions with explicit IPLC engagement; Samdhana board member Ho-Ming So Denduangrudee serves as a CLUA facilitator, making the operating models closely aligned.

Regional players

• Alianza Mesoamericana de Pueblos y Bosques: Alianza is a regional fund collaborative supporting indigenous and community forest stewardship in Mesoamerica; it is a sister structure in the broader 'funds of funds' family that includes Samdhana's Alliance of Funds work, with comparable small-grant IPLC models in a different geography.
• Foundation for the Philippine Environment (FPE): FPE is a Philippines-focused environmental grantmaker; it shares Samdhana's model of funding community-based environmental and indigenous work in the Philippines and has overlapping board networks (FPE board members also serve on Samdhana's board).

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/samdhana-institute

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Samdhana Institute