Search Through Grants for Land Conservation in the U.S.

What is the Big G Charitable Foundation?

We strive to protect the helpless and defend the defenseless by supporting the sustainable needs of our planet and those suffering the hardships of illness and societal challenges.

About

Mike Galesi, founder of the Big G Foundation, discovered his passion for giving as a young boy from his father, John (Big G), when they would work together to support less fortunate families in their area. Their shared fulfilling experiences of helping others lead Mike to a lifelong passion to give and assist. Mike’s true passions are ocean and land conservation and providing for those in times of crisis.

Since its founding in 2009, Big G Charitable Foundation has helped support foundations in fighting the good fight and protecting the defenseless. While Big G strives to support all worthy causes our main focuses are conservation, sustainability and emergency relief.

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

Resources Legacy Fund Grantmaking Opportunity

Resources Legacy Fund works to secure a just and resilient world for people and nature by building alliances that mobilize influence, knowledge, and expertise. Connecting philanthropic funding with organizations advancing environmental outcomes, equity, and justice is the keystone of our work.

RLF’s grantmaking seeks to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion by directing funds to those who have been marginalized and to build long-term capacity within their communities. We believe that the most effective alliances represent diverse experience and perspectives, and that the most meaningful and lasting outcomes are often co-created with those typically underrepresented in decision-making. With our funding partners, we seek to change how environmental solutions are understood, developed, and implemented. Learn more about our grantmaking approach.

Program Areas

• Climate & Energy
• Healthy & Resilient Communities
• International Conservation
• Ocean, Coast & Fisheries
• Public Funding & Policy
• Social Justice & Equity
• Western Land Conservation & Restoration

We welcome bold proposals that align with our 2021-2030 Strategic Plan.

Our Strategic Plan is a roadmap to award more than $1.2 billion from 2021-2030. It is a plan to focus the Foundation’s resources on the most powerful pathways to greater opportunity and prosperity for the people of southwestern Pennsylvania. And to do even more to protect, steward, and activate environmentally sensitive land in southwestern Pennsylvania and across the United States.

Funding Programs

We strive to improve the competitive position of the region; strengthen the vitality of Southwestern Pennsylvania, particularly the City of Pittsburgh and its neighborhoods; and protect important habitats and natural amenities in Western Pennsylvania and across the United States.

• Conservation
  • Wildlife flourishes and people thrive in once-imperiled habitats, through strategic land protection, stewardship, and activation, and sustainable economic development that deploys renewable energy and new technologies that foster livable communities and healthy natural systems.
• Economic Development
  • To help make Southwestern Pennsylvania an engine for economic growth and vitality by investing in the ingenuity and creativity of its population, enhancing individuals’ economic prosperity, and strengthening our sense of community.
• Economic Mobility
  • All children and youth living in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties will be able to access their most promising future.
  • We invest in pathways to opportunity for vulnerable children and youth to overcome the obstacles to achieving economic mobility.
• Health & Well-Being
  • Everyone in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties, particularly the most vulnerable, has the opportunity to live a healthy life.
• Organizational Effectiveness
  • Our partners will have the organizational strength and agility to pursue big ideas and take risks in service of accelerating achievement of their strategic priorities.
• Social-Impact Investments
  • The Foundation's social-impact investing enables mission-driven for-profit companies to secure the risk capital, networks and resources they need to develop products, deploy services and address societal issues at the individual and community level.

We welcome proposals that span funding programs.

General Application

The General Application is for proposals that align with our 2021 – 2030 Strategy and one – or several – of our funding programs.

The General Application is our most flexible application option. The General Application does not have deadlines, so you can submit at any time throughout the year. Through the General Application, you can apply for general operating support or project-specific support. You can also seek funding for planning and innovation, implementation, or scaling activities.

We at Service Objects are passionate about data and environmental conservation causes. This passion is in our DNA, and it’s what helps define us as a company. And while these two passions appear disconnected, we’ve found unique ways to use our data validation service to help organizations that support, protect and aid our natural world. This is the catalyst behind Service Objects In-Kind Grants.

We believe in the physical, economic and the social benefits of a healthy environment, and that a strong connection with data quality will lead to greater support and protection of our natural resources. Our goal for creating this unique program is to inspire and assist non-profit organizations that are working to promote environmental health, economic vitality, informed land-use decisions and sound management of our planet's natural resources.

Service Objects In-Kind Grants will support organizations that encourage environmental leadership through the reduction of waste, and caring for our resources. We will provide in-kind donations to organizations that are working to encourage environmental conservation, as well as providing education for both personal and environmental health. In-kind contributions support the programs and/or daily operations of an environmental organization.

Data quality and validation services may include: address validation, email appending, phone number appending, email validation, demographics data, geocoding with latitude-longitude coordinates, and other data validation services. 

All funding requests should be quantifiable with specific product requests and plan objectives, with a clear measure for evaluating success. Projects should have a good chance of significant measurable results with momentum over a fairly short term (one to three years).

What is Ecosystem Thinking?

Humans are an integral part of the ecosystem, and living in consistent connection with the natural world is good and healthy. Everything is connected. The decisions we make have upstream and downstream effects.

A healthy bull elk is part of a much larger story. His existence reflects an intricate food web supported by everything from soil and water to songbirds and predators.

This is Ecosystem Thinking.

What are Ecosystem Grants?

