Our Work
We support leaders with defined strategies – offering multi-year, flexible funding backed by collaboration and mutual learning.
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Climate
Protecting the planet and communities in a changing ecosystem through conservation, adaptation, and sustainability.
Partner Spotlight
Conserving Landscapes for People and Wildlife
Partner Spotlight
Conserving Landscapes for People and Wildlife
with our partners at
Northern Sierra Partnership
Photo: John Peltier
The Work
Northern Sierra Partnership (NSP) is a collaborative initiative of five nonprofit organizations working together to conserve, restore, and expand opportunities to enjoy the Northern Sierra Nevada, one of California’s most ecologically significant regions. Since its launch in 2007, NSP has helped to conserve over 164,000 acres across the region, earning a reputation as one of the most ambitious and effective conservation campaigns in the nation. With support from the Spaht Family Foundation, NSP has advanced a number of successful initiatives over the past three years including the Sierra Valley Preserve Nature Center, Washoe Land Back, the Campaign for the Tahoe Martis Headwaters, and the California Wildfire Solutions Coalition.
The secret to the Partnership’s success is collaboration. Each of its five organizational partners brings unique strengths, from local knowledge to scientific expertise and national networks. The partners work together across jurisdictions and landscapes, aligning resources and expertise to achieve outcomes otherwise unachievable. This highly collaborative approach, refined over almost two decades, has enabled the Partnership to take on increasingly ambitious, multi-year projects to address the region’s most pressing environmental challenges.
A recent priority has been conserving the Tahoe Martis Headwaters, one of the last large unprotected landscapes near Lake Tahoe. The project reflects NSP’s broader approach to conservation, which prioritizes landscape connectivity, water resource protection, and collaborative stewardship. Protecting these lands also plays a role in reducing wildfire risk. By working with public agencies, private landowners, and local communities, the Partnership advances solutions that are both locally informed and regionally significant.
Four years ago, NSP teamed up with the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California and the Feather River Land Trust in a multi-year collaboration to restore more than 20,000 acres in the Washoe homelands to the ownership and care of the Washoe People. In February 2026, the Tribe’s new land trust - the Waší·šiw Land Trust - acquired 10,274 acres 20 miles north of Reno, one of the biggest land returns in California history. The acquisition almost tripled the amount of land under Washoe ownership, protected critical wildlife habitat, and reconnected the Washoe to lands their ancestors had stewarded for millennia.
NSP’s work with the Washoe reflects a broader belief that conservation and community prosperity must advance together. Future plans for the WélmeltiɁ Preserve include restoration guided by Washoe Ecological Knowledge, youth cultural and language programs, protection of sacred sites, and the active engagement of community members in stewardship that heals the land and the Washoe People.
In addition to land conservation and Indigenous land return, NSP supports projects that strengthen public access and deepen community engagement with the natural environment. Investments in initiatives such as the Sierra Valley Preserve Nature Center help create opportunities for education, recreation, and long-term stewardship. These efforts ensure that conservation is not only about preserving land, but also about connecting people to it.
NSP’s work is grounded in the understanding that lasting conservation requires coordination across sectors and sustained commitment over time. By aligning multiple organizations around shared priorities, the Partnership is helping to enhance the connectivity and resilience of landscapes in the Northern Sierra. This model demonstrates how collaborative, landscape-scale conservation can deliver both environmental and community benefits that extend beyond individual projects.
The landscapes of the Northern Sierra Nevada supply much of California’s water, sustain a vibrant recreation economy and support a remarkable diversity of wildlife. Communities within the region depend on healthy ecosystems for their environmental and economic sustainability. Today, climate change, regional population growth and land fragmentation are straining natural systems in the Sierra. NSP works to address these challenges by investing in conservation and restoration strategies designed to enhance the region’s long-term resilience and prosperity.
“This unique partnership has been extremely effective at raising state and private funds, and working with landowners and public agencies, to conserve lands across the northern Sierra. We consider them an indispensable partner”
- Randy Moore, former Regional Forester, Region 5, U.S. Forest Service
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Mental Health
Expanding access to care, reducing stigma, and building supportive systems for mental and emotional well-being.
Partner Spotlight
A New Model for Campus Mental Health
Partner Spotlight
A New Model for Campus Mental Health
with our partners at
Lindley Center for Student Wellness
Washington and Lee University has taken a significant step forward in reimagining how colleges support student well-being through the creation of the Lindley Center for Student Wellness. The center is more than a facility, as it represents a shift in how mental health, physical health and community care are experienced on campus. It reflects a growing recognition across higher education that student well-being must be integrated into the academic experience, not treated as a separate or reactive service.
The Lindley Center reflects a deeply personal commitment to ensuring that students have access to the support they need, when they need it. It is inspired by the life and legacy of Dr. Lindley Spaht Dodson, a pediatrician and member of the Class of 1999. Her legacy lives on not only in name, but in the center’s mission to provide compassionate, comprehensive care. This foundation of care emphasizes dignity, accessibility and responsiveness, ensuring that services are designed with the student experience at its core.
