Annual Report Navigator
2023 was another incredible year of co-creating Thriving Futures with local communities around the world.
We worked alongside partners to facilitate sustainable, community-led change that benefits people’s lives and the land they call home.
A highlight of the year was advancing our newest partnerships in Peru, laying the groundwork with Indigenous communities to begin articulating their own vision for their self-determined personal and community legacies. We also supported incredible collective action in Kenya and Mozambique, as communities came together to enact their community priorities.
This year, we also made an effort to articulate one of the key values at the core of how we help achieve Thriving Futures, and we’re excited to share it with you. We call it being 360° Community-Led, and it surrounds every step of our Thriving Futures process:
- 360°: Our community partners think about every dimension of their lives when they create their Legacy Plan. They define priorities related to their health, their education, the environment, local governance, livelihoods, and so much more—everyone and everything comes together to create a Thriving Future.
- Community-Led: When change is truly community-led, it’s not just the powerful or connected who get a chance to speak up. Every member of the community, particularly women, youth, and the elderly, gets to play a role in creating their Thriving Future.

We invite you to read through this year’s Annual Report to learn more about how we supported 360° Community-Led Change across our work, whether on Mount Namuli, in Peru’s Cordillera Vilcabamba, or in Kenya’s Matthews range.
This local work is made possible by the incredible support of our global community. Thank you for your support of our journey to co-create Thriving Futures.

Majka Burhardt
Executive Director and Founder

O Nossa
Legado é Namuli film
360° Community-Led
Change Around
the World
At Legado, we work alongside local and Indigenous communities to support 360° Community-Led Change that benefits people and the places they call home. We partner with local communities to ensure they have the tools, resources, and partnerships to design and implement solutions of their choosing that benefit both their communities and landscapes—an outcome we call Thriving Futures.
Explore the slide deck for a deep dive into what 360° Community-Led Change looks like in practice.

Thriving Futures in 2023
Our Programs Up Close

Legado: Namuli
Mozambique

Legado:Namuli is Legado's flagship program working with the Lomwe communities encircling Mount Namuli, Mozambique.
Legado:Namuli is Legado’s flagship program working with the Lomwe communities encircling Mount Namuli, Mozambique. Namuli is where, in 2014, we began with a hard-earned $11,000 and a passionate international team of social scientists, biologists, and more. Since then our Legado:Namuli team has worked with eight communities and 24,000 people on the mountain to realize the legacies they have defined.
Program launch: 2014/2022
Current Program Partner:
Namuli Wiwanana


Stage in the Thriving Futures process

One thing that makes me proud of our work is that by co-creating such plans with communities, our team has been able to support them and advocate for their challenges and priorities to partners who can help. For instance, villages that previously didn’t have a community health worker, due to a lack of knowledge on the part of the District Health Directorate, can now count on these professionals to meet the community’s basic health needs. I can’t wait to continue this journey together in 2024!”
- Kassia Macassa, Legado Assistant Coordinator & Program Deputy Lead

Nkishon Supat e Ngilai
Kenya

Program launch: 2020
Current Program Partner:
Ngilai Community Conservancy
Northern Rangelands Trust



Stage in the Thriving Futures process

“I joined Legado earlier this year. The Legacy approach inspired me when I realized how it is a positive shift away from a siloed approach to a 360° holistic one. I love how Legado emphasizes leveraging community assets over needs and involving empowering communities to lead the change.
Since this realization, I’ve felt grateful for the meaningful work we are undertaking in Northern Kenya and the inspiring individuals I’ve encountered. To illustrate, over 600 community members have come to our convenings for the Ngilai Community Wildlife Conservancy since July alone! Together, they are shaping their community priorities and leading the development of a comprehensive five-year Community Conservancy Plan. This process is supported by Legado in partnership with Northern Rangelands Trust to guide this transformative process.
The progress in Northern Kenya is truly exciting, and I am excited to see what the future holds for Ngilai Community Wildlife Conservancy and their five-year community Legacy Management Plan, buoyed by community priorities from over 25 community meetings in the past months.”
- Walter Lolusu Lenolngenje, NRT/Legado Thriving Future Program Coordinator

