Search Through Grants for Environmental 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.

Climate Ride is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that organizes life-changing charitable events to raise awareness and support sustainability, active transportation, and environmental causes.

Since 2008, Climate Ride has granted nearly $14 million to more than 375 organizations working on sustainability, bicycle advocacy, conservation, and climate change issues.

Climate Ride Grants

In order to become a partner beneficiary, the beneficiary organization must commit to doing outreach and engaging supporters to select them as a beneficiary on any Climate Ride event. 

If your organization is interested in becoming a beneficiary, or if you would like to nominate an organization, please contact us. We will schedule a call for the organization and Climate Ride to discuss if this could be a beneficial partnership.

Partnering for a better future

Building a better future for the next generation requires dedication, teamwork and alignment. We partner with national and local organizations across the country to drive change and positive impact in our communities, from environmental groups to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) organizations. Along with financial support, we provide public service announcements and donate in-kind media to nonprofit partner organizations.

Our giving platform is focused on solving challenges for underserved communities in two strategic areas: environment and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, math).

Environment

Through our Cox Conserves program, we are acting now to preserve the environment for future generations. We are committed to balancing the needs of business and the environment, whether by working to reduce our environmental footprint or contributing to like-minded nonprofit organizations.

STEAM

We focus our efforts on promoting self-sufficiency through community-based organizations that align with the educational values of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math).

Environment

Through the Environment Program, the foundation seeks to ensure a thriving, resilient environment for wildlife and people, and foster an inclusive, effective conservation movement.

Doris Duke was a lifelong environmentalist with a keen interest in conservation. In her will, which guides our focus areas, she expressed her interest in "the preservation of wildlife, both flora and fauna" and in supporting "ecological endeavors."

Why It's Important

In the wildest places and the most urban, our health and quality of life depends on the natural world—from the water we drink, the air we breathe and the food we eat, to the places where we may find inspiration, joy, healing or kinship. Increasingly, nature depends on us as well, to be responsible stewards of the ecosystems where we and millions of other species dwell. In the face of accelerating extinctions and global climate change, now is the critical decade for taking action.

What We Support

The Doris Duke Foundation seeks to demonstrate how effective conservation can protect and restore nature, help address climate change and promote a more equitable society. We support initiatives that increase the pace and scale of land conservation and stewardship across the United States to protect biodiversity, bolster the resilience of natural areas and advance climate change mitigation. We also focus on conservation efforts that advance equity, in particular for communities that identify as Black, Indigenous and people of color. To achieve these goals, the foundation concentrates on three complementary and intersecting areas of focus.

Nature: Land Conservation in an Era of Climate Change

Conserving, restoring and managing ecosystems is fundamental to protecting wildlife and sustaining biodiversity in all its forms. As climate change increasingly alters the natural world, the approaches by which we conserve and steward land must adapt to ensure enduring benefits to wildlife, the climate and communities.

Our support focuses on three critical approaches to increasing the pace, scale and effectiveness of land conservation and stewardship across the United States, with the goal of conserving at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030 for biodiversity, landscape connectivity, climate resilience and thriving wild and human communities:

• Conservation of resilient lands and waters through efforts that identify and accelerate conservation of areas expected to be most intrinsically resilient to climate change.
• Climate-adapted conservation and restoration practices that draw on the best available science and traditional ecological knowledge to intentionally help prepare ecosystems for changing conditions rather than resist them.
• Landscape-scale conservation through collaborative approaches that focus on maintaining functioning, resilient, connected ecosystems.

Climate: Natural Climate Solutions

Natural climate solutions, strategies that leverage the capacity of ecosystems to absorb and store carbon, have the potential to provide 20% of the nation’s climate mitigation progress while also providing benefits to wildlife and communities. Through the Environment Program, the foundation works to accelerate the use of natural climate solutions as an essential means to mitigate climate change and support rural economic development. To that end, we focus on scaling climate mitigation through protection of intact ecosystems and priority habitats, ecosystem restoration and approaches to improved land management.

To dramatically scale natural climate solutions, we particularly focus on supporting the following activities:

• Land restoration approaches like reforestation, through efforts that drive innovation, investment and implementation.
• Policy and program frameworks that enable federal and state governments to pursue natural climate solutions.
• Market-based approaches with high ecological and methodological integrity and accessibility to a diverse array of conservation stakeholders.
• Science, research and synthesis that underpin the design of effective natural climate solutions policy, programs, and implementation.
• Innovative finance and new models to scale public and private investment in natural climate solutions.
• Strategic communications approaches that deepen key audiences’ understanding of natural climate solutions.