By bringing medical services, counseling and wellness programming together in one place, W&L has created a more accessible and coordinated system of care. Students no longer have to seek services in separate spaces. Instead, they encounter a building thoughtfully designed to meet them holistically, whether they are managing stress, navigating a mental health challenge or simply seeking guidance. This integrated model reduces barriers to entry and helps ensure that students can move seamlessly between different forms of support as their needs evolve.
This approach is particularly important at a time when student needs are changing. Universities across the country are seeing increased demand for mental health services and traditional models are often stretched thin. The Lindley Center responds to this reality by investing in both infrastructure and philosophy, prioritizing prevention and continuity of care. Wellness programming, peer engagement and early intervention strategies are central to this approach, helping to address challenges before they escalate into crises. In the nine months following the facility’s August 2025 opening, Lindley Center Counseling has provided more than 3,300 student appointments, while Lindley Center Health has conducted more than 6,630 student visits.
Beyond direct services, the center is helping to shape campus culture. By normalizing conversations around well-being and embedding support into the daily student experience, it encourages students to seek help earlier and more openly. This not only addresses immediate needs but also builds habits and perspectives that students will carry with them beyond their time at the university. It reframes mental health as an essential component of student success and long-term well-being, rather than a stigmatized or secondary concern.
The Lindley Center also represents a long-term institutional investment in student health infrastructure. Purpose-built spaces and integrated service delivery is a model that other universities can learn from as they rethink their own approaches to student wellness. As demand for mental health services continues to grow nationwide, this type of student-centered model offers a path forward that is both scalable and sustainable.
“Just as we would never hesitate to seek care for a broken bone or an illness, we must ensure that seeking mental health care is met with equal understanding and support.”
- Alex Miller, Vice President of Student Affairs at W&L
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The Arts
Advancing creative work that deepens understanding and makes progress on contemporary complex issues.
Partner Spotlight
Utilizing Filmmaking to Catalyze Change
Partner Spotlight
Utilizing Filmmaking to Catalyze Change
with our partners at
AfterImage Public Media
AfterImage Public Media is a non-profit organization that partners with independent documentary filmmakers dedicated to telling stories that illuminate complex social issues and catalyze change. The Spaht Family foundation has had the privilege of supporting three impact-focused films with the Actual Films and AfterImage Public Media teams – covering topics from climate to mental health. Through its latest film, IN WAVES AND WAR, the team is bringing national and global attention to the mental health challenges facing veterans, while opening new conversations about healing, trauma, and emerging therapeutic approaches.
IN WAVES AND WAR has evolved from a powerful documentary into a broader impact campaign designed to drive meaningful dialogue. The film is being screened across universities, clinical settings, professional associations, and veteran communities, creating spaces for conversation among those most directly engaged in mental health care and policy.
A central focus of this work is ensuring that each screening serves as more than a viewing experience. The team has developed a targeted engagement strategy that pairs screenings with facilitated discussions, educational tools, and partnerships with clinicians, researchers, and community leaders. These efforts are designed to deepen understanding and encourage action among audiences who are positioned to influence care, policy, and access.
The film has reached diverse audiences through screenings at the Student Veterans of America conference, the North Carolina Counseling Association Annual Conference, and leading institutions such as the American Psychiatric Association. International momentum is also building, with screenings hosted by organizations including MAPS Canada and the Association for Finnish Psychedelic Education & Culture.
The film’s impact has also extended into policy change. In Texas, advocacy screenings helped build momentum for the passage of SB 2308, the Texas Ibogaine Initiative, which allocated $50 million in state funding for clinical trials supporting veterans experiencing PTSD and traumatic brain injury. In California, screenings for lawmakers helped advance Assembly Bill 1103, signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom, removing key barriers to psychedelic research.
Public response has reinforced the urgency of this work. Ratings data shows that the film was viewed by 1 million+ Netflix accounts globally in its first 28 days, representing an estimated 2 million viewers worldwide.
To expand this impact, AfterImage Public Media partnered with ROCO to launch a global campaign of 1,000 screenings. This effort will bring the documentary into veteran communities, healthcare settings, universities, and professional networks at an unprecedented scale. Early response has made clear that the demand for this conversation is both urgent and widespread.
IN WAVES AND WAR was named one of the 10 best movies of the year by The Washington Post. The film has also generated national media attention through outlets including PBS NewsHour, CNN, and The Daily Show helping bring veteran mental health conversations into the mainstream.
These efforts position IN WAVES AND WAR as more than a film. It is a catalyst for dialogue, connection, and change, helping to reshape how mental health is understood and addressed for veterans and beyond.
“Bonni and I have long been drawn to stories of resilience, transformation, and hope. With this film, we were captivated by the unlikely intersection of two seemingly opposing worlds: the hyper-disciplined culture of Navy SEALs and the countercultural realm of psychedelic therapy. In that tension, we saw a rare opportunity to explore deeply personal healing journeys and address the urgent mental health crisis among veterans—particularly the epidemic of suicide—and to help destigmatize alternative treatments in that community.”
- Jon Shenk, President