We believe extraordinary impacts can be made not only by large organizations but also by grassroots efforts led by passionate individuals.

SITKA Ecosystem Grants fund proposed projects that improve the state and function of an ecosystem, allow for the growth of the hunting experience through access and education, and create opportunities for collaborative conservation.

Our Funding Priorities

• Nurturing Natural Systems
  • Habitat Restoration,
  • Biodiversity,
  • Conservation,
  • Working Landscapes
• Encouraging the Hunting Experience
  • Mentorship,
  • Access,
  • Education,
  • Well-Being
• Shared Stewardship
  • Prioritizing Whole Ecosystems Through Collaboration

Examples of Funded Projects

• Supporting efforts to remove fencing that prohibits or threatens ungulate migrations in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, and efforts to install wildlife friendly fencing in key migratory areas.
• Supporting research efforts to better understand mallard duck overwinter habitat use and population dynamics in the Mississippi River Flyway.
• Supporting a scholarship fund for a Montana backcountry hunting course tailored to youth and first time hunters.
• Supporting a local trail crew who, on their personal time, maintain and restore public trails.
• Supporting efforts to restore the Mississippi River Delta by planting native trees to help capture downstream transported sediment, strengthen existing freshwater ecosystems and reduce the rate at which critical habitat and land is lost due to sea level rise, increase frequency and severity of storms, saltwater encroachment and a reduction of land building downstream sediment transport.
• Supporting efforts by leading scientific groups and universities to research CWD with hopes of curbing its spread, and lobbying efforts to pass legislation that can increase CWD education, advocacy and awareness.

Funding Amount and Duration

SITKA Ecosystem Grants vary in amount depending on significance of the project, though most range between US $3,000 and $20,000. However, we do not have a cap on individual grant funding requests. Each grant request is reviewed on a case by case basis. SEG funds often serve as complimentary support, which is why we encourage applicants to seek additional, concurrent funding, and disclose supporting funds and partners within the SEG application.

Typically, SITKA Ecosystem Grants support projects for one year. However, in certain circumstances, we support grants on a multi-year basis.

Who We Are

World Land Trust (WLT) is an international conservation charity that protects the world’s most biologically significant and threatened habitats.

Working through a network of partner organisations around the world, WLT funds the creation of reserves and provides permanent protection for habitats and wildlife. Partnerships are developed with established and highly respected local organisations who engage support and commitment among the local community.

Mission

Helping people across the world protect and restore their land to safeguard biodiversity and the climate.

The Type of Projects Supported By WLT

WLT funding aims to create long-term and sustainable support for on-the-ground conservation activities, including land acquisition, protected area creation, reserve protection and ecosystem restoration. WLT prioritises supporting projects in countries with high levels of biodiversity and which have the fewest resources available for biodiversity protection – consequently we mainly support organisations based in the Global South.

The main project activities supported by WLT are the creation of protected areas and the protection and restoration of threatened habitats. Project activities may include land acquisition through a range of mechanisms including land purchases, leases, conservation easements, community reserves the legal declaration of protected areas (gazetting).

WLT’s core focus is on bringing new areas of land into conservation protection, but we also support activities that support this core objective including habitat protection (e.g. rangers and patrols), habitat restoration, community activities that are essential for the success of new areas, research and monitoring, and income generation activities that support the financial sustainability of newly created areas or organisations. These latter activities are unlikely to be funded on their own and would only be considered if they are part of a wider conservation project with the creation or expansion of reserves as the main objective.

All WLT funded projects need to have clear benefits, and no net negative impact to biodiversity, communities and the climate.

Yamaha Dealers and Customers Supporting Access to Land for Work and Play

The Yamaha Outdoor Access Initiative is dedicated to those who work and play outdoors including, but not limited to, those who rely on off-highway vehicles (OHVs) to ride, camp, hunt or fish.

Supporting the outdoor enthusiast, the Yamaha Outdoor Access Initiative’s mission is to provide practical support for efforts that promote safe, responsible use of OHVs, educate the public on proper recreational land use and wildlife conservation practices, and protect appropriate and sustainable access to public lands.

Each quarter, Yamaha accepts applications from non-profit or tax exempt groups (clubs & associations), public riding areas (local, state and federal), outdoor enthusiast associations and land conservation organizations, and communities with an interest in protecting, improving, expanding and/or maintaining access for safe, responsible and sustainable use by motorized off-road vehicles. Our committee will review each application and award funds to deserving projects.

The Foundation embraces the protection of biodiversity as its overarching priority.

Frank Weeden, the Foundation’s founder and original benefactor, established the Weeden Foundation to address the impact of growing human populations and overuse of natural resources on the biological fabric of the planet. Since his death in 1984, the Foundation has helped preserve more than 6 million acres of biologically important habitat worldwide and provided financing for the first debt-for-nature swap in Bolivia in 1992, a strategy that is now widely used by international conservation organizations. Program efforts have supported projects in environmentally sensitive regions of the western United States, Alaska, Russia, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Columbia, Ecuador, Belize, Namibia, Mexico, and various Caribbean nations.

Focus Areas

On a more general scale the Foundation supports the following focus areas.

Bird Conservation

Our goal in the Bird Conservation program area is to conserve wild birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. In particular we seek to fund grantees that work to prevent bird species extinctions and to prevent declining populations of bird species from becoming endangered. We specifically focus on protecting and restoring public and private bird habitat and we assist in acquiring land for threatened bird species. Finally we support protection of bird migration corridors in North and South America.