Equity: Inclusive Conservation

Land conservation, restoration and stewardship of nature can have a valuable and tangible role in advancing equity in our society. This is especially true when land conservation is inclusive and respectful of local communities and traditional knowledge, and when it advances equitable access to and benefits from nature. For this reason, the foundation works to support environmental organizations who are advancing conservation efforts from a variety of cultural perspectives, including those led by and serving communities who identify as Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC). We also aim to ensure that the conservation, restoration and stewardship of nature yield meaningful and equitable benefits to all people, particularly for BIPOC communities and those from households whose annual incomes fall below a government-designated threshold through the following approaches:

• Equitable distribution of urban trees and nature access for nature, climate and social well-being benefits.
• Expanding land access to enable conservation action by resolving barriers to land protection and stewardship posed by land tenure and usage rights issues.
• Diversifying the conservation workforce by investing with purpose in the next generation of young people, and supporting inclusive and equitable institutions. The longest running of the foundation’s efforts in this vein is The Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program, which launched in 2013 to support the next generation of environmental conservation professionals from a diverse set of backgrounds and perspectives.

Foundation's Purpose

The Enterprise Holdings Foundation was established by founder Jack C. Taylor to give back to the communities in which our partners and employees live and work. The Foundation provides charitable support to worthwhile, non-profit initiatives that are actively supported by Enterprise Holdings employees and their spouses/domestic partners. Contributions are made to thousands of local communities across the globe where the organization operates. 

The Foundation’s philanthropic and community relations mission is to ensure that we maintain our leadership position as a valued and responsible corporate citizen by enhancing the quality of life in our communities consistent with the organization’s business goals and objectives. The Foundation supports relief projects or causes that Enterprise Holdings deems important as they arise, such as natural disasters that affect our employees and partners. 

Enterprise Mobility™ Philanthropic Giving

At Enterprise Mobility, we’re focused on strengthening communities one neighborhood at a time. We do this by fostering a culture of community engagement as well as funding programs that protect the environment, drive social progress and empower the places where we live and work.  By leveraging our presence in thousands of communities, we are responding to natural disasters and helping address challenges such as hunger and social inequity through partnerships, grant programs, volunteerism and employee giving.

 Who can submit a grant application for funding? Only Enterprise Mobility team members and their spouse or domestic partner who regularly volunteer or serve on a Board or committee can apply for a grant on behalf of the community nonprofit organization that they are actively involved with that meet our Giving Guidelines.  If you are a team member trying to apply, the application link is located on the SharePoint site and look for “Grant Applications” on the right hand side. This is accessible only to team members. 

Environmental Conservation: Special Projects

Supporting breakthrough innovations in environmental conservation. We support innovative new approaches to addressing conservation challenges.

New ideas come from many directions. In conservation work, we have seen solutions emerge from technological innovation, unprecedented partnerships or collaborations, and fresh perspectives from other disciplines including economics and behavioral science.

As our annual budget allows, we typically use a small percentage of the Environmental Conservation Program’s grantmaking for a handful of special one-time opportunities that arise outside the large-scale, long-term, targeted initiatives, which represent the vast majority of our funding.

Our special projects in environmental conservation have addressed a diverse array of issues but are united by a common thread. In every case, these special projects connect the dots in new ways.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} li.li1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} ul.ul1 {list-style-type: disc}

The Leighty Foundation (TLF) is a small family foundation incorporated under Iowa law.  Directors and advisors live in Colorado, Alaska, and California.

Mission

To carry on the Leighty family legacy of service and stewardship by leveraging our time and talents, as well as our financial resources, primarily in the areas of Earth Protection, Education, Philanthropy, and Strategic Volunteer Engagement.Focus Areas Earth Protection “Environmental” has become trite, and does not convey the profound, urgent, and necessary changes in the way our species perceives and relates to our fellow species on Earth, and to its wonderful physical systems. The Leighty Foundation is especially interested in accelerating humanity’s transition to a sustainable, equitable, benign, affordable global energy system based entirely upon renewable energy sources — driven by radiant energy from our local star, the Sun, and by geothermal. Our earliest, most rewarding investments will be energy conservation and efficiency, while we invent and invest to “run the world on renewables.” We assist science education, so that we will better understand who and what and where we humans are, and to better understand Earth and our options for cooperation within its context and limits. Thus, we intend to invest wisely in Earth Protection, with both Foundation funds and with our personal involvement. An urgent Grand Challenge is transforming the world’s largest industry from about 80% fossil to nearly 100% renewable, CO2-emission-free energy sources, as quickly as we prudently and profitably can. Prudently: with acceptable social and economic disruption. Profitably: the huge amount of capital needed will flow only to attractive opportunities for returns. Electricity systems may be inadequate or technically and economically suboptimal for this transformation. Therefore, we now need to think beyond electricity, to comprehensively consider alternatives. Hydrogen (H2) and Anhydrous Ammonia (NH3) are attractive, energy carriers, storage media, and fuels – as complete renewable energy systems. The Leighty Foundation Earth Protection program focuses on the Big Three challenges of time-variable renewable generation:

