Search Through Climate Change Grants in California in the U.S.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife

The mission of CDFW is to manage California’s diverse fish, wildlife, and plant resources, and the habitats upon which they depend, for their ecological values and for their use and enjoyment by the public.

All projects shall provide one or more of the following benefits:

• Protect or enhance biodiversity;
• Climate change resiliency and connectivity;
• Support of the State Wildlife Action Plan priority habitats;
• Conserve or enhance working landscapes;
• Conserve or enhance water-related projects; and/or
• Enhance public access.

Addressing Climate Impacts

Purpose

Funding for projects addressing urgent degrading water and habitat conditions due to climate change impacts.

Description

For projects addressing urgent degrading water and habitat conditions due to climate change impacts, a portion of which will be available for grants. Eligible uses of these funds include purchasing water from willing sellers to benefit wildlife, protecting instream flows, building water conservation projects, implementing emergency restoration activities, and conservation strategies identified in the State Wildlife Action Plan with a priority on actions that protect the Species of Greatest Conservation Need identified in the Plan.

Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Grant Program

The Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Program was created by AB109, which amended the Budget Act of 2017 to provide local assistance through the Wildlife Conservation Board for conservation projects focusing on resilience to projected climate impacts. The initial $20 million in funding through this program was payable from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF).

The intent of this grant program is to fund projects that provide climate adaptation and resilience on California’s natural and working lands. These projects must be consistent with the State’s climate adaptation strategy (Safeguarding California Plan), contribute to the carbon sequestration goals of AB 32, and support WCB’s Strategic Plan. In addition, projects will be consistent with other statewide plans and priorities, including the California Water Action Plan and California State Wildlife Action Plan 2015 Update.

Program funding is directed toward projects that:

• Protect and restore ecosystems on natural and working lands to provide climate change adaptation and resilience for wildlife.
• Assist natural and working lands managers in implementing practices that provide climate adaptation and resilience.
• Increase carbon sequestration in natural and working lands, and provide additional social, economic, and environmental benefits, or "co-benefits".

Coastal Conservancy Grants

Each year, the Coastal Conservancy issues millions of dollars in grants for projects that restore and protect the California coast, expand public access to it, and enhance its resilience to climate change.

The State of California has made an unprecedented investment in the resilience and accessibility of the coast. As a result, the Coastal Conservancy has significant funding available for projects that benefit public access, natural resources, working lands, and climate resiliency at the coast, coastal watersheds, and the San Francisco Bay.

Ongoing Funding Opportunities

Most Conservancy grants are awarded through a rolling pre-application solicitation. This includes Climate Ready, Wildfire Resilience, and all regional grant programs.

The application is a two-step process, though all applicants are encouraged to request a technical assistance consultation with the Regional Manager covering your project area to discuss project eligibility before beginning the application process. The first step in the application process is to submit a pre-application. If a pre-application meets the Conservancy’s Eligibility Criteria (found here) and there is available Conservancy funding for the project, applicants will be invited to submit a full application.

What We Fund

The Coastal Conservancy funds a wide variety of projects along the California coast, San Francisco Bay, and in coastal watersheds to increase availability of beaches, parks and trails for the public, protect and restore natural lands and wildlife habitat, preserve working lands, and increase community resilience to the impacts of climate change.

The Conservancy will fund most stages of a project including: pre-project feasibility studies, property acquisition, project planning including community involvement, design, environmental review, permitting, construction, and project-related monitoring. We do not fund operation and maintenance activities.

Available SF Bay Area Program funding pots are now mainly focused on projects that use nature-based approaches to address sea level rise. We are also coordinating support for Adaptation Projects with fellow state agencies; refer to this guide, and happy to schedule a discussion to find the best fit for your project.

The Conservancy uses Project Selection Criteria to communicate priorities to potential applicants and project partners, to evaluate grant applications, and to select projects for funding. Multi-benefit projects, projects that serve disadvantaged communities, and projects that advance the objectives in our 2023 – 2027 Strategic Plan and regional and statewide plans will receive higher priority for funding.

Grant Amounts

There are no maximum or minimum grant amounts for this funding; however, it is anticipated that most grants will be between $200,000 and $5,000,000.

Our Grants

Since its inception, The Del Mar Foundation has supported community projects and organizations through its robust grants program, fiscal sponsorship, and fiscal management expertise.

The Foundation’s grants focus on activities, programs, and acquisitions that further its mission to acquire and preserve open space, improve beaches and parklands, and support diverse cultural programs and community events in Del Mar.

Examples of Past Grants

• Climate Change Symposia
• Beach Wheelchairs & Access Mats
• DMCC’s Tuesday Lunch Connections
• Del Mar Garden Club
• Girl Scout Succulent Kiosk
• Lifeguard Truck
• Student Art Canvases
• Red Nose Run

Grant Requests

The Del Mar Foundation is a 501 (c)(3) California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation dedicated to promoting civic pride and community cohesiveness, acquiring and preserving open space, improving beaches and parklands, raising and granting funds, and sponsoring diverse cultural programs and community events in Del Mar. The Del Mar Foundation has a grant budget to support organizations and projects/activities that further these objectives.

 The Foundation makes every effort to distribute funds evenly throughout the year so that funds are available to fund grant requests as they are received throughout each year. The Foundation is also willing to support organizations in other ways, such as providing organizational fundraising and marketing expertise as well as providing “seed” funding for fundraising and other ongoing activities. 

The Grants Committee accepts grant applications throughout the year. An applicant may apply as often as needed. There are no minimum grant amounts however our budget is limited so that we can grant numerous grants throughout the year. No grant is to exceed 25% of the yearly grant budget. Modifications to the annual grant budget require prior Board approval. Applicants may be asked to attend a Foundation Board meeting to discuss the grant request.