Systemic Support program at the U.S. national policy level for wildlife corridors, the Endangered Species Act, and additional wilderness designation.

Our goal in Systemic Support is to improve the effectiveness of environmental efforts through specialized services. Specific objectives include:

• support the Endangered Species Act through litigation, lobbying, grassroots campaigns and public education generally,
• promote organizations providing support for groups engaged in wilderness protection, land conservation, endangered species protection, wildlife corridor issues, and management of public lands, an
• improve federal and state support for environmentally sustainable practices, wilderness designations, and wildlife corridors. 

Global Biodiversity

Our goal in Global Biodiversity is to support campaigns and/or groups in biodiversity hotspots. Specific objectives are to

• protect global temperate rainforests,
• support creation of wildlife corridors,
• land acquisition and protection for endangered species and,
• support projects that involve indigenous peoples in the process and stewardship of conservation projects.

Environmental Education

The Foundation’s Environment Education program area focuses on supporting grantees that will provide future leaders with the tools to effect environmental policies. These policies complement the other grantees of the Foundation including biodiversity and habitat protection. Sustainable environmental policies must include both immediate actions as well as education to anticipate and to prevent future environmental impact.

Marine Wildlife Conservation

The Marine Wildlife Conservation Program Area focuses on helping to protect endangered marine species in the Americas through research, advocacy, policy change, and habitat conservation.

To address the adverse impact of economic and human population growth on biodiversity, the Foundation’s grantmaking includes both Consumption and Population programs.

The Foundation’s Sustainable Consumption program currently focuses on promoting greater use of environmental paper. Grantmaking in this area aims to broaden the market for environmental papers and packaging through markets campaigns, shareholder activism, consumer-targeted education, and dialogue with the corporate sector. This year we have expanded our packaging program to include efforts to reduce plastics in the waste stream, through strategies such as eliminating single use plastic disposables by promoting reusable packaging for grocery stores, take-out, and delivery.

The Foundation’s International Population program area is focused on reducing population growth rates in countries recognized for their rich biodiverse landscapes and that have a total fertility rate exceeding replacement levels. To achieve this goal, the Foundation funds groups that facilitate initiatives related to family planning, women’s education and women’s empowerment in countries with such rich and recognized biodiversity. The Foundation also supports advocacy efforts addressing global population growth in the context of environmental sustainability.

Purpose and Scope

• The Conservation and Outdoor Recreation Challenge Cost Share program is intended to support specific National Park Service mission-related projects that align with the goals of project partners.
• Challenge Cost Share projects must support one or more of the following funding themes:
  • Addressing the Climate Crisis
    • Projects that address the climate crisis and build resiliency to a changing climate.
    • Projects could include developing green infrastructure, nature-based solutions, and/or creating sustainable energy sources.
  • Conservation Projects (Lands and Waters)
    • Projects that increase the acres of protected or restored lands and waters.
  • Advancing Equity for Youth from Underserved Communities
    • Projects that increase equitable access to parks for youth and young adults from underserved communities.
  • Outdoor Recreation
    • Projects that increase public access to new and restored outdoor recreation opportunities.
• Projects that benefit NPS administered National Parks, National Trails and Wild and Scenic Rivers.
• National Park Service staff will work with project partners to achieve these mutually beneficial outcomes.
• This partnership challenge seeks to reward proposals that have the best prospects to build enduring benefits and develop new partnerships.

Funding and Match

• If a project is selected, the partner organization will enter into agreement to receive and manage the project funds consistent with the project’s application, purpose and budget.
• The partner organization is required to match the amount of the Challenge Cost Share program funding received with an equal share from the partner(s); any combination of dollars and in-kind services can be counted toward the partner's cost share requirement, as long as their match comes from non-federal sources.
• The maximum Challenge Cost Share program support is $25,000 per project.
• The Challenge Cost Share program is ONPS funds and must be used for the purpose and benefit of the NPS administered unit.
• Challenge Cost Share program funding cannot be used to pay for NPS staff salaries or travel.

Program Goal

The goal of the Sustainable Forests and Communities Initiative is to promote the creation of environmentally and economically sustainable forest communities in the regions of the United States where the Weyerhaeuser Family's business interests originated. 

Program Guidelines

The Weyerhaeuser Family Foundation through its Sustainable Forests and Communities Initiative is interested in supporting organizations that work in forested landscapes to enhance the environment, the economy, and community. Implementation of integrated approaches in these areas that also enhance market valuation of forest ecosystem services is favored.

Program Priorities

The Foundation gives priority to projects that promote vibrant forest-based communities that address one or more of the following outcome areas:

• Environment
• Employing sustainable forest management, conservation, and ecological restoration.
• Economy
• Developing and encouraging enterprise-based sustainable economic activities.
• Community
• Use innovative social and locally-based business processes to meet agreed- upon environmental and economic sustainability goals.