• Gathering and transmission;
• Low-cost, annual-scale, firming storage;
• Distribution, integration, and end-use of energy services.

Strategic Volunteer Engagement Our nation finds itself faced with a perfect storm with shrinking resources and escalating needs. Meeting these needs will require a dramatic increase in the number of people willing to give their time and skills as well as their financial resources. However, the challenge may be less about increasing the number of people who volunteer, and more about building infrastructures which connect people with worthy opportunities, and empower them to make a meaningful difference.There is a growing awareness that even if Americans respond to the myriad of calls for service, many charities are not prepared to effectively engage them. A recent survey found that more than 30% of charities do not currently have the infrastructure to effectively deploy volunteers. Now is the time for us as funders to seize this unique opportunity to financially support nonprofits in building their capacity.

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

SC Johnson Grants and Product Donations Help Make Our Communities Better

Wherever we operate, we want to help make that place better, because we are there. This aspiration began more than a century ago, with our founder, Samuel Curtis Johnson. It’s reinforced by our corporate values statement, and acted on by SC Johnson people around the globe.

Since 1937, SC Johnson has given five percent of all pretax profits to charities. The year 2017 marked 80 years of company giving, and nearly six decades of our charitable foundation, SC Johnson Giving, Inc.

Understanding SC Johnson Charitable Contributions

Our primary corporate giving focus is on institutions or organizations that serve or directly affect communities where we have operations. Our areas of interest include:

Areas of Focused Giving

• A Healthier World: Help society thrive by addressing vector-borne disease, strengthening healthcare systems with increased access, addressing food insecurity and enabling healthier outcomes.
• A More Sustainable World: Promote sustainability, with a focus on reducing, reusing and recycling plastic waste and supporting environmental conservation with a focus on healthy oceans and forests and carbon reduction initiatives
• A World with More Opportunity: Open doors for those in need by strengthening communities while advancing economic and social mobility through equal access to education and housing.

Some SC Johnson contributions are the result of grant requests, which also include U.S. requests for product contributions. Others are designed to meet needs identified by the company directly.

Goal: Advance Solutions To Climate Change

The Sustainable Development program advances global stewardship that is ecologically based, economically sound, socially just, culturally appropriate, and consistent with intergenerational equity. Human activity is causing climate change, rapid loss of biodiversity, and accelerating degradation of Earth’s life support systems. With the recognition that the impact of unchecked climate change threatens all other conservation efforts, the program focuses its grantmaking on advancing solutions to climate change.

Strategies

• Building public and policymaker understanding and support for a range of actions to address the threat of climate change.
• Supporting implementation efforts to build a clean energy economy at the federal, state, and local levels.
• Supporting efforts to reduce reliance on carbon-intensive energy sources.
• Supporting targeted efforts to advance international progress on climate change.

Full Guidelines

Human activity is causing climate change and rapid loss of biodiversity, and accelerating degradation of Earth’s life support systems. These developments threaten the livelihoods, health, and security of people in all nations and cultures as well as the well-being of the greater community of life. The RBF’s sustainable development grantmaking endeavors to address these challenges by supporting development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The program supports global stewardship that is ecologically based, economically sound, socially just, culturally appropriate, and consistent with intergenerational equity. The Fund encourages government, business, and civil society to work collaboratively on climate change, to acknowledge the moral and ethical consequences of inaction, and to make it an integral part of all development planning and activity. Recognizing the global nature of many environmental problems, the Fund also promotes international cooperation in addressing these challenges.