Our Mission

Established in 1992 by Lisa and Douglas Goldman, the Lisa and Douglas Goldman Fund is a private foundation committed to providing support for charitable organizations that enhance our society.  As natives of San Francisco, the Goldmans place a high priority on projects that have an impact upon the San Francisco community.  Within its grantmaking areas, the Fund strives to be responsive and flexible as well as to make informed and responsible grants to support qualified projects.  We invite you to review the Lisa and Douglas Goldman Fund’s newly stated Interests and Priorities.

Interests & Priorities - Environment

Environment

• Goal: Promote industry practices that mitigate climate change and protect natural resources.
  • Geographic Area:
    • Projects that are implemented nationally and/or in multiple states.
      • This program goal does not currently accept applications for projects that are implemented in a single city or state.
  • Strategies:
  • Support sustainable industry practices throughout the lifecycle of products.
  • Influence market shifts toward environmentally-responsible materials and decreased use of harmful chemicals.
• Goal: Advance nature-based solutions to the climate crisis.
  • Geographic Area:
    • Projects that are implemented internationally, nationally and/or in California.
      • This program goal does not currently accept applications for projects that are implemented in a single city or state other than California.
  • Strategies:
    • Protect and conserve ecosystems that sequester carbon, with a special interest in primary forests and engaging Indigenous communities in climate solutions.
• Goal: Reduce local sources of greenhouse gas emissions and help prepare for the impacts of climate change on Bay Area ecosystems.
• Geographic Area: San Francisco Bay Area
• Strategies:
  • Advance responsible land use and transportation policies and practices.
  • Protect natural resources from the effects of climate change.

The Goldman Fund considers requests by invitation only from organizations in the following fields:

• Health & Recreation
• San Francisco Bay Area Institutions & Projects
• Special Projects & Initiatives

Background

The mission of CDFW is to manage California’s diverse fish, wildlife, and plant resources, and the habitats upon which they depend, for their ecological values and for their use and enjoyment by the public. CDFW funds various restoration grants throughout the state. Fish and Game Code Section 1501 et seq., authorizes CDFW to grant funds for fish and wildlife habitat preservation, restoration, and enhancement to assist it in meeting its duty to preserve, protect, and restore fish and wildlife.

All projects shall provide one or more of the following benefits:

• Protect or enhance biodiversity;
• Climate change resiliency and connectivity;
• Support of the State Wildlife Action Plan priority habitats;
• Conserve or enhance working landscapes;
• Conserve or enhance water-related projects; and/or
• Enhance public access.

Restoration Grant Programs: Addressing Climate Impact

The Budget Act of 2022 provided approximately $35 million to CDFW to support projects addressing urgent degrading water and habitat conditions due to climate change impacts, a portion of which will be available for grants. Eligible uses of these funds include purchasing water from willing sellers to benefit wildlife, protecting instream flows, building water conservation projects, implementing emergency restoration activities, and conservation strategies identified in the State Wildlife Action Plan with a priority on actions that protect the Species of Greatest Conservation Need identified in the Plan

Background

The mission of CDFW is to manage California’s diverse fish, wildlife, and plant resources, and the habitats upon which they depend, for their ecological values and for their use and enjoyment by the public. CDFW funds various restoration grants throughout the state. Fish and Game Code Section 1501 et seq., authorizes CDFW to grant funds for fish and wildlife habitat preservation, restoration, and enhancement to assist it in meeting its duty to preserve, protect, and restore fish and wildlife.

All projects shall provide one or more of the following benefits:

• Protect or enhance biodiversity;
• Climate change resiliency and connectivity;
• Support of the State Wildlife Action Plan priority habitats;
• Conserve or enhance working landscapes;
• Conserve or enhance water-related projects; and/or
• Enhance public access.

Restoration Grant Programs: Drought-Protecting Salmon

Funding for planning and implementation projects that enhance resiliency to drought and climate change through restoration, protection, or enhancement of riparian and aquatic habitat and river channels, reconnection of historical flood plains, or improvements to ecological functions.

In response to current drought conditions, the California Legislature authorized up to $100 million to allow the Department to protect and restore salmon. This funding will support restoration and protection projects that enhance salmon resiliency to drought and climate change. A portion of this funding will be dedicated to the Klamath River Watershed projects demonstrating support from and collaboration with Tribes and local landowners or landowner association.

This dedicated funding will be available as follows:

• Up to $10 million available for projects within the Scott River and its tributaries; and
• Up to $10 million available for projects within the Shasta River and its tributaries.

Background

The Foundation’s primary grantmaking strategy is place-based. We seek opportunities to make clusters of complementary grants in specific communities, supporting public and nonprofit organizations that serve essentially the same children, youth, and families.

We respond first and foremost to the capacities and vision of the community and to expressed community needs. Then we seek ways to build on the insights, resources, and achievements generated through our grantees’ efforts.

We prioritize places in Northern or Central California that are experiencing acute and widespread poverty, where people of color likely experience disparate outcomes. Our goal is to achieve more capable, responsive, and effective community organizations and institutions.

Through the sustained, concerted efforts of those organizations, we expect community residents to realize benefits including:

• The healthy development and education of children
• The economic and social advancement of their families
• The opportunity to influence the conditions that shape their lives

Funding Priorities

The Foundation’s primary grantmaking strategy is place-based. We seek opportunities to make clusters of complementary grants in specific communities, supporting public and nonprofit organizations that serve essentially the same children, youth, and families.

Families

We support programs that honor lived experiences and incorporate resident voices in the design, implementation, and governance of family-support services.

We fund programs and community-building efforts that help families build on their strengths and increase their self-efficacy, and that implement trauma-responsive practices. We also support comprehensive programs that safeguard equitable access to concrete services such as food, shelter, childcare, and safety.