Projects of potential interest include the following examples:

• Creation of local market-based jobs for in-forest activities (such as sustainable forest management, forest restoration, or sustainable silviculture).
• Development of demand for certified wood and for products made with sustainably produced forest resources (e.g., wood, boughs, biomass, and mushrooms).
• Promoting sustainable forest management alternatives to conversion of private forested land to other uses (e.g., community forests, working forest conservation easements, or other title-related forest conservation tools).
• Creating value in forests and forest communities through developing, producing, and marketing new forest products or forest ecosystem services.
• Advancing community-wide long-term planning for monetizing the full range of forest values, including explicit valuation of and creation of markets for forest ecosystem services.
• Forest Ecosystem Services: using innovative business or policy models to better establish prices and markets for ecosystem services.
  • Forest ecosystem services can include, but are not restricted to, carbon sequestration, forests' role in the carbon, nutrient, and water cycles, providing habitat to support biodiversity, and providing aesthetic, educational, and other cultural services.
• Partnerships: utilizing partnership-based programs that build on the strengths and capacity of collaborating organizations. Benefits of this approach may include:
  • facilitating expansion of successful program models to new geographies;
  • enabling organizations to broaden the impact of their expertise or benefit from the expertise of partners;
  • allowing organizations to deploy their core expertise without creating redundant capacity.

Funding Philosophy

Woodard & Curran Foundation is a public nonprofit organization dedicated to making grants that empower local and global solutions for a healthier world. The Foundation's giving strategy focuses on this basic resource: clean water. Whether you live in an area where water supplies are plentiful or where water is scarce, concerns about water conservation, sanitation, and safe drinking water supplies are growing increasingly urgent, locally and globally.

Impact Grants

In 2025 Woodard & Curran Foundation will award one 1-year $100,000 Impact Grant for a project that focuses on the protection and/or management of our watersheds and groundwater supplies in the face of climate change.

In 2025, we are seeking proposals for projects that focus on the protection, restoration, and/or management of our watersheds and/or groundwater basins in the face of climate change/natural disasters. Such projects could, for example, include management through reducing the impact of extreme weather events; innovative approaches to responsible land and water management; or remediation of impacted watersheds.

Our chief interest is in receiving strong applications for innovative projects that protect our water and environment and for which our grant funds will have the most impact.

See FAQ for additional informations.

About Bonnell Cove Foundation

Bonnell Cove Foundation supports not-for-profit organizations in North America in the areas of safety at sea and the environment of the sea. The Bonnell Cove Foundatioin is a 501(c)(3) organization. It was organized in 1989 by the Cruising Club of America. Initial funding for the Foundation came from the sale of a tract of waterfront land on Block Island, Rhode Island to the Block Island Land Conservancy. George P.P. Bonnell, a charter member and former Commodore of the Club, bequeathed the land to the Club in 1959. Club members provide additional funding. There is no paid staff.

The Board of Trustees meets twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall, to consider applications. As a general matter, the Foundation awards grants of up to $10,000 for specific projects or particular needs of a qualifying non-profit. In rare cases, the Foundation will grant funds to a particular organization in successive years.

In recent years the Bonnell Cove Foundation has funded essential elements of school and museum youth programs, environmental research, habitat restoration, medical research, search and rescue products, overboard rescue techniques and boating education.

Grants Relating to Safety At Sea

The Foundation encourages grant applications supporting projects which complement the safe operation of boats, both sail and power. Innovative projects resulting in the development of cost effective personal safety equipment, modified operational and training protocols, and methods to increase crew awareness of the need for continued attention to safety are of particular interest.

Grants Relating to the Environment of the Sea

The Foundation seeks grant applications in support of projects intended to increase our understanding of the factors affecting the marine environment both natural and man-made and the best ways to minimize adverse impacts associated with small boat operations. Such efforts might include technologies facilitating "green boats", efforts to conserve coastal and estuarine land, and educational efforts directed at improved stewardship of our oceans and navigable lakes.

About The Memorial Trust

In 1975, two years after his death, The John Ben Snow Memorial Trust was established in New York. The four original trustees were a member of the Snow family, a lawyer, a publishing associate and a corporate trustee, the Irving Trust Company, now BNY Mellow N.A.. The current Trustees continue this legacy being well aware of the donor and his beliefs, values and ideals. The John Ben Snow Memorial Trust strategically focuses funding within specific geographic regions of the United States across a range of program areas. They meet once a year, usually in June.

The John Ben Snow Memorial Trust

The Memorial Trust strategically focuses funding within specific geographic regions of the United States across a range of program areas (prioritized below and visually depicted here) while responding to the ever-changing needs of various segments of the population, especially to the needs of youth and people who are disadvantaged economically, emotionally, or physically.

Dating back to the inception of the Trust in 1973, the primary and overarching grant making priority has been and continues to be programs that focus on education.

• Education: Targets funds to organizations that provide educational opportunities or academic assistance to individuals who demonstrate an intellectual aptitude and a financial need. Examples include scholarships, fellowships, academic tutoring or counseling, literacy, and journalism.

Secondarily, the Trust considers proposals within the areas of Arts and Culture, Community Initiatives, and Youth Programs. The Board’s objective is to extend the primary educational focus by providing funding support within these additional program areas.

• Community Initiatives: Provides funding for programs or services that directly improve the quality of life within the geographic focus areas that we serve. Examples include support for libraries, food pantries and shelters, and neighborhood revitalization. Generally, the Trust does not seek proposals for health care initiatives or animal welfare programs.
• Arts and Culture: Offers grants that promote arts education and appreciation, particularly for young adults, via the development of educational curriculum and professional instruction including visiting artists and performance support for targeted populations.
• Youth Initiatives: Offers grants that provide character education or enrichment opportunities via mentoring or after-school programming

As a third priority, the Trust does consider proposals in the areas of Disabilities and Universal Access, Environmental, and Historic Preservation. As these are not core focus areas, funding is often limited. Priority will be given to proposals with an educational focus.