The Sustainable Development program maintains a significant focus on the United States in light of its disproportionate impact on the global economy, politics, and the environment. The program’s work is also advanced in collaboration with the Fund’s “pivotal place” programs—Central America, China, and the Western Balkans—and with the Democratic Practice program’s Global Challenges portfolio. Pivotal Place programs support work in specific countries or regions to build the knowledge, policies, organizational capacity, and leadership needed to advance sustainable development in locally appropriate ways. The Fund’s Democratic Practice–Global Challenges portfolio supports broad participation in forging the international agreements and institutional arrangements needed to encourage investment in sustainable development. Fund staff work to ensure that global developments inform work in specific places and that locally grounded efforts generate lessons and innovations needed for global impact.

With the recognition that the impact of unchecked climate change threatens all other conservation efforts, the Sustainable Development program focuses its U.S. grantmaking on building a green economy at the federal, state, and local levels.

In addition, the program provides support for select international efforts to advance global climate negotiations.

Our Mission

We aim to bring awareness to worthy organizations by amplifying their voices, expanding their supporter communities and providing funding for their projects and initiatives.

We support projects across the globe that foster education and good health for young girls in developing nations; protect and preserve indigenous cultures; conserve and sustain our environment; and give access to clean water.

The White Feather Foundation Grant

We embrace environmental and humanitarian issues, and in conjunction with partners from around the world, we raise funds for the betterment of all life.

Focus Areas

• Clean Water
• Indigenous Cultures
• The Environment
• Give Education and Health

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.

Our Mission

Our employee-funded and employee-driven HDR Foundation and global philanthropic funds support community organizations and activities that align with our core values and areas of expertise. We award grants addressing three focus areas: education, healthy communities and environmental stewardship.

Our Areas of Focus

The foundation's focus areas mirror HDR's breadth of knowledge and expertise, complementing the work we do as professional problem-solvers with our personal commitment to make an impact in the communities where we live. 

Education

Our company, clients and communities benefit from a well-educated, skilled and informed population. We believe education is perhaps the most powerful tool for reducing poverty, improving health and advancing prosperity. We fund educational grants addressing education from pre-K through college.

Healthy Communities

With a globally recognized healthcare design practice, we value the importance of healthcare and healthy communities. Promoting healthy living at the community level brings the greatest health benefits to the greatest number of people. We fund grants that address active lifestyles, wellness education and preventative healthcare.

Environmental Stewardship

We promote the value of environmentally responsible practices to our clients, employee-owners and communities. We are all responsible for the use, stewardship and protection of our natural environment. We support grants that address restoration, renewal, conservation and sustainable best practices of our global resources.

Our Purpose

To Boldly Grow the Good in business and life drives our commitment to make a positive societal impact in everything we do.

Strong communities and the organizations supporting them are essential for building a thriving economy, ensuring a sustainable future, and fostering an inclusive society.

Whether we’re giving to community organizations across North America, investing in partnerships to address societal needs, or supporting the giving and volunteer activities of our 55,000 employees, we pride ourselves on our 200-year-plus legacy of growing the good in the communities we serve.

Our Giving Priorities

BMO’s employee and community giving aims to support programs and initiatives in the following areas:

• Community and economic resilience:
  • including support for financial literacy, skills development, social services, education,  health equity and accessible arts and cultural programming.
• Environmental resilience: 
  • including conservation efforts, alternative energy projects in low income neighbourhoods, public awareness and education campaigns and innovative new research efforts.

GEICO Philanthropic Foundation

Through our community funding, the GEICO Philanthropic Foundation strives to support organizations that provide programs and resources to help strengthen our diverse communities across the country. We know that a strong community is one where every individual has access to educational and employment opportunities, can thrive in safe communities, and has the resources to overcome challenges.

About the GEICO Philanthropic Foundation

For more than 40 years, The GEICO Philanthropic Foundation has supported organizations that provide programs and resources to help strengthen diverse communities across the country. To date, The Foundation has donated to 7,000+ charities and averaged between $6 and $8 million in annual giving over the last two decades.

The GEICO Philanthropic Foundation focuses its funding on three key areas:

Educating

The Foundation regularly teams up with nonprofits focused on educational resources and opportunities supporting diverse communities across the country, as well as groups that focus on STEM, early childhood learning, and safety.

Engaging the Community

Part of the Foundation's vision is improving our communities and supporting local organizations through volunteer and outreach efforts. Topics of focus may include:

• Financial literacy
• Food insecurity
• Environmental conservation
• Animal welfare and advocacy
• Health and wellness initiatives

Promoting Equity

The Foundation is committed to building meaningful relationships with community organizations that support equity, justice, diversity, and inclusion.

