OUR FOUNDING STORY

The story of Wind River Foundation began long before 2014 when Sara Robinson,  Sunny Goggles and Andrea Bent began discussing the need for the philanthropic community to better support tribal community leaders on the Wind River Reservation. Sara Robinson, an Eastern Shoshone tribal member, and Sunny Goggles, a Northern Arapaho tribal member, had already spent decades working in multiple arenas creating meaningful benefits for the tribal members of the Wind River Reservation. They had worked serving their communities in fields of education, law, rehabilitation services, juvenile services, on women’s issues and more when they began sharing their experiences and goals with Andrea, who is not indigenous. Together, they envisioned a new and different approach to supporting tribal community leaders in their work toward transformational progress. They knew authentic transformation begins from within and that tribal community leaders who were already doing the work at hand, deserved to be supported by the larger philanthropic community and society as a whole. Together, they envisioned the Wind River Foundation.  

After spending three years working together informally in partnership on projects ranging from those addressing domestic violence and sexual assault to supporting youth groups and drug and alcohol recovery programs, Sara, Sunny and Andrea formalized their collaboration with the creation of the Wind River Foundation in May 2017, granted 501(c)3 status in November of 2017. The Wind RiverFoundation is a cross-cultural and inter-sovereign organization.