• Disabilities and Universal Access: Offers grants to organizations in complying with ADA requirements within their facilities (e.g. elevator, handrails, automatic doors, and ramps) or offering services targeted for individuals with physical, mental, or emotional disabilities.
• Environmental: Provides funds for organizations that strive to protect strategic parcels of land and bodies of water as well as programs that educate the general public on key environmental issues such as conservation and water management.
• Historic Preservation: Provides funding for organizations that preserve historical artifacts (e.g. sites, structures, objects) and accounts (e.g. events), and educate the greater community on their significance. Examples include museums, historical societies and educational programming.

With major support from Toyota Motor North America, the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) is excited to announce $200,000 in grant funding to support shovel-ready pollinator habitat enhancement projects on America’s public lands.

Habitat enhancement projects should directly support the creation, restoration, remediation, improvement, and/or protection of habitats for important pollinator species such as butterflies, bees, bats, and more. The project should impact pollinators on at least 150 acres of public land. Additionally, projects should incorporate community outreach and engagement activities designed to educate and empower the public to help enhance pollinator habitats.

Funding Priorities

Habitat Enhancement Projects

Projects must implement on-the-ground activities designed to increase the quality, quantity, and connectivity of pollinator habitats. Applicants must define a step-by-step plan including site preparation, size of the project area, and description of target pollinator(s). Due to the time needed for large-scale habitat restoration projects, NEEF will consider proposals that are already underway or that propose a distinct piece of an existing restoration project. Conservation and habitat restoration activities should be varied and science-based. If preparing a proposal that includes collecting seeds or cultivating native seedlings, applicants should describe the intended use of the seed or seedlings, and it should only represent one piece of the project. For new projects, they must be shovel-ready, meaning ready to implement the proposed project within 3 months of the award date.

Community Engagement

All project proposals must provide opportunities for public engagement through education- or volunteer-focused events. Projects should aim to collaborate with a diverse group of community partners to achieve engagement and educational outcomes. Grantees will be required to report on the number of events implemented and the number of participants engaged during the grant period. Priority will be given to proposals that serve underrepresented audiences in the outdoors with an emphasis on serving communities marked disadvantaged by the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool.

Project Metrics

To better gauge progress on individual grants and to ensure greater consistency of project data provided by multiple grantees, NEEF has provided a list of recommended project metrics. All applicants must commit to collecting and reporting on key project metrics listed below. 

Acres Enhanced: 

• Number of Acres 
• Number of Acres of Monarch Habitat
• Number of Individual Project Work Sites

Biodiversity Enhanced: 

• Number of Pollinator Species Promoted
• Number of Imperiled Species Protected
• Number of Native Plant Species Installed
• Number of Milkweed Plants Installed

Community Members Engaged: 

• Number of Individuals Engaged in Volunteer Activities 
• Number of Individuals Engaged in Outreach Activities 
• Number of Landowners Engaged
• Number of Toyota Employees Engaged
• Number of Individuals Engaged from Underserved Communities

Please see FAQs for additional guidelines.

National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF)

The National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) is the nation’s leading organization in lifelong environmental learning, creating opportunities for people to experience and learn about the environment in ways that improve their lives and the health of the planet.

Purpose

To cultivate an environmentally conscious and responsible public

Mission

To make the environment more accessible, relatable, relevant, and connected to the daily lives of all Americans

Vision

That people’s everyday actions are guided by an understanding and concern for the well being of people and the planet

Veterans and Nature Grant

NEEF and the United States Forest Service aim to increase engagement of veterans’ communities in understanding the physical and mental health benefits of time in nature and provide opportunities for physical and mental health-focused outdoor activities at US Forest Service sites and other public lands (including state and local sites).

Project types may include:

• Outdoor activities
  • Hiking, biking, climbing, fishing, picnicking
  • Wellness activities
  • Educational components – community science, environmental service projects
• Adaptive programming
• Conservation efforts
• Volunteer opportunities

There will be $100,000 available to issue grants for projects implemented during the 16 month grant period. Applicants may apply for a total request of $10,000.

Our Organization

Our mission is to foster the science and art of natural resource conservation.

The Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS) is the premier international organization for professionals who practice and advance the science and art of natural resource conservation. We believe sustainable land and water management is essential to the continued security of the earth and its people. Our goal is to cultivate an organization of informed, dynamic individuals whose contributions create a bright future for agriculture, the environment, and society.

Who We Are

Our community of more than 2,000 conservation leaders represents nearly every academic discipline and many different public, private, and nonprofit institutions around the world. Our skilled members include researchers, administrators, planners, policymakers, technical advisors, teachers, students, farmers, and ranchers, all who share the common goal of building a more sustainable future.

SWCS members lead at the chapter level to tackle critical conservation issues of regional and local significance. Chapter events and initiatives engage members in field tours and other learning opportunities, provide a network of experts in the area, and educate local leaders regarding environmental issues in their communities. Members of student chapters on university campuses participate in activities that foster their interests in natural resource management and prepare them for successful professional careers.