Established in 1978, the Acorn Foundation is a family foundation dedicated to supporting community-based organizations working to advance environmental conservation, sustainability and environmental justice. The Foundation’s name was taken from the street where the family lived.

The Foundation is particularly interested in small and innovative community-based projects that engage in community organizing in order to:

• Advocate for environmental health and justice, particularly in low-income communities, communities of color and indigenous communities
• Preserve and restore habitats supporting biological diversity and wildlife
• Prevent or remedy toxic pollution.

What is NAPECA?

The CEC established NAPECA to promote shared responsibility and stewardship for the environment by engaging and partnering with tribal nations, Indigenous Peoples and communities, including Indigenous governments, councils and organizations, local communities, academia and registered nongovernmental organizations in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Since 2010, NAPECA has been instrumental in fostering collaborative efforts to address pressing environmental challenges while promoting sustainable development and fostering cross-border cooperation. Through NAPECA, the CEC encourages model environmental initiatives that will help build long-term partnerships to improve environmental conditions at the community level and support local priorities.

Empowering Indigenous Peoples and Enhancing Climate Adaptation by Incorporating Indigenous Knowledge

Given their thousands of years of experience conserving and managing the environment, Indigenous Peoples and communities have invaluable knowledge systems and practices that contribute to the sustainable management and preservation of resources and can help with meeting environmental challenges, including the climate change crisis.

This NAPECA grant cycle aims to support climate adaptation in North America by engaging and empowering communities, particularly Indigenous and local communities, in applying Indigenous Knowledge to strengthen community-based resilience to climate change. The CEC is calling for proposals from organizations to support environmental initiatives that will help North American communities enhance climate adaptation by working with Indigenous Peoples and local communities to recognize, apply, and protect traditional and Indigenous knowledge systems.

Background

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and the Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC)—in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), USDA Forest Service (USFS), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) USDA Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production, FedEx and Southern Company—are pleased to solicit applications for the 2025 Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration program. This program will award approximately $2.5 million in grants nationwide. 

The Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration grant program seeks to develop community capacity to sustain local natural resources for future generations by providing modest financial assistance to diverse local partnerships focused on improving water quality, watersheds and the species and habitats they support. 

Projects include a variety of ecological improvements along with targeted community outreach, education and stewardship. Ecological improvements may include one or more of the following: wetland, riparian, forest and coastal habitat restoration; wildlife conservation, community tree canopy enhancement, wildlife habitat, urban agriculture and community gardens, wildlife and water quality monitoring and green infrastructure best management practices for managing run-off. 

Projects should increase access to the benefits of nature, reduce the impact of environmental hazards and engage local communities, particularly underserved communities, in project planning, outreach and implementation. This program expects that applicants will represent a mixture of urban and rural communities. NFWF may use a mix of public and private funding sources to support any grant made through this program and we expect that more than half of projects awarded will engage underserved communities.

Focus Areas

The goal of the Entergy Charitable Foundation is to support initiatives that help create and sustain thriving communities. The focus areas for foundation funding are education/workforce development, poverty solutions and environmental programs.

Education/Workforce Development

Entergy is committed to investing in the future of the communities we serve through our support for education. Education enables individuals to achieve their fullest potential and contribute positively to society. An educated, skilled, and diverse workforce is critical to Entergy’s long term success and the health and viability of the communities we serve. With our education partners, the Entergy Charitable Foundation strives to ensure that every child has access to a quality education and the skills to be successful in life.

Poverty Solutions

Entergy’s focus on poverty solutions is rooted in the economic reality of the region we serve. Our service territory encompasses areas some of the highest poverty states in the nation. The Entergy Charitable Foundation seeks to support programs that provide innovative and measurable poverty solutions and tools that help break the bonds of intergenerational poverty.

Such programs may include, but are not limited to:

• Sustaining families and self-sufficiency; 
• Technical assistance and training for non-profits;
• Housing;
• Home-ownership preparation;
• Energy management and awareness;
• Innovative use and promotion of alternative sources of energy.

Environmental Programs

Entergy is nationally recognized as an environmentally responsible utility. Entergy was the first U.S. utility to commit to voluntarily stabilizing CO2 emissions in 2000. In addition to our commitment to excellence in our environmental performance, we are committed to working with nonprofit organizations and community partners to protect, conserve and restore the natural beauty and biodiversity of regions that we serve. A large portion of Entergy's customer base and the majority of its utility infrastructure are in the Gulf Coast region, which is experiencing one of the fastest rates of wetland loss in the world, especially along Coastal Louisiana. The first line of defense to prevent further loss involves working with our communities to restore and maintain barrier islands and coastal wetlands that serve as natural protection in severe weather situations.

