Living Law,
Living LandSupport land rights

Organization

Peace Development Fund (Land Back Peace Fund), allied

Peace Development Fund, a non-Native Amherst grantmaker founded in 1981, runs a Land Back Peace Fund for grants to Indigenous grassroots groups.

Kind
501(c)(3) allied (non-Native) grantmaker and fiscal sponsor
Native-led
no
Works with
Indigenous grassroots organizations (national)
Region
National; national, MA
Focus
Land Back Peace Fund to move or restore lands to Indigenous organizations; ALLIED, not Indigenous-led
Registry
EIN 04-2738794 (ProPublica: Peace Development Fund Inc, Amherst MA)

What happened

Peace Development Fund (PDF) is a public foundation in Amherst, Massachusetts. Its history page says it was founded in June 1981 by Bob Mazer and Meg Gage to resource grassroots peace and disarmament organizing. It makes grants, advises donors and fiscally sponsors grassroots groups. Its FY2025 annual report lists Allistair Mallillin as Executive Director and says it distributed $2.4 million in grants to 181 grantees.

PDF does not claim to be Indigenous-led. Its Land Back page frames Land Back as a national movement to restore Indigenous lands, with philanthropists playing a financing role. It says Paul Haible, executive director from 2004 to 2024, worked with a donor-advised-fund donor to fund land back projects from the sale of the donor's family farm in Iowa. To mark his retirement, PDF created the Haible Land Back Fund, to connect resources to Indigenous grassroots groups for programs that move or restore lands. The page says PDF is seeking to build an endowment for it. That is a fundraising goal, not a result.

The one concrete grant the page names is to Chickaloon Village Traditional Council, which received funding to explore wind and solar projects on Chickaloon Tribal land. PDF says its support helped leverage another $7 million, a figure from PDF itself.

ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer lists Peace Development Fund Inc as a 501(c)(3), tax exemption issued May 1982.

Good to know. An allied, non-Native grantmaker. Its one named grant funded energy projects, not a land transfer, and the endowment for its Land Back fund is a goal, not a result.

Summarized with AI assistance from 5 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error

What the sources say, and how this was checked

Supported by the sources below; some details rest on one source.

  1. The Peace Development Fund (PDF) was founded in June 1981 in Amherst, Massachusetts, by Bob Mazer and Meg GageHistory - Peace Development Fund
  2. $2.4 Million in total grants distributed. 181 Grantees supported across 22 states and 4 countries .Annual Report - Peace Development Fund
  3. #Land Back is a national movement to restore Indigenous lands back into Indigenous hands, with philanthropists playing a critical financing role in that repatriation process.Land Back Peace Fund
  4. Chickaloon Village Traditional Council (CVTC) received grant funding to explore and develop wind and solar energy projects on Chickaloon Tribal land.Land Back Peace Fund
  5. Amherst, MA Tax exemption issued: May 1982 EIN: 04-2738794ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer: Peace Development Fund Inc

Research notes. An allied, non-Native grantmaker: the atlas should label it allied. The pages read do not say whether gifts can be designated to the Land Back fund, how much it has granted, or which land transfers it has funded. The Chickaloon grant is for energy projects, not a land transfer. The $7 million leverage figure and the endowment goal are PDF's own statements.

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Connections

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Works in 1

Works with 1

Sources

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The record’s fields
Vetting notes
2026-10-17: ProPublica hit matches. Page frames Land Back as a movement with philanthropists in a financing role; no Native leadership claimed. Donation link is on its own domain; whether gifts can be designated to the Land Back fund is not stated. Allied label required. Source: https://peacedevelopmentfund.org/land-back-peace-fund ("#Land Back is a national movement to restore Indigenous lands back into Indigenous hands")
Kind
Organization
Confidence
Medium

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