Conservation Innovation Award

The Conservation Innovation Award recognizes an outstanding activity, product, or service by a group, business firm, corporation, or organization that promotes the conservation of soil, water, and related natural resources.

Criteria:

• The effort or activity is in line with the SWCS mission
• The effort or activity contributed to bringing about better conservation of soil, water, and related natural resources and/or better understanding of natural resource conservation issues
• The effort or activity is a result of an organized program and may include the activity of an agency or government
• The effort or activity had an effect over a large area, at least a large part of a state or province, or parts of several states or provinces
• The principal effect of the effort or activity was directed to other than professional conservationists

Program goal

To mitigate climate change, make communities more resilient to climate change, protect public health from the hazards of toxic chemicals and pollutants, and preserve biological diversity.

Grants are made to

Promote more environmentally sustainable, resilient, and just communities that mitigate climate change by:

• Promoting energy efficiency and alternative sources of energy for buildings.
• Shifting to electric or low-emission vehicles and greater use of mass transit.
• Promoting a smarter, more resilient grid and distributed (on-site) generation.
• Reducing emissions from existing fossil fuel-powered facilities and extraction activities.
• Establishing regional programs, performance standards, and regulations that help reduce emissions.

Make communities, especially the most disadvantaged, more resilient to a changing climate by:

• Creating infrastructure that reduces stormwater runoff and absorbs storm surges.
• Protecting shoreline communities by conserving or enhancing natural barriers.
• Encouraging more sustainable building design and land use through policy reforms.
• Better planning and preparation for weather-related emergencies, especially for low-income and other vulnerable residents.

Protect public health from the hazards of toxic pollutants by:

• Supporting targeted scientific research that can be used to develop policy.
• Promoting safer chemical and heavy metal policies and practices, especially for infants, children, and other vulnerable people.
• Eliminating toxic chemicals from products through market campaigns focused on retailers and manufacturers.
• Enhancing protections for low-income communities near polluting facilities.
• Minimizing the hazards of new and expanded fossil fuel extraction on nearby communities.

Preserve biological diversity through habitat conservation by:

• Establishing, enhancing, and monitoring wildlife migration corridors; and
• Supporting functional connectivity between fragmented habitat that enables species to move and live safely

We encourage initiatives that cut across these program areas, especially those focused on smart growth, sustainable agriculture and regional food systems, and sustainable production.

11th Hour Racing's Grantmaking Strategy11th Hour Racing fosters systemic change to restore ocean health — our vision for the future includes cleaner, healthier waterways through strong local stewardship and collective action around the world. As the climate crisis intensifies, so does the impact on ocean health. We need a global paradigm shift, from an extractive economy that depletes our natural resources to a sustainable economy that uses resources wisely and protects our ocean. We work to facilitate this transition by supporting local solutions to global problems, led by community organizations and industry leaders. By supporting local pilot programs that model best practices of sustainability, restore coastal ecosystems, and advance ocean stewardship, our grantees are creating systemic change to restore ocean health. We are working toward a future of cleaner, healthier waterways through strong local stewardship and collective action around the world.Focus Areas11th Hour Racing seeks proposals that align with one or more of our focus areas:

• Ocean Literacy & Stewardship – increase the understanding and appreciation of the importance of healthy oceans and waterways to communities through experiential learning, citizen science, and powerful story-telling.
• Clean Technologies & Best Practices – advance practices and technologies in coastal communities and the marine industry that reduce waste, prevent plastic pollution, improve water quality, and assess new circular solutions.
• Ecosystem Restoration – improve water quality, bolster coastal resilience, and sequester carbon through coastal habitat restoration

Ocean Literacy & Stewardship: Outreach and educational initiatives for any age focused on improving knowledge of ocean health issues and best practices. Emphasis will be given to projects focused on youth-led initiatives, citizen science, and experiential education. Programs specializing in increasing stewardship, access, and ocean literacy in underserved, urban communities are of particular interest. Does not include: curriculum development; or general funding for educational programming. Clean Technologies & Best Practices: Efforts that advance emerging methods and/or technologies that reduce the environmental footprint of coastal communities, sailing-related activities, and the maritime industry. Activities may include improving coastal community practices regarding plastic pollution prevention or food waste such as composting; environmentally responsible vessel disposal methods or construction materials; sailmaking or boatbuilding material alternatives or processes. Does not include: policy development; proven technologies (such as conventional solar photovoltaic), community beach or offshore clean-ups of marine debris, or advertising. Ecosystem Restoration: Using coastal habitats like mangroves, salt marsh, and seagrass to sequester carbon (commonly referred to as Blue Carbon), using oysters and vertical farming to improve coastal water quality or innovative approaches to restoring coral health. Does not include: coastal infrastructure projects, conservation easements, or land acquisition.Evaluation CriteriaProject submissions are evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Environmental impact: the magnitude of the project’s environmental benefits.
• Capacity and Organizational Expertise: organizational capacity and qualifications necessary to implement the proposed project.
• Innovation and Creativity: how unique the project is or the methodology used are.
• Feasibility of implementation: technological, financial, and political factors that may influence the success of the project.

Strong consideration will be given to projects that involve collaborations and stakeholder engagement, model best practices, can demonstrate measurable outcomes in a one-year timeframe, and share successes broadly. For anything we fund, particularly demonstration projects or place-based work, we prefer opportunities for broader impact through replicating or scaling.

