Legal status
Chakra Alliance Inc. is a Wyoming public benefit nonprofit corporation. The IRS recognizes it as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3), effective May 13, 2026: a public charity, not a private foundation. Gifts are tax-deductible.
About us
A young organization, an old idea.
Chakra Alliance Inc. was incorporated in Wyoming in 2026 to support something far older than itself: the Chakra, a way of farming that never stopped being a forest.
What "Chakra" means
A chakra (from Kichwa, an indigenous language of Ecuador, unrelated to the yoga term) is a way of farming many plants together. Cacao, guayusa, banana, timber trees, and dozens of native plants all grow on the same small farm, at the same time.
A monoculture farm clears the forest to plant one crop. A chakra keeps the forest standing and grows food, medicine, and income inside it. It is one of the oldest farming systems still used in the Andes and Amazon. It is also one of the best ways to protect standing forest, because it makes the forest worth more alive than cut down.
On February 13, 2023, the FAO named the Amazonian Chakra of Napo province a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS). This international honor recognizes the farming system itself, and it happened before Chakra Alliance existed. Our certification is a separate, ongoing step built on top of that honor. It checks individual family farms one at a time, instead of recognizing the whole system at once.
FAO Assistant Director-General Maria Helena Semedo noted that about 80% of chakras are managed by indigenous women, known locally as Chakramamas. They carry the traditional knowledge behind how each chakra is grown and run. This fact shapes how we work: most of the growers, hands, and decisions in a certified chakra belong to women.
Mission
Protect biodiversity in Ecuador's Amazon by strengthening and expanding the Chakra, an ancestral farming system that keeps forests standing.
Our big idea
We certify family-run chakra farms and connect them to fair markets, through the Chakra Alliance Certification and hands-on farming and conservation programs. We are a new organization, so our work today is focused on the Amazon. Expanding into the Andes is next.
Vision
Thriving Chakra families protecting Ecuador's Amazon and Andes for generations to come.
How we work
With communities, not for them.
Every program starts with the people already caring for the land. Our role is to provide support with documentation, certification, and access to markets, not to redesign ancestral practices that already work.
We partner with environmental organizations, researchers, foundations, and responsible businesses to connect biodiversity protection with lasting opportunities for families and communities.
Organization
Who we are, on paper.
Governance
The corporation has no members. By law, none of its earnings can benefit any private person. Every dollar goes toward its conservation and community mission.
Reach
Programs are active in Ecuador's Amazon today. Expanding into the Andes is next. The organization's home office is in Sheridan, Wyoming, USA.