Examples of grant-funded activities include, but are not limited to:

• Family resource centers that promote physical health and wellness, child development, and parenting;
• Organizations that build pathways for families to attain financial literacy, employment, and economic mobility;
• Community-organizing initiatives focused on emerging issues prioritized and led by residents.

Education

We believe that high-quality public schools, available to all, are essential for society to thrive.

We fund initiatives within schools and school districts to provide equitable learning for all students, particularly students of color and those living in poverty. We support engaging students in relevant, immersive learning that prepares them for college, career, and citizenship, equipping them to help solve complex challenges in their communities and the world. We also invest in organizations outside of school districts that, along with community residents, hold public schools to account and help them improve.

Examples of grant-funded activities include, but are not limited to:

• Efforts within schools to improve teaching and academic support, particularly for underserved students, by fostering teamwork, adaptation, and organizational learning;
• Organizing efforts among students and families to effect positive changes in their schools and expand learning opportunities;
• Programs promoting reconciliation and mental and emotional health among students and educators;
• Outdoor education and stewardship programs that link academics to life and deepen students’ understanding of the environment, climate, and community health.

Youth

We support youth development organizations that provide safe spaces for youth to explore their interests and aspirations, build confidence and resilience, and solidify a commitment to lifelong learning and community engagement.

We prioritize programs focused on the mental health and well-being of young people and supporting their agency and leadership, as well as their readiness for higher education and careers. We support organizations implementing trauma-responsive practices in their programs and services for youth.

Examples of grant-funded activities include, but are not limited to:

• Addressing the mental health and well-being of students through school-based wellness centers;
• Providing afterschool and/or summer programming that engages youth academically and in special interests such as the performing arts;
• Developing youth leadership, training them in community organizing skills, and supporting them to create solutions for their communities around issues such as educational equity, racial justice, and environmental health.

Supporting Programs

Through our active engagement in communities, we often learn about critical needs and opportunities that lie outside our main program areas.

Leadership & Organizational Health: Cowell commonly funds the direct costs of delivering services and operating programs for community residents; but we are keenly aware that the scope and quality of those services, and ultimately their effectiveness, depend on the vitality of our grantee organizations. Accordingly, grantees in the Families, Education, and Youth program areas may inquire about complementary grants through the Leadership & Organizational Health program.

In addition, Cowell supports organizations whose mission and core capability is leadership development.

Community Resources: Through our active engagement in communities, we often learn about critical needs and opportunities that lie outside our main program areas. For that purpose, we maintain a budget for responsive grants in communities where we are active. This complementary program is necessarily broad, but likely areas of focus include:

• Affordable housing construction and preservation;
• Small business and workforce development;
• Access to banking services, credit, and other supports for economic security;
• Neighborhood infrastructure such as parks, gardens, and greenways.

Across our programs, the funding guidelines incorporate four themes:

• Racial Equity
• Economic Advancement
• Community Health
  • Environmental Health and Justice
  • Mental Health
• Resident Voice and Agency

Types of Grants

Place-Based

• Grants awarded to organizations in active Cowell communities across program areas and initiatives.

Resource Capacity-Building

• Resource Capacity-Building grants from a secondary strategy that supports our primary, place-based investments.
• These grants enhance the resources, practices, and cohesiveness of the program fields in which Cowell operates, and to create access to such resources on behalf of place-based grantees

Exploratory

• Types of work that currently lie outside the program area guidelines.
• These grants are awarded while Cowell is prospecting and developing relationships in a community, before determining whether it is appropriate to fully engage there under the place-based guidelines.
• Exploratory grants may also be awarded as Cowell seeks to learn about emerging fields of work beyond the current program guidelines.

Spark Grants is an innovative, just-in-time grantmaking process.

Our vision is to introduce a process that can fill urgent needs for education organizations that are well-aligned with our focus areas. We seek to fund highly impactful initiatives that would not be possible if they needed to wait through a traditional grant decision timeline.

Student Basic Needs

We seek to increase persistence and graduation rates through systems change, research, and technological innovations that help students meet their basic needs.

• Leveraging technology solutions to maximize and measure the effectiveness and efficiency of basic needs supports and capture student academic success. This could include:
  • Systems to help assess student basic needs by providing data that captures the need for additional support and tells the story of who is accessing basic needs services
  • Streamlining deployment and information about basic needs supports, emphasizing local resources—both on and off campus—for students taking classes online or in-person
  • Providing support for students during “off-hours
• Incorporating basic needs within the campus culture and climate. This could include efforts that strengthen the continuum of care for students’ basic needs. Topics may include:
  • Support for students transitioning between two-year and four-year institutions
  • Identifying students who have stopped or dropped out due to basic needs issues and assisting them with re-enrollment
  • Using student voices and perspectives to inform student basic needs efforts, policies, programming, etc.
• Innovative approaches and promising practices that promote positive academic outcomes for students receiving direct financial assistance aimed at mitigating student basic needs concerns. This could include research, evaluation, or efforts that scale the impact of public benefits assistance, tax credits for eligible students, universal basic income, and approaches to liquidating institutional HEERF dollars.

The California Coastal Commission’s WHALE TAIL® Grants Program funds projects that connect children and the general public to the California Coast and its watersheds through experiential education, stewardship, and outdoor experiences. Education and stewardship projects relating to climate change as it impacts the coast and ocean are eligible and encouraged. Adopt-A- Beach® programs, as well as other beach maintenance and coastal habitat restoration projects that have an educational component, are also eligible for the grants. WHALE TAIL® Grants focus on reaching communities that have historically received fewer marine education and stewardship opportunities, and strive for a broad geographic distribution throughout California.