Mission

We harness the collective power of business and outdoor communities to fund and advocate for the protection of North America’s wild places.

Member Directed Grants

The Conservation Alliance is a group of outdoor businesses that supports efforts to protect specific wild places for their habitat and recreation values.

We fund groups who are nominated by our members and whose work meets all of these criteria:

• The project should seek to secure lasting and quantifiable protection of a specific wild land or waterway.
• The campaign should engage grassroots citizen action in support of the conservation effort.
• All projects must have a clear recreational benefit.
• The project should have a good chance of final success within four years.

The FairWays Foundation

Environmental stewardship is not an initiative. It is a long-term investment into our future and the future of our industry. The FairWays Foundation directly funds local and global projects that advance the conservation of our natural resources. These projects help to preserve the environment we live and work in whilst encouraging education and stewardship not only within our own industry but also within wider communities.

The FairWays Foundation is a stand-alone not-for-profit organization dedicated to safeguarding our environment. The FairWays Foundation supports conservation-based projects; big and small, as well as educational events for professionals, newcomers to the field and for future minds.

Grant Guidelines

The FairWays Foundation supports conservation-based projects where the belief and commitment demonstrated offer a meaningful contribution to long term change.  The very heart of the foundation lies in the green industry and we are committed to further supporting both industry partners and their local communities, we believe that the push for change must continue to come from the grass roots level, these are the voices which speak loudest to The FairWays Foundation.

We directly fund local and global projects that demonstrate an aspiration to protect our natural resources. 

Focus Areas

The cornerstone of successful applicants will highlight undertakings in the following key focus areas:

• Conservation
  • Globally golf courses occupy over one million acres of land, encouraging conservation of our natural resources helps to ensure a positive use of that land, with benefits that extend beyond the golf course.
• Stewardship
  • Responsible use of resources not only within our industry but also within the wider community protects the environment we live in for future generations.
• Education
  • We have a responsibility to protect the habitats we work and live in, education regarding conversation and sound stewardship in our industry is to be encouraged.

We Fund Work That

• Offers commitment to reduce the facilities ecological footprint
• Increases the boundaries of standard husbandry
• Includes benefits to the local community
• Protects existing natural resources

All successful applicants must:

• Show a clear strategy
• Identify goals / objectives which can be measured to evaluate success

Potential Projects

Projects that make a difference to the community or industry, such as –

• Supporting habitats and wildlife
• Educational events
• Linking landscape and business
• Encouraging sustainable management practices
• Environmental improvement projects

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation awards competitive grants through our programs to protect and conserve our nation's fish, wildlife, plants and habitats. The Foundation works with public and private partners in all 50 states and U.S. territories to solve the most challenging conservation problems.

Background

Acres for America is the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's (NFWF) premier land conservation program and was established to provide urgently needed funding for projects that conserve important large-scale habitats for fish, wildlife, and plants through voluntary land acquisitions and perpetual conservation easements.

In 2005, Acres for America was launched as a partnership between Walmart Stores and NFWF. As a founding partner, Walmart's goal was to offset the footprint of its domestic facilities on at least an acre-by-acre basis – a number then estimated at 100,000 acres – through permanent conservation of important wildlife habitats. The program has now helped to permanently protect more than 2 million acres and connect more than 47 million acres of public and private conservation lands across the country. 

This Request for Proposals (RFP) will collect pre-proposals from around the nation, from which NFWF will select a small number of applicants to submit a more detailed full proposal. Prior to submitting a pre-proposal, applicants are strongly encouraged to contact the appropriate NFWF regional office (listed in the Applicant Assistance section of this RFP). The purpose is to give the applicant an opportunity to share project concepts and ideas prior to fully preparing and submitting a pre-proposal.

Land and Climate Grant Program

Across the country, communities and ecosystems are experiencing climate change and grappling with its unknowns. How much will temperatures rise and how quickly? How will these changes impact the forests, streams, and wildlife we protect?

Despite this uncertainty, scientists agree: land protection is, and will remain, a key strategy for ensuring that natural systems — and the plants, animals, and people that depend upon them — can continue to thrive.

Since 2012, OSI has been helping land trusts and other groups that protect and steward land develop effective approaches to conserving land in a rapidly changing climate. Working alongside our capital grants program that funds the acquisition of land that is resilient and stores and sequesters carbon, OSI has supported the development of over 70 climate-aligned conservation plans and offered workshops, webinars, and trainings to over 6,000 participants.

OSI’s Catalyst Program currently focuses on addressing the following climate issues: habitat resilience, forest carbon storage and sequestration, and community resilience to climate impacts such as flooding. We support conservation groups and communities by offering planning grants and technical assistance, authoring guidance documents, and hosting workshops.

Land and Climate Catalyst Planning Grants

Through a collaboration between Open Space Institute and Land Trust Alliance, $300,000 is available in the 2023 grant round to help land trusts, other not-for-profit organizations, and state and federally recognized Tribes integrate climate science into strategic land protection plans or forest stewardship plans.

Land trusts may also apply for climate-informed land conservation planning or communications technical support from the Land Trust Alliance.

2023 Grant Program

Open Space Institute and the Land Trust Alliance are pleased to announce the 2023 Land and Climate Grant Program. The program aims to support and build the capacity of land trusts and other groups that conserve and steward land to integrate climate change into land protection and management decisions.

