Indigenous Language Institute

The Indigenous Language Institute (ILI), founded in 1992 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is a nationally supported and recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. We are Native American and Indigenous-led, with staff and board members representing Tribal Nations from across North America. ILI operates fully remotely—offering programs, training, and hands-on support to Native communities across the country.

Our Mission

The mission of the Indigenous Language Institute (ILI) is to provide vital language-related programs and services to Native nations, tribes, and communities so that their individual and collective identities, traditional wisdom, values, and inherent right to self-determination—especially in language immersion and revitalization—are passed on to future generations through their original languages.

Our Guiding Philosophy

There is an urgent need to revitalize Native languages as the number of Elder speakers continues to decline. ILI’s guiding philosophy is to support communities in creating new speakers of endangered languages—ensuring those languages are USED in everyday life by all generations.

Your Support Makes a Difference

Your donation directly supports language workshops, youth and elder programs, curriculum development, and community-based training—all designed to help Native languages thrive where they belong: at home, in schools, and in everyday life.

Together, we can ensure that Native voices and languages are not only preserved but actively lived and spoken by generations to come.

“ILI is working with and for our Indigenous communities to develop programming and services that directly address the urgent need for language immersion and revitalization. As one recent community participant shared: ‘Thank you so much for the ILI training. Our staff—and now our whole community—appreciate the methods and strategies. This is the furthest we’ve grown in our language, across all areas: from home to community to the office.’ This speaks to the real and lasting impact ILI continues to make at every level.” -Raul Aguilar Jr.  Red Lake & Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe | Executive Director