We are the seeds of what we cultivate

With MacKenzie Scott’s donation, we continue expanding support for the solutions that sustain life

For two decades, the Casa Socio-Environmental Fund has affirmed that human value cannot always be captured in spreadsheets or metrics. The lives and projects we support in each territory foster real transformations: a protected river, a women’s group that grows stronger, a preserved heirloom seed, a community brigade that saves forests. When we support communities that create their own solutions, we know we are activating invisible chains of impact that unfold over years—sometimes generations.

On December 9, 2025, MacKenzie Scott, a U.S. activist and philanthropist, published a text that is both a manifesto and an invitation: “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” In it, Scott reaffirms a rare vision in global philanthropy: the certainty that giving is not an isolated act, but an action capable of multiplying into waves of transformation—waves whose full dimension we may never fully grasp.

We are pleased and deeply honored to announce that the Casa Fund is once again among the organizations supported by MacKenzie Scott. We receive this gesture as recognition, and above all, as a vote of confidence that our way of working—direct, decentralized, systemic, and committed to the autonomy of local communities—is part of the urgent response the planet needs.

Every act of care creates a wave of transformative energy. And we see connections flourishing every day, across all Brazilian biomes, through the nearly 5,000 grants we have been able to deliver directly to communities throughout our 20-year history. Philanthropy, for us, has never been a simple financial transaction. It has always been a deep relationship with our territories, one that values trust above all else. A trust that precedes results and clearly recognizes that “the potential of peaceful, non-transactional contribution has long been underestimated, often on the basis that it is not financially self-sustaining, or that some of its benefits are hard to track,” as Scott notes in her text. This is precisely the essence of our existence. We trust because we know the territories and communities better than anyone—through a long, collective journey built on partnerships that strengthen, grow, and expand continuously and exponentially.

Support like this carries undeniable political clout in the philanthropic field: it reaffirms that effective solutions to the climate crisis are found in the territories, in the hands of local and traditional communities, recognizing their leadership.

And just as we receive this vote of confidence, we will expand it. We will continue strengthening the ecosystem of local and territorial funds in Brazil and across the Global South—nurturing networks, connecting sister organizations, and supporting  emerging community financing structures that are gaining force. We will do so by sharing methodologies, learnings, and the paths we have collectively built.

As Scott reminds us, “there are many ways to influence how we move through the world.” We do not need to wait for perfect tools to act. We need to act now—with care, with courage, with genuine intention. This donation arrives at a moment when the Casa Fund is expanding its scope of work, deepening its climate adaptation agenda, and strengthening its role within international alliances.

We aim to take on structural challenges we have long recognized: scaling without losing connection; expanding without bureaucratizing; growing without distancing ourselves from listening.

Honored by this recognition, we remain faithful to our mission: to support concrete actions that strengthen communities—actions that make possible a shared future in which forests remain standing, clean water continues to flow, and communities thrive with autonomy and dignity. Because we act from an unshakable certainty: this is the equation that will ensure life on Earth can continue.

If recognizing communities as agents of transformation is an action that resonates in countless ways, may this mark the beginning of a new virtuous cycle—not only for the Casa Fund, but for the entire ecosystem of local funds, territorial networks, and guardians of the biomes that sustain life and the planet’s climate.

Maria Amalia Souza – Director of Global Philanthropy Strategies

Cristina Orphêo – Executive Director