The program will support the development of climate-informed land conservation, stewardship, policy, or communications plans that address one or more of the following issues: habitat resilience, carbon mitigation, renewable energy siting or community adaptation to climate impacts such as stronger storms, flooding, drought, fire or extreme heat.

Projects should achieve one or more of the following deliverables:

Land Protection Plans

Incorporate climate science into new or existing strategic conservation plans that target land protection for climate adaptation or mitigation.

Management Plans

Incorporate climate science into land stewardship or management plans to address adaptation or mitigation strategies.

Communications Plans

Develop a comprehensive climate communication strategy that promotes the adaptation and mitigation goals of the organization and its conservation or stewardship plans

Renewable Energy Siting Plans

Develop a plan, decision matrix or policies to guide organizational engagement with renewable energy siting on conservation lands and/or in service areas.

The program encourages proposals that address the inequitable burdens of climate change and environmental racism on Black, Indigenous and People of Color and low-income communities.

Background

Established in 1990, the Arthur L. & Elaine V. Johnson Foundation provides grants to organizations that support guide dogs to assist the visually impaired and other assistance animals that aid people with physical disabilities. We also provide grants to organizations that conserve wildlife, especially threatened or endangered species and their habitats. 

Funding Priorities

We desire that the Foundation be a catalyst for change and therefore prefer to fund projects that will assist an organization in a long-term change. 

For funding in the area of handicap assistance animals:

• Our highest priority is dogs that assist the visually impaired, followed by dogs or other animals individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a physical disability.

For funding in the area of nature conservancy:

• Our highest priority is for direct conservation (e.g., preservation or restoration of natural land, animal conservation or preservation) and science-based conservation activities (i.e., research designed to lead to better land and wildlife management).
• We give higher priority to applications focused on critical habitat or environments or on threatened or endangered species.

Background

Thornton ("Tawny") S. Glide, Jr. and his wife, Katrina ("Scatter") Dangberg Glide, were long-time residents of the T.S. Glide Ranch in Yolo County, California. They owned and operated farms and ranches in and about Northern California. Their interests were horses and other animals, farming, preserving open spaces, and civic endeavors. 

Upon their respective deaths in July 1995, they established the Thornton S. Glide, Jr. and Katrina D. Glide Foundation, a perpetual California charitable trust. Its purpose is to provide benefits for qualified organizations committed to animal protection organizations, other land and wildlife conservancy groups, agricultural purposes, preservation of land in its natural state, and opera, symphony, and other similar civic organizations.

Background

We support non-profit organizations committed to making an impact in addressing environmental problems, engaging in conservation and resource protections, and tackling social concerns. Through these small and mid-scale grants, we aim to support like-minded organizations with missions that align with the work of the Wright-Ingraham Institute. The Wright-Ingraham Institute has been awarding grants since 2012. In that time, we have awarded more than $400,000 to over 65 organizations.

Focus Areas

Our grants are designed to help address problems in three main areas.

Climate Change

Today, efforts to cope with the climate crisis are estimated to be costing the global economy approximately $3 trillion annually. We support organizations that are actively solving problems of how to bring clean air and water to global communities, how to prevent or stem natural disasters and meteorological events, and how to best promote sustainable practices and support renewable sources of energy.

Land Issues

Our grants strengthen organizations that are looking at different ways to apply concepts of sustainability, including ways to reverse the loss of fragile ecosystems that connect people and animals with land, or that work at the nexus of food, fuel and shelter. Additionally, we seek to better understand how human systems and natural systems intersect one another.

Wildlife Conservation

We support organizations that are working courageously on ways to conserve and preserve important wildlife habitats, as globalization continues to seek to develop every corner of the globe.

Elizabeth Wright Ingraham Grant

The Elizabeth Wright Ingraham Grant is dedicated to the founder of the Wright-Ingraham Institute. This grant is awarded to an organization exploring how human systems interact with natural systems, for example, how to create living spaces that utilize land responsibly.

Amount: $10,000

Why Confluence?

The Confluence Program, launched in 2021, seeks to expand The Conservation Alliance’s network of grantee and business partners. We know that our network does not represent a coalition of everyone working to protect natural places. Great things happen when a diverse coalition of voices and perspectives comes together to champion solutions that balance the best interests of land and water, wildlife, and people. The Confluence Program is a first step in our efforts to help create new systems and structures that bring all of the groups, organizations, and businesses committed to this work closer together to protect our shared natural places.

The Program

The goal of the Confluence Program is to intentionally connect to historically racially excluded people for the protection of natural places. Each year, The Conservation Alliance awards four grants to groups led by Asian, Black, Brown, Hispanic, Indigenous, Latin American, or additional communities who identify as People of Color working to protect a natural place. Each grantee receives $100,000 over a two-year period ($50,000 per year) for their effort to protect or conserve land and/or water to foster a planet where natural places, wildlife, and people thrive together.

We work to build trust and meaningful relationships with the Confluence grantees through resource-sharing and communications support. The support provided by this program is shaped to meet the unique needs of each group. Through the application review process, we also capture and share our learnings regarding the gap between financial needs and available funding, and share the list of applicants with other funders. Our goal is to help shed light on the volume of qualified groups that need funding, and help make connections to our network of partners that might offer direct funding or other resource support.