THE CURRENCY OF KINSHIP

'Moving Resources Through Relationship, Reciprocity & Regeneration'​
Exclusive Interview with Sydney Griffith 
Featured in 'ALIGN'
Hosted by Damkianna

​The answers to many of humanity’s greatest challenges can be found in the wisdom of Indigenous cultures and the intelligence of the natural world. Sydney Griffith is the Executive Director of Kinship Earth, where she is helping pioneer a new, yet ancient, way of moving resources, one that aligns philanthropy with the principles of living systems through regenerative partnerships and an innovative model called bioregional flow funding. Today, we explore what becomes possible when we organize our economies, our communities and ourselves according to the wisdom of the world.

DAMKIANNA: Sydney, I’m so grateful to have you here to talk about the amazing work Kinship Earth is doing and all the magic you bring to the table. Would you begin by sharing a little about the core focus of Kinship Earth and how it is creating impact in the world?

SYDNEY: Absolutely. The work of Kinship Earth is rooted in bioregional flow funding. I’ll start with flow funding, which is an approach to philanthropy created in the 1990s by Marion Rockefeller Weber.

She had become disenchanted and frustrated with the traditional grantmaking model. She was receiving all these applications without knowing the people she was reading about, knowing that only some would receive resources and having no direct relationship or connection to what happened after the grant money was given.

​She decided to democratize philanthropy. She identified people within her network whom she knew and trusted, people who were visionaries in their fields, and gave them funds to distribute. These individuals, who had never been philanthropists before, were given the opportunity to become philanthropists. They were invited to trust their intuition, recognize the emerging needs around them and give the money in whatever ways they believed would be impactful.

She began with eight visionaries and gave each of them approximately $20,000. They went on to do amazing things.

One of those early recipients was Susan Davis, one of Kinship Earth’s co-founders. Susan is a legend. She created KINS Innovation Networks, bringing together groups of leaders who were advancing social and environmental initiatives in areas such as solar energy and women in finance. She brought them together to pool their resources and energy and work collectively to create meaningful change.

As one of Marion’s early flow-funding recipients, Susan went on to do incredible things. She helped clean up a toxic-waste site in Ecuador, among many other remarkable initiatives.

Kinship Earth was created in 2021 to reignite Susan Davis’ network and tell the stories of the KINS groups. I was hired in 2024 to help pivot the organization toward embracing flow funding as its next evolution and its next way of making a difference in the world. I was blessed with the opportunity to support that transition.

We have been practicing flow funding since late October 2024. We are also taking a bioregional approach because we are deeply passionate about bioregionalism. I know you’re familiar with bioregionalism.

DAMKIANNA: I am, but please share a little about it for those who may be new to the concept.

SYDNEY: Totally. The term “bioregionalism” emerged around 30 or 40 years ago, but the concept itself is ancient. Indigenous people have been practising bioregionalism for a very long time.

It means gathering around, and being guided by, the Earth’s natural borders: landscapes, watersheds, ecosystems and cultures. It is about coming together to decide collectively how to heal a place.

Instead of organizing around political or economic boundaries, operating in silos or competing for resources, the idea is that we come together wherever we live. We work at the intersections of different sectors and collectively determine how best to heal the places we call home.

The contemporary movement began in what is known as the Cascadia bioregion in the Pacific Northwest, extending into Canada. They have their own soccer team and flag, and people identify as Cascadians. Now, people all over the world are connecting with their bioregions and learning how to work together.

This is particularly important in the world of philanthropy. As I mentioned, so many of us who have applied for grants know how difficult it is to conduct the research, complete the applications and do all the writing.

Often, philanthropy unintentionally perpetuates the very challenges it is trying to solve. They only those with the time, academic background or money are able to access grants.

With bioregional flow funding, we identify people who are already deeply embedded within their communities and doing amazing work. We ask whether they would like to receive funds to give away.