Futuros Vivos:Megantoni-Machiguenga
Peru

Futuros Vivos:Megantoni-Machiguenga is a collaboration to co-create Thriving Futures with the Indigenous Peoples and local communities stewarding Peru’s Megantoni National Sanctuary and Machiguenga Communal Reserve. The program is a multi-year partnership to support the co-creation of Thriving Futures with Indigenous Peoples of the Asháninkas, Matsigenkas, Yine Yami, Quechua, and Kakinte, as well as surrounding local communities—key stewards of Andes-Amazon.
Program launch: 2022
Current Program Partner:
The Machiguenga Communal Reserve, National Service Of Natural Areas Protected By The State (SERNANP) and ECA Maeni, the Indigenous co-management entity of the Machiguenga Communal Reserve

The Megantoni National Sanctuary National Service Of Natural Areas Protected By The State (SERNANP)


Stage in the Thriving Futures process

“This first full year with Futuros Vivos: Megantoni-Machiguenga partnership has been one of learning and inspiration. I had the privilege to share and learn about many people’s personal legacies and help them plan how to achieve their visions for their future. I also had the opportunity to continue planning and coordinating with our partners to co-create the roadmap and work plan for the overall program so that community priorities are 360° Community-Led. I am motivated and ready to continue working with our partners and communities, creating lasting partnerships for the implementation of community priorities and achieving a Thriving Future.”
- Ana Fernandez, Futuros Vivos: Megantoni-Machiguenga Program Coordinator
Community Priorities:
A Holistic Approach to Thriving Futures
So often when we talk about a community’s self-identified priority, it gets distilled to one word, like “health” or “education.” In reality, communities spend months convening together, defining their personal and communal legacies, and listening to a wide range of voices to craft holistically developed priorities that consider all aspects of people’s well-being, including the health of both the land and people, education, culture, livelihoods, and systems of governance.
Here’s what that looks like in practice. In May 2023, after months of convening, the Mucunha community on Mount Namuli gathered to finalize their first Community Legacy Plan with Namuli communities and articulated the following priorities:
Priority 1: “To improve the health of our community through the construction of our first local health clinic and the training of new community health workers in villages where there are none, alongside the preservation of traditional medicinal plants and trees through conserving forests.”

Now that they are articulated, the community is working together to implement these priorities following their own planning and execution process. The concrete work of building a health center and preserving native plants flows directly from these priorities.

Community Leadership
Unearthodox inquiry:
The Future of Philanthropy and Conservation
Tita Alvira, our Chief Partnerships and Programs Officer, contributed to a major collaborative inquiry from Unearthodox. The inquiry explores the evolution of global philanthropy and its relationship to conservation. It ends with Tita’s call to action to empower the recipients of philanthropy to become active decision-makers in regard to their priorities and definition of a Thriving Future.
The Philanthropy Workshop featured Legado as one of four standout groups working in environmental health globally at their first-ever marketplace event, hosting a presentation by Tita Alvira, Chief Partnerships and Programs Officer, and Majka Burhardt, Executive Director.
Read corresponding articles in Fortune and Business Insider that share Legado’s journey.
Legado supported the creation of the Community Led Impact Coalition, an international group of organizations working to make community-led processes the driver of holistic change that supports thriving people in thriving places. Stay tuned for more to come in 2024.
A team from The Bridgespan Group visited Legado’s Ngilai partnership in Northern Kenya in early September as part of an ongoing knowledge exchange for their Community-Driven Change Initiative. They will be profiling Legado inside a forthcoming report.
We gathered with you all by hosting our fourth virtual Town Hall. Supporters, friends, and collaborators from around the globe joined the event to get the latest updates from our team and ask questions live.

