Wishtoyo Chumash Foundation

What happened

Wishtoyo says it is a Native-led organization founded in 1997 by Chumash elder Mati Waiya, an enrolled member of the Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation. The staff page lists Waiya as Founder and Executive Director. Wishtoyo describes its mission as linking Chumash lifeways with protection of natural and cultural resources through education, research and advocacy. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer lists Wishtoyo Foundation of Ventura, California, as a 501(c)(3) with exemption issued in October 1988.

Its Conservancy page describes a 67-acre land base in unincorporated Ventura County, a former golf course, where it is doing restoration with regenerative horticulture and Indigenous permaculture practices and a Restoring Native Food Systems program. The page does not say how Wishtoyo holds the land.

Its Legal Cases page lists advocacy results in its own words, including the October 2014 passage of California's AB 52, which it says enhanced protection of tribal cultural resources under state environmental review, and a Los Angeles County Superior Court ruling that upheld endangered-species protection for Southern California steelhead after Wishtoyo intervened with allies.

Donors should also know that Wishtoyo's website carries a statement about a December 2019 Los Angeles Times article that challenged Waiya's Chumash identity. Wishtoyo disputes the article.

Good to know. A 2019 Los Angeles Times article challenged the founder's Chumash identity; Wishtoyo disputes it. Its pages do not say whether it owns or leases the 67 acres.

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