Flow funding does not involve grant applications, and there is very minimal reporting. We trust the people who understand the needs of their communities to determine how the money should be used, rather than asking them to fulfil a mandate created by a board that may be disconnected from the community itself.

DAMKIANNA: It is such a powerful model with such a different energy and approach. I’m curious about what you have seen blossom because it is rooted in trust.

I’m also recognizing a theme of feminine leadership, a model centred around connection to the Earth, connection to an intimate community and trust. What have you seen become possible through that contrast?

SYDNEY: The stories are incredible. We could never have imagined or invented what would happen with these funds. It has been so beautiful to watch and witness the unfolding.

​She decided to democratize philanthropy. She identified people within her network whom she knew and trusted, people who were visionaries in their fields, and gave them funds to distribute. These individuals, who had never been philanthropists before, were given the opportunity to become philanthropists. They were invited to trust their intuition, recognize the emerging needs around them and give the money in whatever ways they believed would be impactful.

She began with eight visionaries and gave each of them approximately $20,000. They went on to do amazing things.

One of those early recipients was Susan Davis, one of Kinship Earth’s co-founders. Susan is a legend. She created KINS Innovation Networks, bringing together groups of leaders who were advancing social and environmental initiatives in areas such as solar energy and women in finance. She brought them together to pool their resources and energy and work collectively to create meaningful change.

As one of Marion’s early flow-funding recipients, Susan went on to do incredible things. She helped clean up a toxic-waste site in Ecuador, among many other remarkable initiatives.

Kinship Earth was created in 2021 to reignite Susan Davis’ network and tell the stories of the KINS groups. I was hired in 2024 to help pivot the organization toward embracing flow funding as its next evolution and its next way of making a difference in the world. I was blessed with the opportunity to support that transition.

We have been practicing flow funding since late October 2024. We are also taking a bioregional approach because we are deeply passionate about bioregionalism. I know you’re familiar with bioregionalism.

DAMKIANNA: I am, but please share a little about it for those who may be new to the concept.

SYDNEY: Totally. The term “bioregionalism” emerged around 30 or 40 years ago, but the concept itself is ancient. Indigenous people have been practising bioregionalism for a very long time.

It means gathering around, and being guided by, the Earth’s natural borders: landscapes, watersheds, ecosystems and cultures. It is about coming together to decide collectively how to heal a place.

Instead of organizing around political or economic boundaries, operating in silos or competing for resources, the idea is that we come together wherever we live. We work at the intersections of different sectors and collectively determine how best to heal the places we call home.

The contemporary movement began in what is known as the Cascadia bioregion in the Pacific Northwest, extending into Canada. They have their own soccer team and flag, and people identify as Cascadians. Now, people all over the world are connecting with their bioregions and learning how to work together.

This is particularly important in the world of philanthropy. As I mentioned, so many of us who have applied for grants know how difficult it is to conduct the research, complete the applications and do all the writing.

Often, philanthropy unintentionally perpetuates the very challenges it is trying to solve. They only those with the time, academic background or money are able to access grants.

With bioregional flow funding, we identify people who are already deeply embedded within their communities and doing amazing work. We ask whether they would like to receive funds to give away.

Flow funding does not involve grant applications, and there is very minimal reporting. We trust the people who understand the needs of their communities to determine how the money should be used, rather than asking them to fulfil a mandate created by a board that may be disconnected from the community itself.

DAMKIANNA: It is such a powerful model with such a different energy and approach. I’m curious about what you have seen blossom because it is rooted in trust.

I’m also recognizing a theme of feminine leadership, a model centred around connection to the Earth, connection to an intimate community and trust. What have you seen become possible through that contrast?

SYDNEY: The stories are incredible. We could never have imagined or invented what would happen with these funds. It has been so beautiful to watch and witness the unfolding.

​There are some really exciting new developments. As you know, we have been focused on grantmaking and this unique approach to bioregional flow funding. We have increasingly realized that we want to fully embrace the spirit of democratizing philanthropy and help local communities become less dependent on specific grant cycles or donor relationships.