Background

The California Coastal Commission started the WHALE TAIL® Competitive Grants Program in 1998 with funding from purchases of California’s WHALE TAIL® License Plate. In 2014, the Protect our Coast and Oceans Fund was added to the California state tax return’s Voluntary Contributions section to provide taxpayers the option to contribute to the WHALE TAIL® Grants Program. In 2021, the state budget provided one-time funding to the program.

The Coastal Commission is a state regulatory and planning agency that operates under the 1976 Coastal Act to manage the conservation and development of coastal resources in California. The Commission’s Public Education Program works to increase public knowledge of coastal and marine resources and to engage the public in coastal protection and restoration activities. 

Reimagining a more sustainable, inclusive world

The Dylan Todd Simonds Foundation supports efforts that build environmental resiliency in communities, with a special focus on the Bay Area and Pittsburgh.

Priorities

The Foundation is interested in innovative ideas that promote social and environmental justice, inclusive economies, reduction and recycling solutions, climate change mitigation, and sustainable food systems, with a particular focus on California's Bay Area and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Please see FAQs for additional guidelines. 

The UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (UC SAREP) is a statewide program of University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR). UC SAREP envisions a food and farming system that:

• supports resilience through diversified production, marketing, and distribution systems,
• values all food system workers and supports their physical, economic, and social wellbeing,
• contributes to the health and vitality of urban, rural, and Tribal communities,
• is environmentally regenerative, using resources for production and distribution in a way that protects the environment in trust for future generations, including under changing climate conditions, and   
• is culturally responsive and reflects the ethnic, linguistic, and cultural diversity of California.

Program Priority Areas

We are interested in projects that build the capacity of farming and food systems businesses and organizations to become reflective, adaptive learning organizations that can respond effectively to ecological, economic, and social change and disruption.

UC SAREP will fund projects that fall within two priority areas:

Priority Area 1: Support California’s farmers, ranchers, and Tribal and non-Tribal land stewards of all scales in piloting, evaluating, and transitioning to:

• environmentally regenerative approaches to producing crops and livestock (including but not limited to soil health, organic and agroecological practices, integrated pest management, crop diversification);
• pathways for realizing economic return from ecologically-sound crop management practices and fair labor practices;
• marketing and distribution strategies that support diversified, decentralized, and locally-based supply chains;
• strategies that promote producer-to-producer networking and/or producer-to-supply chain networking.

Priority Area 2: Support California’s rural, urban, and Tribal communities in identifying, implementing, and evaluating strategies to:

• expand access to healthy, sustainably produced, culturally appropriate foods;
• ensure worker wellbeing across the food chain;
• minimize the community and environmental costs of food production and distribution; 
• strengthen connections between consumers and producers;
• establish and strengthen producer-to-producer connections and producer-to-supply chain connections.

Priority will be given to projects that directly benefit and involve ANY of the following priority groups:

• SB535 Disadvantaged Communities 
• A map of disadvantaged communities in California for the purposes of SB535 
• Tribal communities, and/or
• socially disadvantaged farmers, ranchers, and land stewards 
• A “socially disadvantaged group” means a group whose members have been subjected to racial, ethnic, or gender discrimination.
  • These groups include the following: African Americans, American Indians, Alaskan Natives, Hispanics, Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, Female farmers and ranchers (2020 Report to the California Legislature on the Farmer Equity Act).

The Forest Health Program addresses the risk to California’s forests from extreme disturbance events including catastrophic wildfires, drought, and pest mortality. These events are the result of climate change, forest overcrowding, past land management practices, and an increasing number of people living in the wildland and urban interface.

CAL FIRE's Forest Health Program awards funding to landscape-scale land management projects that achieve the following objectives:

• Restore forest health and disaster resilience to California’s forests.
• Protect upper watersheds where California's water supply originates.
• Promote long-term storage of carbon in forest trees and soils.
• Minimize the loss of forest carbon from unnaturally severe disturbance events.
• Further the goals of the California Forest Carbon Plan, California’s Natural and Working Lands Implementation Plan and AB 32 Climate Change Scoping Plan

CAL FIRE seeks to significantly increase fuels management, fire reintroduction, and reforestation of forests degraded by overcrowding, drought, pest infestation, and catastrophic fire.

All Forest Health projects must have climate benefits from:

• treatment activities,
• avoided future wildfire and fossil fuel use, and/or
• reforestation and/or growth and yield of remaining vegetation.

Grant Priority

Gaia Fund’s highest priority is to address the environmental problems caused by prevailing agricultural practices.

California is our nation’s most productive agricultural state and, as studies have consistently shown, prevailing practices related to the U.S. conventional food and farming system carry high environmental and human welfare costs. With this in mind, the Fund seeks to foster the transition of California’s food and farming system to one that is sustainable, integrating the goals of best organic practices, responsible environmental stewardship, profitability, and social and economic equity.

The Fund focuses on sustainable agriculture methods which, concurrently, produce nutritious food crops, mitigate climate change, protect natural resources, and promote biodiversity.

The fund considers requests for california initiatives that:

• Encourage farmers to adopt sustainable practices
• Support sustainable farming that operates on a smaller commercial scale and that serves local markets
• Train individuals for careers in sustainable farming
• Preserve land that will be farmed sustainably

The current focus is on the following food crops:

• vegetables, fruits, nuts, and grains. 

Capital and Endowment Campaigns

Gaia Fund will consider capital and endowment campaign requests, but assigns such requests a lower priority. Grant awards in support of capital and endowment are typically consistent with the grant amounts awarded for specific programs.

Renewals

The Fund may elect to renew general support or project grants in succeeding years, but renewal is not guaranteed and grantees are cautioned to plan accordingly. Non-renewed general support or project grants will be ineligible for reconsideration until at least two years have passed since the last grant was awarded.

About

Established in 1919 by the California State Legislature and signed into law by Governor William Stephens, the Department of Food and Agriculture is responsible for ensuring the state's food safety, the protection of the state's agriculture from invasive species, and promoting the California agricultural industry.