To that end, the Entergy Charitable Foundation seeks to invest in programs such as:

• Coastal and wetlands restoration; 
• Reforestation ;
• Stormwater management;
• Energy efficiency and renewable energy ;
• Environmental education ;
• Community resilience and mitigation.

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.

Background

McGraw Foundation, headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois, makes annual grants to not-for-profit organizations.  The Foundation’s areas of interest involve the fields of conservation, educational programs at all levels, and human services. Occasionally, grants are made in other areas such as health, medical research and cultural.

Grant requests are suggested to be within a range of $2,000 to $10,000. Grant recipients and amounts will be determined by several criteria. Naturally, availability of funds is a key factor.

The Foundation will occasionally make large grants ($25,000 or more) to support unusually promising efforts in any of its areas of interest. Innovative research, special education, and/or other activities will be considered if the Foundation’s support would assist an effort or a project in making a significant impact.

Areas of Focus

Education: Higher

The Foundation has been a pioneer in support of environmental education at the highest level by establishing three chaired professorships. 

Education: Elementary & Special

McGraw Foundation supports a wide array of organizations that focus on assisting the education and advancement of children as well as adults. McGraw Foundation also makes grants to elementary schools and organizations involved in all areas of special needs education. Funding in this arena has encompassed many organizations that provide services such as after-school tutoring, special education, and adult literacy.

In addition to F.A.I.T.H., McGraw Foundation also makes grants to elementary schools and organizations involved in all areas of special needs education. Funding in this arena has encompassed many organizations that provide services such as after-school tutoring, special education, and adult literacy.

Human Services

Since 1949, McGraw Foundation has been concerned with helping people in need. While the emphasis is on organizations serving children, funding also extends to people of all ages.

Children's issues such as these have been supported throughout the years:

• child welfare
• foster care and adoption
• family counseling
• enriching summer camps
• crisis intervention

Funding for quality-of-life issues for people of all ages has included:

• developmental disabilities
• health clinics
• domestic violence
• housing and homelessness
• job training and continued support
• seniors needs

Health & Medical 

Since its inception, McGraw Foundation has made grants in the health and medical fields.  Health and medical funding has included:

• specific medical research
• rehabilitation
• support programs for patients and their families
• medical attention for people without health insurance
• palliative care and hospice organizations

Civic & Cultural

Complimenting it's main focus on education and the environment, McGraw Foundation has supported some of Chicago's distinctive cultural and arts organizations.

Areas of interest include zoological societies' animal conservation, public communication, musical organizations, and civic organizations' promotion of science and the general welfare of society.

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.

Since 1991, MCFA has been promoting environmental causes throughout the Americas to support projects that align with four central aims:

Biodiversity Conservation

We promote the conservation of biological diversity and natural resources by supporting research, the establishment of protected areas, and strategies for valuing the natural environment such as Payments for Ecosystem Services.

Environmental Education

We support environmental education programs that raise public awareness about the environment, and foster greater appreciation for the value and scarcity of natural resources, and the importance of environmental stewardship.

Environmental Justice

We promote environmental justice by supporting the rights of marginalized communities to live in a clean and safe environment and participate in decision-making that impacts their environment. This helps to ensure that the burdens of industrial development are not unfairly imposed on those communities that are the most vulnerable to negative environmental impacts.

Sustainable Development

We support sustainable development by means of local livelihood development for communities in environmentally sensitive areas, support for small and medium size enterprises in developing countries, and by promoting sustainable business practices.

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

About

We are women from all walks of life who have come together to make a collective and significant difference in our community. Impact100 Global Veterans exists to empower women to award large grants that transform lives.

Focus Areas

• Art & Culture
  • Initiatives that cultivate, develop, enhance and preserve Veteran's artistic, cultural, and historic character.
• Education
  • Initiatives that further the educational process or improve access to education for Veterans.
• Environment, Preservation & Recreation
  • Initiatives that restore, revitalize, or enhance the environment and/or create or improve recreational opportunities for Veterans.
  • Conservation and preservation of natural resources; environmental justice; parks and recreation; agricultural sustainability; environmental education and climate action.
• Family
  • Initiatives that strengthen and enhance the lives of Veterans.
• Health & Wellness
  • Initiatives that improve the mental and/or physical well-being of Veterans.

Funding

Eligible nonprofits may submit a Letter of Intent to apply for grant funding of up to $100,000.

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.