Part of that means teaching communities how to create their own unique flow funds or other vehicles for unlocking capital. That may include philanthropic capital and flow-fund capital, meaning trust-based, participatory funds, or it may involve investments and other forms of assets.


Our lane, of course, is the flow-funding component. We work with communities that are in a good position to come together and prepare to make collective decisions about attracting and deploying resources.
We are doing this through what we call bioregional activations.


We recently launched one in the Hudson Valley. We held a kickoff call and connected with organizers in the region, foundations, funders and hosts who are opening their spaces and community centres for these gatherings. The idea is to take these communities through a beautiful phased approach, or arc, that we call the Planetary Party Protocol.


DAMKIANNA: That is too much fun. I love it.


SYDNEY: It is very much a party. There is also a beautiful global community of people stewarding the Planetary Party process, which I can speak about more later.

We guide communities through this arc while allowing ourselves to be led by what is already alive within their bioregion. We want to amplify what is already happening.

The arc includes seeing one another, sensing, activating, celebrating and regenerating.

The seeing phase involves relationship building, deep listening and mapping. We explore which projects exist, who is doing what and where, and what needs, offers and solutions are present.

We then move into sensing, which involves sensemaking and governance. We identify what may be preventing collaboration and whether there are fractures that need to be healed.

Next comes activating, which means coordinating action on the ground around food, water, shelter, energy, mutual aid and other essential needs.

We then enter the celebration phase. After working together for several months, we showcase the solutions and invite funders to share resources in support of that work.

The final step is regeneration. We harvest the learning, collect the data and bring what we have learned to the next bioregional community, supporting the development of an interconnected learning network.

That is what we are currently working on.

A significant part of this is storytelling. We want to tell the stories of what is already happening within these communities. We have an amazing filmmaker on our team, Esler, who has been working with these bioregional communities and their local filmmakers and content creators. In some cases, we also travel to the communities and help film the work ourselves.

DAMKIANNA: Amazing. You have progressed from infusing energy and capital into projects, communities and bioregions to teaching communities and giving them a blueprint for creating their own systems and generating an ongoing flow of energy.

SYDNEY: Exactly. We recognize that we could simply arrive with templated agreements and some legal support, but we genuinely want to help these communities successfully create their own funds.

As we all know, creating a foundation is an intricate process. It involves decentralized governance, visibility into what is happening and clear agreements regarding how resources will flow. Kinship Earth’s role is to provide the flow-fund infrastructure. We also have amazing partners within this global ecosystem who fulfill other roles and support the communities throughout each activation.

​DAMKIANNA: It truly feels as though there is a place for every person. Whatever your background, there is a way for you to weave yourself into this work because it takes all of us and our diverse interests. Whether you are a business owner, a philanthropist or simply someone who wants to become more involved in your community, it is exciting.

SYDNEY: The work of the Planetary Party is really about stepping into the interstitial layer, the coordination layer.
Rather than creating yet another movement, we are trying to support the weaving together of aligned movements, organizations and individuals. These specific activations become key rallying moments that allow us to come together. There is a governance conversation and process unfolding within the Planetary Party. We are also coming together to support bioregional communities in developing their own governance structures.

Governance is a particularly important topic right now. Part of that conversation includes the governance of the land-based communities and hubs where we host these gatherings. A significant aspect of this work is leaving a positive trace and building physical and technological infrastructure that can support these communities for the long term. Wherever we gather, we want to make sure we are helping to create infrastructure that will benefit the entire community over time. We do not want to host an event somewhere if it merely builds the private wealth of an individual or family without clear agreements regarding how the land will be supported and stewarded for future generations.

DAMKIANNA: I celebrate that you are holding this vision, cultivating it within yourselves and doing the challenging work of unpacking the systems in which we currently operate. You are bravely saying, “No. We trust this ancient way, and we are going to rekindle it.” ∎

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Learn more about Kinship Earth: www.kinshipearth.org