 CA Farm to School Incubator Grant Program

The California Farm to School Incubator Grant Program will award competitive grants to support projects that cultivate equity, nurture students, build climate resilience, and create scalable and sustainable change.

Funding Priorities

 The California Farm to School Incubator Grant Program will award additional points during the grant review process for projects that:

• Engage students from underserved communities
• Serve schools located among priority populations that are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change
• Include small to midsize California food producers
• Include veteran California food producers, socially disadvantaged California food producers, and/or limited-resource farm households in California.
• Include California food producers who utilize climate smart agriculture practices, climate smart agriculture production systems like certified organic or transitioning to certified organic, or other regenerative strategies that increase resilience to climate change, improve the health of communities and soil, protect water and air quality, increase biodiversity, and help store carbon in the soil.

To support a systems approach to advancing farm to school throughout the state, the California Farm to School Incubator Grant Program offers four funding tracks.

• Track 1: The California Farm to School K-12 Procurement and Education Grant
• Track 2: The California Farm to School Partnership Grant
• Track 3: The California Farm to Early Care and Education (ECE) Grant
• Track 4: The California Farm to School Producer Grant

Liberated Paths Grantmaking Program

Building a More Just and Sustainable Outdoor and Environmental Movement Together

Black, Indigenous, and People of Color-led organizations are on the frontlines of the grassroots work being done to build a better planet but our work is chronically overlooked and underfunded. We know that when our voices are left out, our communities suffer, and our planet does too. With the Liberated Paths Program, we envision a way to bridge that gap.

Through this program, we are working to create a more just and sustainable outdoor and environmental movement by shifting resources to and building power with Black, Indigenous, and Communities of Color. The Liberated Paths Program supports outdoor initiatives and organizations that cultivate and celebrate the contributions of Black, Indigenous, and Communities of Color and affirm the many experiences and identities our communities hold, through grantmaking, capacity building, and network building.

Through our Liberated Paths regional grants, we support organizations and initiatives of all sizes located in California, the Pacific Northwest (Oregon and Washington), the Southwest (Arizona and New Mexico), and the Delaware River Watershed that work at the intersection of racial justice, outdoor experiences, and the environment. In 2023, we will also launch grantmaking in North and South Carolina. Our Liberated Paths: Youth Access to Nature Fund supports efforts in the San Francisco Bay Area that increase safe and equitable access to the outdoors for Young People of Color.

We work with leaders and organizations who are rooted within their communities with the lived experiences to understand how to best advance justice and center the needs of the community. We support Leaders of Color to design and lead the types of joyful outdoor experiences and environmental efforts that are most meaningful to them and their communities. 

Liberated Paths support looks like:

• Relationship-driven and trust-based support
• Multi-year grants of $1,000 to $20,000 per year when possible
• Long-term, deep engagement in financial, operational, and fundraising capacity building
• Network building with a cohort of grantees to facilitate shared learning and systems-level changes
• Eligibility that is not hinged on organization size, ability to do impact reporting, or 501(c)(3) status
• Support for organizations and initiatives of all sizes and in all stages of their development
• Prioritized funding for organizations and initiatives led by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color
• Capacity building trainings and workshops for grantee partners

Capacity Building

Our model offers financial grants, as well as consistent coaching and mentorship. We want to connect our grantee partners with the tools and resources they need to sustain their vital work. To that end, in addition to trainings and workshops for all grantee partners, we work with each partner to identify areas where they want to grow and tailor our support to their needs. These areas could include: board recruitment, financial sustainability, staffing and hiring considerations, executive leadership coaching, budget planning, program design, insurance and liability considerations, safety, guidance on applications for additional grants, and more.

Network Building

Through Liberated Paths, we seek to bring together organizations and leaders working at the intersection of environment and racial justice. We do this through virtual get-togethers and information sessions. We facilitate network building within each cohort of grantees to facilitate shared learning and systems-level changes.

We also bring together funders and partners through a webinar series to connect, share information about the Liberated Paths Grantmaking Program and to also hold critical conversations regarding topics such as the explicit role of race in Liberated Paths, the racial funding gap, and racial bias and its impact in philanthropy.

Mission

Our mission is to help expand artists’ access to resources by supporting organizations working to make creative expression, experimentation, public programming, and discourse accessible to all people, artists and non-artists alike. By supporting creative organizations and arts programming in diverse communities across the country, we hope to expand artistic practices of all kinds, deepen community engagement, further creative collaboration, and improve the quality of life of artists and all people.

We believe that equality, diversity, democracy, and environmental wellbeing are fundamental components of a healthy society and these tenants are what drive our work. We believe that self expression and creative collaboration not only empower people to better understand themselves, but that art is a powerful tool for representing diverse voices, experiences, cultures, and opinions.

The Foundation’s grantmaking practices focus on funding nonprofit arts organizations of all types and sizes. The Foundation is interested in organizations and programming that similarly prioritize diversity, inclusiveness, community, and freedom of speech. We’re especially interested in organizations that utilize art and programming to engage diverse, marginalized, at-risk, or underserved communities of all kinds. We strive to help secure the longevity of creative organizations, their staff, creative practices, programming, and community resources, particularly in areas where gentrification and/or Covid-19 has forced the displacement of artists, nonprofit art spaces, and other marginalized peoples.

The Wilhelm Family Foundation is a continuation of the philanthropic spirit of our founder, Donald Wilhelm, who believed that art has the power to transform humanity through individual self expression.

Grants

For this grant cycle, we will prioritize funding organizations and projects that use art to engage with issues related to the environment and/or climate change. This might manifest in any number of ways, such as activating community through programming that addresses climate issues in your area, ecology and sustainability in art projects and practice, just to name a few.