Legacy Expedition:
Peru 2023
In May 2023, six Legado community members joined us for a journey to Peru’s Machigenga Communal Reserve and Megantoni National Sanctuary to be part of our newest program working in partnership with the Indigenous Peoples of the Asháninkas, Matsigenkas, Yine Yami, Quechua, and Kakinte, key stewards of Andes Amazon.
As part of the trip, participants supported one of Legado’s Community Legacy Workshops, working alongside local people to define personal and community legacies. The group ended its time together with a capstone journey to Machu Picchu.
Interested in joining a Legacy Expedition and participating in Legado’s work co-creating Thriving Futures? Learn more below.

Staff and Partners
Thriving Futures are always primarily the work of local and Indigenous communities members who live in and steward the places we work. The team and partners below stand behind them co-creating this process each step of the way.
Staff
- Izaquiel Alfredo, Namuli Wiwanana Community Thriving Futures Coordinator | Mozambique
- Diana "Tita" Alvira, PhD, Chief Partnerships and Program Officer | USA
- Majka Burhardt, Founder & Executive Director | USA
- Ana Fernandez, Futuros Vivos: Megantoni-Machiguenga Program Coordinator | Peru
- Emma Impink, Director of Strategy and Integration | Tanzania
- Ana Alicia Lemos, Global Manager of Thriving Futures | USA
- Walter Lolusu Lenolngenje, NRT/Legado Thriving Future Program Coordinator | Kenya
- Noel Lpaiyio Leringato, NRT/Legado Thriving Future Community Coordinator | Kenya
- Kassia Macassa, Assistant Coordinator & Deputy Program Lead for Namuli Wiwanana/Legado | Mozambique
- Filipa Oitaven, Senior Program Manager | Mozambique
- Michelle Rosenberg, Director of Development | USA
- Urszula Stankiewicz, Deputy Chief of Staff | USA
- Gálio Felizardo Zecas, Community Coordinator for Namuli Wiwanana | Mozambique
Board of Directors
- Seid Aman, Country Director for Imagine1Day | Ethiopia
- Tom Dente, Chief of Strategy and Growth, LG Consulting |USA
- Eric Lundgren, Vice President of Global Operations at Blumont | USA
- Christabell Makokha, Senior Director of Innovation, CARE USA | Kenya
- Lucia Ruiz, Former Minister of Environment | Peru
- Dan Sarles, Executive Director of Eaglemere Foundation | USA
- Osman Siddiqi, Senior Director of Impact and Market Shaping, Nexleaf Analytics | Kenya & Pakistan
- Dr. Ailis Tweed-Kent, CEO & Founder of Cocoon Biotech | USA
- Pete Vorbrich, Former Chief Financial Officer for Carval Investors | USA (Chair of the Board)
- Alaka Wali, PhD, Former Curator of North American Anthropology at the Negaunee Integrated Research Center, Field Museum | USA

“I was so excited to join the Legado board this year. One of the many reasons why is because of Legado’s commitment to work with communities to build legacies—not just to implement one-off projects in silos. I love the approach of engaging communities to think about the future they want to see, then partnering with them side-by-side to execute that future.”
Christabell Makokha, Senior Director of Innovation, CARE USA | Kenya
Funding Partners
New in 2023






Financials
Income
Total: $1,433,231.55
Legado Programs Expenses
Additional Program Expenses Paid By Implementing Partners $150,780
Total Legado Programs Budget: $1,054,648
Legado Maintained A Strong Financial Position
In 2023 And Ended The Year With $799,073 In Net Assets.
“We are in love with Legado. As donors, we appreciate their due diligence and transparency as an organization. But more than that, the return on investment with Legado is huge: You’re giving to an organization that supports the people and cultures who have been stewards of the land for thousands of years. Legado doesn’t take the typical Western approach. Instead, it starts by listening to the community and focusing on its strengths. Any plans are generated by the people of that land and focus on the legacies and desires that local people want for themselves and their own community. Because of this approach, Legado’s solutions are sustainable not just for the planet, but for the people who live in the communities they partner with and their well-being. We see that as an incredible long-term return on investment.”
Looking Ahead:
2024 and Beyond
The all-female Peruvian Futuros Vivos team will kick off 2024
by Legacy Planning with our first two Indigenous community partners.