Advancing Indigenous Environmental Resilience through funding education, research and outreach, supporting academic pathways, and fostering community collaborations and partnerships.
The Agnese Nelms Haury Program (the Haury Program) is a University of Arizona-embedded philanthropic program established in 2014 with what was at that time the largest bequest ever received by the University. The Haury Program is governed by an external Donor Advised Fund Board. Since 2020, the Haury Program has been focusing on advancing Indigenous resilience, especially environmental resilience and water work.
FACT: Though Native Americans represent nearly three percent of the US population, currently less than one percent of philanthropic dollars explicitly benefits Native Americans.
(Source: The Bridgespan Group in partnership with Native Americans in Philanthropy, May 2025)
By leveraging University of Arizona excellence and resources, the Haury Program invests in people and programs at the University of Arizona, as well as community partnerships and Native Nations directly, thus putting the University of Arizona land grant mission into action.
We are now housed under the Arizona Institute for Resilience (AIR), where researchers, educators, problem-solvers, and innovators from diverse disciplines work together to develop innovative and practical solutions to the environmental and resilience challenges we face today.
Funding Philosophy
$9 million
Invested
$36+ million
Leveraged
40+
Current U of A and
community partners
Our Funding Philosophy
The Haury Program seeks to model and share best practices in “university-embedded” and respectful “trust-based” philanthropy with Indigenous peoples, programs and Native Nations. This includes valuing our grantees and partners as knowledge-holders, and listening to their priorities and values. We build long-term relationships and trust, and do not grant and go. In all our funding, we encourage, expect, and model respectful engagement with tribal communities in research and projects, prioritize community-up solutions and co-creation, and request practicing reciprocity with Indigenous peoples and communities. We reduce the application and reporting burden, and focus on funding gaps as identified by our awardees.
In addition to funding, the Haury Program assists grantees and potential grantees by brokering new connections, activating grantee projects, building capacity of awardees (especially in working with other funders and communications), creating spaces and facilitating collective problem solving, as well as enhancing awardee projects with expertise and resources.
Read about Haury’s approach to trust-based philanthropy with Native Nations here.
Three Strategic Areas of Haury Investments
1
Advance IR Through Research, Education and Outreach: Indigenous Resilience Center (IRes), 2025 U of A
Center of Excellence
- Recruitment of 3 New IR Faculty Members
- 4 Professional Staff
- 4 Visiting Fellows
- IndigiPOD - Dedicated IR Space in ENR2
- Endowed Professorship in IR
- 2025 IR Research Gap Funding
2
Advance IR Academic Pathways
- 28 Graduate Research Grants
- 3 Tribal College-University Partnership Grants
- "A Student's Journey" Transition Program
- 5 Indigenous Sustainability Mini Grants
- Graduate College's Faculty Learning Community
- Tribal Education Forums
- Indigenous Youth STEM Programs
3
Support Community Collaborations and Partnerships
- Navajo Safe Water
- Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources Library Preservation Project
- Arizona Native Code Writers
- Pascua Yaqui / U of A Micro-campus
- Midtown Farm
- Visiting UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
- Native American Language Sign Initiative