We strive to support organizations that align with our mission and values, that are community focused, and embody intersectional practices and disciplines. As such, we frequently support general operations, programming, and other broader grant types.

Generally, the Foundation’s grants are given to small (<$1.5 million annual budget) nonprofit organizations that use their staff, programming & resources to further dialog around creativity, cultural, environmental and social justice issues, towards the benefit of artists, as well as the communities in which they operate.

Urban and Community Forestry Grants

The Urban and Community Forestry Grant Program strives to increase the long-term benefits trees provide, improve the public’s understanding and appreciation of urban trees, and advance urban forest management and tree care. Special consideration is given to projects serving disadvantaged and/or low-income communities.

California Inflation Reduction Act Grants

In 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry (UCF) Program awarded $1.5 billion to states, projects, and national initiatives that support urban communities in ensuring equitable access to trees and their benefits via the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022. The USDA Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry Program is a covered program under President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, established through Executive Order 13985.

The Inflation Reduction Act provides up to $1.5 billion for Urban and Community Forestry investments across the nation that foster:

• Increased and equitable access to urban tree canopy and associated human health, environmental, and economic benefits in disadvantaged communities,
• Broadened community engagement in local urban forest planning, tree planting, and management activities, and
• Improved community and urban forest resilience to climate change, extreme heat, forest pests and diseases, and storm events through best management and maintenance practices.

The USDA Forest Service UCF Program assists State Forestry agencies and partner organizations like CAL FIRE in addressing and applying nature-based solutions to chronic and emergent economic, social, and environmental challenges in communities across the United States by providing direct funding to communities and especially to communities experiencing low urban tree canopy, dead and hazardous tree conditions, extreme heat and severe flooding, and limited awareness of or access to green job workforce to help them:

• Become more resilient to climate change
• Combat extreme heat with the cooling effects of increased urban tree canopy
• Experience improved forest health conditions and safer access to tree benefits
• Attain broadened exposure and access to environmental career pathways.

California received a state allocation of Inflation Reduction Act funds, of which $30.8 million is available for grant projects working at a community, regional, or statewide scale in this funding opportunity.

About Our Program

Our investments are guided by the fundamental belief in the power of live theatre to spark dialogue, bring different viewpoints together on challenging subjects, and provide a lens to process the critical issues of contemporary society.  

Through our Social Impact Theatre grant program, we proudly recognize organizations with production-specific support that are intentional and innovative in engaging with their audiences around these issues and are committed to reaching new audiences. This year, in addition to production-specific grants, we are introducing a new opportunity reflecting our value to support the health and sustainably of the American theater ecosystem.

We understand the current climate for theatres is incredibly challenging – with decreasing revenue sources and increasing costs, many theatres are struggling (and even those thriving face seemingly insurmountable challenges). And yet, we know that in times of challenge, the sector will apply its boundless creativity to adapt models and practices to remain sustainable.

This year, in addition to production specific grant awards, we will be selecting a small number of theatres to receive change capital grants of $10-$25K to kickstart new plans or to adapt and deepen strategies already in process. Awardees will form a cohort to share insights and to support each other and will commit to sharing lessons learned with the Foundation so that we can reshare information to more broadly support the field.

Given our available resources and in the spirit of focusing on our own learning, we will be considering change capital grants in the following three categories:

• Business models. We hear “the current model is broken!” and want to learn how you are experimenting economically. Ex. Letting go of spaces or activating new spaces, shared leadership, cost-sharing partnerships, alternatives to the subscription model etc.
• Building and deepening connection with your community. Are you exploring new programs or projects to increase interconnectivity between your community and the art on stage?
• New leaders. Does your theatre have a leader who has started within the last year who needs capacity to enact their vision and implement necessary changes?

 Grant Process

Interested organizations may request funding for one production and, if interested, one project for which change capital is needed, by submitting an LOI when our grant cycle is open. From this applicant pool, select organizations will be invited to submit a full application. Social impact theatre grants can cover artistic, production, and community engagement expenses.

This program, as provided by California Streets and Highways Code Section 164.56 (Article XIX, Section 1, of the State Constitution), authorizes the legislature to allocate up to $6.7 million each fiscal year from the Highway Users Tax Account (Motor Vehicle Revenues, Section 2100). EEM projects must contribute to mitigation of the environmental effects of transportation facilities. The California Natural Resources Agency (Agency) prescribes procedures and criteria to evaluate grant project proposals and submits a list of projects recommended for funding to the California Transportation Commission (CTC). The CTC awards grants to projects from Agency’s list. 

Eligible Projects

Eligible EEM projects must fit one of the following categories:

Urban Forestry

Projects designed to offset vehicular emissions of carbon dioxide. Urban Forestry projects plant trees and other suitable plants to offset or mitigate the vehicular emissions of carbon dioxide created by the RTF. Projects where plantings, once established, will thrive without the need for supplemental irrigation will be more competitive in this category (however, habitat and climate will be taken into consideration)

Resource Lands

Projects for the acquisition or enhancement of resource lands to mitigate the loss of, or the detriment to, resource lands lying within the right-of-way acquired for transportation improvements.

Cumulatively, Resource Lands projects address state-wide conservation issues, including climate change, availability of water for fish and wildlife, preservation of California’s rich biodiversity and protection of rare species, control of invasive species, protection of large landscape-level land holdings from conversion and fragmentation, preservation of wildlife movement and migration corridors and expanded public access to outdoor wildlife/nature oriented recreation compatible with conservation goals.

Resource Lands may include, but are not limited to, natural areas such as inland wetlands, forests, oak woodlands, mountain meadows, creeks, and streams with riparian or riverine fish or wildlife habitat, wildlife corridors and fish passages, coastal estuaries, grazing land and grasslands, among others. Additionally, Resource Lands may contain features of archaeological or historical value.

