On Dec. 29, IC Magazine and the Center for World Indigenous Studies (CWIS), a 501c(3) non-profit organization based in Olympia, WA, announced a new journalistic collaboration in which IC becomes an official CWIS publication.

As the founder of IC Magazine, I would like to take a few moments to explain just what this new agreement means for us, our readers, supporters, contributors, friends and the Indigenous Peoples Movement itself.

First and foremost, the agreement marks the beginning of a new era of original reporting and media production at IC Magazine.

In more specific terms, it is immensely important to IC‘s operational capacity, its financial security and its status as a leading source of independent news and analysis.

Under the new agreement, CWIS–the premier indigenous think tank and archival repository serving the Fourth World incorporated in 1984 by Dr. Rudolph C. Ryser, Ph.D. (Cowlitz tribe) and Chief George Manuel (1929–1989, Shuswap nation)–will serve for the next two years as IC‘s fiscal sponsor and publisher.

In return for this and a percentage of any funds we raise–a standard condition to any fiscal sponsorship arrangement–IC gains critically needed access to the coveted benefits of being a 501c(3) non-profit without having to carry the administrative burden that comes with it.

Foremost among those benefits is the ability to receive grant money so that we can expand our investigative journalism, cover operating expenses and give special publications like People Land Truth the exposure they deserve .

We continue to need critical financial support from our readers in order to thrive as a publication, however, once we secure backing from a few reputable and ethically-compatible foundations, IC‘s financial burden will no longer rest squarely on the shoulders of the public. Additionally, IC gains the ability through the Center for World Indigenous Studies to offer tax receipts in the United States, something that we believe will encourage U.S. taxpayers to offer even more support to us.

Above and beyond that, IC gains a new Editorial Board that will help to maintain the highest standards of reporting and ethical oversight across the publication. We’re in the process of putting the Editorial Board together now.

Perhaps most importantly, this new agreement brings IC one step closer to covering the entire spectrum of censored and under-reported news that I mentioned in my Canzine Central speech this past October and that I have frequently explored on CKUW’s Warning Shots, The Global Research News hour and W2 Morning Radio.

After ten years of routinely monitoring the news, I can say with acute certainty that there is, on average, between 30-60 major events each month concerning Indigenous Peoples that should receive widespread media attention and support from the international community. The vast majority of these events–which could be anything from the gut-wrenching displacement of an Indigenous community in Manitoba to the astonishing reclamation of an Indigenous Nation’s ancestral land in Brazil—will only get covered by one or two journalists in the English-speaking world, if we’re lucky. On average, less than 5 of those stories will receive networked media attention and support.

My greatest hope with IC–indeed, the very reason I launched the publication more than ten years ago—was to call attention to each and every one of these stories. With this new partnership we are several steps closer to doing just that.