updated January 24, 2024

Regarding Land Acknowledgements

Early in Field States’ existence, we found ourselves in a conversation about land acknowledgements. They are important, we agreed, because they build awareness, shared language and respect. As part of an organization’s values, they express solidarity with communities that continue to be marginalized today. When stated at the beginning of an event, land acknowledgements can help ground the conversation in a non-western, anti-colonial perspective. Land acknowledgements are particularly important for designers: it’s only with a clear-eyed awareness of history that we can design better futures.

So we wrote a statement, listing the indigenous peoples of our region and describing aspects of its problematic colonial history. However, this alone is insufficient. Too easy to put words on a page, too small a step in the right direction (criticisms often and rightly made).

We wanted to find a way to engage more meaningfully—so we designed a unique approach we call “Percent for Place”.

Percent for Place

The idea is simple, centered on inviting team members to engage their place with integrity and curiosity. There are two basic components:

1. Build meaningful relationships At the beginning of the year, each team member chooses an organization in their place—it could be an indigenous group, a cultural support network, or a non-profit. We learn more deeply about them, attend events, build relationships, and get involved. Our team holds each other accountable by sharing what we’ve learned as the year progresses.

2. Offer direct support At the end of the year, we choose one of our team’s organizations, and donate a percent of our net profits. The relationships we’ve built make this more meaningful than an anonymous check—for us and for the people with whom we continue to build relationship

Percent for Place blends ideas like the 1% for Planet Fund, and Google’s (somewhat over-cited) 20% Project, into a unique reflection of Field States’ structure and mission. How?

• Place-based and distributed While a conventional acknowledgement + donation to an organization near our headquarters may not resonate with our global team, this new approach invites each of us to deepen our engagement locally, and allows for annual donations in any of our locations.
• Diversity of Purpose We choose organizations aligned with our commitment to diversity and anti-racism, without limiting ourselves to a single cause or cultural group. Our engagement can reflect causes as varied as our team members’ passions.
• Shared curiosity, shared value We center personal journeys by pushing ourselves to create bridges, hear new perspectives, and learn with a spirit of humility. We then work to inspire and learn from each other. Connection is key—opening the door to new collaborations, and building shared values.

Percent for Place helps us understand our communities more deeply, which in turn makes us a stronger team, better equipped to create with integrity, more connected to our fellow humans.

It also draws a sharper contrast from typical corporate social responsibility (CSR)—a check written, a press release issued, a box ticked, all counted as a drain on the bottom line.

Field States, and our clients, believe success is inseparable from the thriving of communities we engage with—creating shared value is mission critical. The genuine connections built by a practice like Percent for Place make shared value possible.

<aside> 💡 We believe other organizations can benefit from this too. If Percent for Place inspires you, try it at your company with your team, or just share this page. If you do, we’d love to hear from you—please reach out!

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