Mitigation Projects Beyond the Scope of the Lead Agency

Projects to mitigate the impact of proposed Transportation Facilities or to enhance the environment, where the ability to effectuate the mitigation or enhancement measures is beyond the scope of the lead agency responsible for assessing the environmental impact of the proposed transportation improvement.

 Environmental Enhancement and Mitigation Grant Program

Purpose

The EEM Program is an annual program established by legislation in 1989 and amended on September 26, 2013. It offers grants to local, state, and federal governmental agencies, and nonprofit organizations for projects to mitigate the environmental impacts caused by new or modified public transportation facilities. There are three types of EEM project: Urban Forestry, Resource Lands, and Mitigation Projects Beyond the Scope of the Lead Agency.

Introduction

EEM projects must contribute to mitigation of the environmental effects of transportation facilities. The California Natural Resources Agency (Agency) prescribes procedures and criteria to evaluate grant project proposals and submits a list of projects recommended for funding to the California Transportation Commission (CTC). The CTC awards grants to projects from Agency’s list.

Related Transportation Facility

EEM projects must mitigate, either directly or indirectly, the environmental impacts of:

• the modification of an existing Transportation Facility or
• the construction of a new Transportation Facility (hereafter Related Transportation Facility or RTF).

The EEM project can be the required mitigation for the RTF or enhancement to mitigation required for the RTF.

Statewide Project Goals

Agency grant programs assist state and local entities to develop more sustainable communities, increase adaptability to climate change using nature-based strategies, and protect biodiversity in compliance with Executive Order N-82-20, the Pathways to 30 x 30 California, and the Natural and Working Lands Climate Smart Strategy. Projects that demonstrate the following multiple benefits will be more competitive:

• Improved air and/or water quality.
• Reduced consumption of natural resources and energy.
• Increased reliability of local water supplies.
• Increased adaptability to climate change.
• Increased protection and restoration of biodiversity

Through our Henry Arnhold Fellowship we find leaders with promising conservation and climate solutions and help them to design and deliver them at scale.

We’re impact and scale-obsessed. Each year we select 8-10 leaders and help them (1) design high-impact scalable solutions and strategies for better, faster, bigger outcomes; (2) build the organizations to deliver them at scale; and (3) become part of a growing community of innovators in conservation and climate.

The one-year fellowship is bookended with a design retreat, comes with $100,000 in funding, and ongoing support from our team and network.

Here are the components of the fellowship in more detail:

Design and Strategy

‍The fellowship is bookended by an intensive week-long workshop to dive in on design for impact and strategy for scale. It’s a rare opportunity to focus completely on new ideas and a systematic way to apply them.

Community and Connections

We bring together a cohort of leaders committed to social justice and ending extreme poverty, alongside some great experts, consultants, and our team. Fellows join a growing community of fellows at the forefront of climate and conservation work.

Resources and Support

The fellowship comes with $100K. Learning resources are regularly shared to keep everyone informed on the latest thinking and doing. We also hold open office hours year round.

What We Look For

We look for innovative leaders with a conservation or climate solution that works and has potential to go big. We look for impact-obsessed people pioneering effective ways to:

• protect nature and ecosystems (forests, rivers, oceans, mountains, grasslands)
• slow down climate change (drop emissions, use energy efficiently, capture carbon) or adapt to the new climate reality.

Their solutions focus on everything from tropical forests in the Amazon Basin to methane emissions in the Arctic, from grasslands in Africa to fisheries in the Indian Ocean and from sustainable finance in Australia to dam removal in Africa.

Design For Impact

Our Approach to Design

All our fellows have great ideas. And want to create big change for the better. Our design tools take them all the way from a great idea to impact at scale. Scale for us doesn’t simply mean growth, nor is it just a big number. And it isn’t about an organization “scaling;” it’s about scaling the impact you want to see in the world.

We’ve found that for an organization to get to “scale” and make a big dent in a big problem it has to go through some stages 1) smart R&D to arrive at a scalable model, 2) replication by your own organization to prove scalability, and finally 3) scale via replication by others that creates the exponential growth of impact. The first part of the fellowship focuses on how to turn an idea into a systematic and replicable model. It takes them through a series of steps to get to a detailed impact model, and then serves as the vehicle of an ongoing process of iterative redesign. And then we dig into how to shepherd it through the stages to scale. It’s a systematic approach to go all the way. You can take a look at some of the design content here.

The Workshop

The main event is usually a week-long workshop on the coast of California where fellows have the opportunity to think deeply about their path to create meaningful impact at scale. We bring together founders, experts, experienced doers, and our team. It's fast-paced, interactive, and fun.

The engagement also helps Fellows work through the organizational and financial models – how to deliver the impact model and how to pay for it. Fellows work directly with our team to incorporate new information, lessons, and ideas into their model.

Fellows get to listen, learn and support each other through:

• Design & scale sessions that build on pre-work
• Iteration on design for impact and strategy for scale
• Honed communications
• Small group topical conversations
• A series of curated one-on-one conversations

They emerge with more clarity on the dream and a roadmap to help get them there.

About our Foundation

We believe in community. When communities come together to take care of each other and the planet, when they work as a team to tackle issues like poverty, climate change, or mental illness, when communities are strong- profound change can happen. Our founder’s vision was a world where: we lift others up in hard times, we help vulnerable populations- not just humans, but animals too, and we work hard to create a more sustainable future for our children and beyond.

We believe in the ripple effect: you can make a big difference by starting small. That’s why our foundation seeks out smaller, forward-thinking organizations that are looking to create better communities through outreach in areas of mental health, child health and development, community welfare, animal welfare and environmental impact. We seek out problem-solvers, innovators, educators, dreamers and do-ers. We hope that by helping these small organizations carry out their visions and achieve their goals, our impact will be exponential.

