The Tribal Climate Change Guide is part of the Pacific Northwest Tribal Climate Change Project (TCCP). The TCCP is part of the L.I.G.H.T. Foundation (LF), is an independent, Indigenous-led, conservation 501(c)(3) nonprofit established on the Colville Indian Reservation in the traditional territory of the Nespelem Tribe in present-day north central Washington State. LF supports the restoration and cultivation of native Plant and Pollinator Relatives and the culturally respectful conservation of habitats and ecosystems which are climate resilient and adaptive. For more information about LF, visit: https://thepnwlf.org/. For more information about the Tribal Climate Change Project, visit: https://tribalclimate.uoregon.edu/. If you would like to add information to this guide, please email kathy.lynn.or@gmail.com.

 

Funding

The Tribal Climate Change Funding Guide is intended to provide up-to-date information on grants, programs and plans that may assist tribes in addressing climate change through a broad range of sectors. We will update this guide regularly, so please check back often. If you have questions or updates for this guide, email: kathy.lynn.or@gmail.com. Please note that for entries that are accepting applications continuously, the grant deadline column will list "12/31/2024" as the grant deadline. This ensures that those grants will appear immediately after those grants with a set deadline.

Title Organization Sort ascending Grant Deadline Description Funding Amount Geography Website
ReConnect Loan and Grant Program

Deadline Passed 07/12/2019. Deadline Unknown for 2020. The ReConnect Program is an innovative new pilot program that offers unique federal financing and funding options in the form of loans, grants, and loan/grant combinations to facilitate broadband deployment in areas of rural America that don’t currently have sufficient access to broadband. This pilot program will generate private sector investment to deploy broadband infrastructure to provide high-speed internet e-Connectivity to as many rural premises as possible, including homes, community facilities for healthcare and public safety, schools, libraries, farms, ranches, factories, and other production sites. For those who are applying for 100% loan, the deadline is July 12, 2019. 

Categories: broadband, rural areas, infrastructure, high-speed internet, capacity building

Up to $200,000,000 is available for loan/grant combinations. The maximum amount that can be requested in an application is $25,000,000 for the loan and $25,000,000 for the grant. Loan and grant amounts will always be equal. Rural Areas Link
The Lawrence Foundation

Deadline Passed 11/01/2018. Deadline Unknown for 2019. The Lawrence Foundation is a private family foundation focused on making grants to support environmental, education, human services and other causes. Grants are awarded twice a year. The foundation makes grants to US based qualified charitable organizations. To date we have funded organizations that address the following areas of interest: Environment (US headquartered organizations operating programs in the US or elsewhere in the world),Human ServicesDisaster relief (US headquartered organizations responding to disasters in the US or elsewhere in the world on an occasional basis),Other (US headquartered organizations operating programs in the US or elsewhere in the world).

Categories: environment, human services, disaster relief

unknown National Link
Tribal Government Challenge Planning Grant Program.

Previous Deadline: 05/22/2020. Funded by the California Energy Commission (CEC) and administered by the California Strategic Growth Council (SGC), the Tribal Government Challenge Planning Grant Program will provide funds for California Tribes to conduct planning to identify solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve clean energy access, and advance climate adaptation and resiliency on Tribal lands and in Tribal communities. For more information and to apply, click here.

California Link
Drinking Water System Infrastructure Resilience and Sustainability

Deadline Passed. Most Recent Deadline: November 6, 2023. EPA is soliciting applications from eligible entities for projects in underserved communities that are disadvantaged or serve a population of less than 10,000 individuals to increase drinking water system resilience to natural hazards as described in Assistance Listing 66.448. For the purposes of this grant program, the term “resilience,” as defined in (SDWA section 1433(h) and incorporated by reference in SDWA section 1459A, means the ability of a community water system or an asset of a community water system, for example the equipment, buildings, land, people, and other components needed to deliver safe and clean water, to adapt to or withstand the effects of a natural hazard without interruption to the corresponding function, or if the function is interrupted, to rapidly return to a normal operating condition. For the purposes of this grant program, the term “natural hazard” means a natural event, such as an earthquake, tornado, flood, hurricane, wildfire, drought, freezing or hydrologic change that threatens the functioning of a community water system, as defined in Section 1433(h) of the SDWA and incorporated by reference in section 1459A. When considering these natural disaster threats, a public water system may take into account risks associated with climate change to ensure that resilience-building activities address future conditions such as increasing or decreasing temperatures, changes in precipitation, and, where applicable, sea-level rise. The goal of the first National Priority Area is to increase drinking water system resilience by implementing smaller-scale resilience projects informed by drinking water system plans. The goal of the second National Priority Area is to improve drinking water system resilience through large-scale infrastructure improvements and/or optimization of mitigation measures at a drinking water system.

Categories: Conservation of water or the enhancement of water use efficiency
Modification or relocation of existing drinking water system infrastructure significantly impaired by natural hazards
Design or construction of desalination facilities to serve existing communities
Enhancement of water supply through watershed management and source water protection
Enhancement of energy efficiency or the use and generation of renewable energy in the conveyance or treatment of drinking water
Measures to increase the resilience of the drinking water system to natural hazards, including planning for analytical considerations and climate change

National Link
FWS National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program FY 2015

Deadline passed as of June 30, 2017. Deadline for 2018 unknown. The Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act (Section 305, Title III, Public Law 101‐646, 16 U.S.C. 3954) established the National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program (NCWCGP) to acquire, restore, and enhance wetlands in coastal States through competitive matching grants to State agencies. The primary goal of the NCWCGP is the long‐term conservation of coastal wetland ecosystems. In FY 2013, the NCWCGP will fund 24 to 26 individual projects encompassing 4,690 to 5,500 acres of coastal habitat.

Categories: Wetlands, Coasts, Conservation

$25,000-$1,000,000. Northwest, Southwest, Northeast, Southeast, National, Alaska, Coastal Link
NCAI Business Stabilization Grant

Deadline passed. Application window will be open until funds are exhausted. With generous support from Google.org, NCAI is issuing business stabilization grants in the amount of $5,000 each to a total of 28 selected Native-owned small businesses that have been severely impacted by the curtailing of commercial activity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Awarded applicants can use the funds to address their most urgent needs to stabilize and strengthen their businesses, such as (but not limited to): making monthly payments on small business loans that have lapsed due to declining business revenues; keeping employees employed; paying their vendors; and/or purchasing equipment/software to transition or grow their businesses online. APPLICATION DEADLINE: Rolling application process; application window will remain open until all funds are exhausted.

Categories: COVID-19, business stabilization

$5000 Link
Great Lakes Climate Assessment Grants

GLISA is soliciting proposals from organizations that will engage networks of stakeholders in science-grounded processes to identify, assess, and/or resolve climate-related problems or management issues.

Categories: Natural Resource Management

$25,000-$50,000 Northeast, Midwest, International, Canada, Great Lakes Link