Grant Information 

The Richard Reed Foundation seeks out smaller, forward-thinking, non-profit organizations that are looking to create better communities through outreach and programs in areas of mental health, child health and development, community welfare, animal welfare, and community environmental impact.

California Jobs First

California Jobs First is a state investment to support inclusive regional planning and the development of high-priority economic development projects that benefit disinvested communities, create high road jobs, and transition the region to a net zero emission economy.

Southern Border Coalition

The Southern Border Coalition is part of California's California Jobs First Initative (formerly CERF Community Economic Resilience Fund). At the state level, California Jobs First is allocating $19 million to each region to create plans that diversify and equalize the local economy with climate change in mind and to invest in projects that support the priority industries identified by the Coalition. The Coalition aims to foster long-term economic resilience across San Diego and Imperial Counties and coordinates competitive applications for additional funding from the state government.

The Coalition is comprised of community of environmental justice organizations, regional economic development entities, labor unions, community-based organizations (CBOs), local governments, educational institutions, and Indigenous Tribes working together to create and enact an equitable economic development plan for the region.

Catalyst Predevelopment Fund - Request for Proposals

Following the comprehensive Planning Phase, where the Southern Border Coalition conducted an in-depth regional analysis and developed targeted strategies for economic advancement in Imperial and San Diego Counties, the Coalition is now launching the Implementation Phase of the CA Jobs First Initiative. Through this Request for Proposal, the Coalition is seeking innovative project proposals that will translate the strategic plan into tangible action. The Coalition is looking for projects that promote economic resilience, equitable growth, and workforce development across high-growth industries identified by the Coalition in the Planning Phase. These projects must align with the California Jobs First core goals of creating quality jobs, advancing sustainability, and prioritizing disinvested communities throughout the Southern Border Region.

The purpose of this grant type is to create green schoolyards to protect the health, well-being, and educational opportunity of children most vulnerable to increasing temperatures and extreme heat across California. Projects shall be centered around improving the outdoor environmental conditions and experiences for children attending public or nonprofit child care facilities with the highest levels of co-benefits. Projects will invest in nature-based climate solutions that deliver multiple benefits such as helping to alleviate extreme heat, improving the immediate environment for students as well as supporting outdoor learning and environmental literacy, while also reducing GHG emissions, improving functionality of urban forests, arresting the decline of urban forest resources, increasing climate change resilience, improving the quality of the environment in urban areas, and optimizing co-benefits to school children and surrounding urban residents.

Such projects shall include the planting of trees and may include converting pavement to green spaces on child care facility campuses with a focus on child-accessible areas of campus. Projects may also include strategies such as the installment of natural features for learning and recess such as pocket forests, rain gardens, botanical gardens, natural playgrounds, food producing gardens and landscaping, outdoor classrooms as well as maintenance of planted vegetation.

This supplemental solicitation targets nonprofit child care facilities receiving government funding to support planning and implementation of Green Schoolyards Project. The Grant can include all aspects of planning and implementation of the project.

Funding

Budget limitations are Between $200,000 and $6,000,000 awarded per application including no more than $1,000,000 per child care facility (CAL FIRE funded). Funds are paid on reimbursement basis. Advance payment options are available to nonprofit organizations serving disadvantaged communities.

About the Innovation Prize

The J.M.K. Innovation Prize seeks out innovators who are spearheading transformative early-stage projects in the fields of the environment, heritage conservation, and social justice.

The J.M.K. Innovation Prize is open to non-profit and mission-driven for-profit organizations that are tackling America’s most pressing challenges through social innovation. In 2019, we will award up to ten Prizes, each including a cash award of $150,000 over three years, plus $25,000 for project expenses, for a total award of $175,000. Awardees also receive guidance through the Fund and its resource network, providing tools and training for ascendant change agents.

For more than three generations, The J.M. Kaplan Fund has provided catalytic funding for projects in their early stages of development. Whether a pilot project, a new organization, or a nascent initiative, work supported by the Fund has involved a certain measured risk that ultimately led to large-scale, transformative results. We launched the J.M.K. Innovation Prize in 2015 to leverage this legacy of catalytic grant-making in the field of social innovation. Currently on a biennial schedule, the Prize has to date funded twenty wildly creative solutions to social and environmental challenges, ranging from high-tech efforts to restore imperiled coral reefs, to the nation’s first farm labor trust. Each awardee takes a visionary approach to a societal need, working within one or more of the Fund’s three program areas:

• The Environment: Protecting natural resources and reducing the impacts of climate change.
• Heritage Conservation: Conserving the places that communities care about most.
• Social Justice: Supporting just alternatives and reforms to the criminal justice and immigration systems.

Tailored for Early-Stage Social Entrepreneurs

We know there is a scarcity of funding for untested ideas being piloted in the social innovation field. The Prize is designed to fill this gap in innovation philanthropy, supporting ideas that other funders may deem too risky or too small. We also know that early-stage innovators need the freedom to seize opportunities when and where they arise. The Prize’s unrestricted funding offers this flexibility, letting awardees deploy resources where they are most needed, whether investing in core projects, hiring staff, or just keeping the lights on.

We know each organization must follow its own path to achieving a change-making vision. With its three-year period, the Prize gives awardees room to evolve at their own pace, with an infrastructure of support tailored to their specific needs as early-stage innovators.

An Innovation Community

Beyond the cash award, the Innovation Prize provides tools to help turn ideas into action. Over the three-year Prize term, we bring awardees together for two convenings each year. Each of these meetings, spotlighting a different awardee’s organization, offers opportunities for peer learning and mentoring from experts in organizational development, board cultivation, media coaching, leadership training, and more. From West Virginia coal country to Monterey, California, our awardees have shared powerful learning moments, embedded in one another’s work and reflecting on their role as change agents.