Funding

Rolling Deadline. Alaska Conservation Foundation’s Indigenous Fund (previously called the Travel Fund) supports conservation organizations on the ground addressing critical conservation issues. The current focus of the Indigenous Voices Fund is protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Bristol Bay, the Tongass National Forest, and efforts to prevent hardrock mining across Alaska. The Indigenous Fund enables key staff to travel to hearings, testify in front of decision-makers, and reach important audiences that require travel to/from Alaska, including rural Alaska, as well as Washington DC.

Categories: Environmental Justice, travel

The Russell Family Foundation aims to protect and restore Puget Sound by supporting an environmental education program. They support organizations that provide opportunities for outdoor environmental education experiences throughout Puget Sound. These organizations deliver outdoor experiential learning to students in 5th through 12th grade who live in urbanized areas.

Categories: Restoration, Conservation

Applications accepted throughout the year. CSU aids local rural communities, connected through a peer learning network, by offering training, expertise, and support in climate adaptation planning. Through this training, expertise, and support, CSU strengthens local leadership, public engagement, and ecosystem protection efforts in rural communities.

Categories: Adaptation

Applications Accepted Continuously. The Hewlett Foundation’s Environment Program is committed to reducing these emissions to avoid the most severe effects of climate change. We pursue our goal with strategies in the following areas: Clean Power--Increase renewable energy and energy efficiency while reducing fossil fuel development and use for electricity generation.Clean transportation--Increase fuel efficiency and access to transit, biking and walking options, while constraining the growth of high-carbon fossil fuels for transportation. Building broad support--Engage diverse members of the public. The Hewlett Foundation also has a grant program dedicated to conserving land in the US West.

Categories: Conservation, Energy efficiency, Sustainable Development

Deadline passed as of May 21, 2017. Deadline for 2018 unknown. Floods, drought, heat waves and other extreme weather events pose potential losses to persons and communities: losses in life and health, economic damages, displacement, and reduced access to basic needs and services, such as water, food, energy, and education. Disaster risk reduction (DRR) entails systematic efforts to reduce those factors in our societies that amplify the impacts of natural hazards. It includes such actions as building more resilient infrastructures, investing in disaster preparedness and in early warning systems, developing new tools such as micro insurances and nature-based solutions, among many others. Disaster risk reduction, with its aim to strengthen the resilience of communities to all hazards, is an essential piece of the sustainable development agenda.

Categories: climate change, management, planning, policy, conservation

Deadline Passed 8/15/2016. Deadline for 2018 unknown. The Affordable Green Neighborhoods Grant Program will award grants and provide educational resources to affordable housing developers and related public agencies who choose to pursue LEED 2009 for Neighborhood Development certification. Preference will be given to qualifying projects that meet additional goals, including the redevelopment of infill and previously developed sites, effort to strengthen the surrounding neighborhoods, commitment to engage stakeholders in the development process, and the provision of green housing for a range of income levels.

Categories: Energy

The Funders’ Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities (TFN) announces round 3 of the Local Sustainability Matching Fund. The Matching Fund is intended both to support significant urban sustainability projects and to build bridges between public sector sustainability leaders and local foundations. The Fund will provide matching investments from national foundations on a competitive basis to build partnerships between sustainability directors and local place-based foundations to advance discrete sustainability initiatives that demonstrate broad-based community support and engagement.

Categories: Development, Sustainability

RFP closed. Expect Announcement before Winter 2016. Wells Fargo and the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation seek to promote sustainable communities through Environmental Solutions for Communities by supporting highly-visible projects that link economic development and community well-being to the stewardship and health of the environment. Funding priorities include 'greening' traditional infrastructure and public projects such as storm water management and flood control, urban forestry, and education and training of community leaders on sustainable practices.

Categories: Economic development, Sustainable Development

Deadline passed. Most recent deadline: August 26, 2022. In collaboration with Tahoma Peak Solutions, a Native woman-owned firm focused on empowering and building up communities in Indian Country, Newman’s Own Foundation has issued a request for proposals built on the strengths of Native communities to enhance nutrition security for Native youth. Examples of projects include but are not limited to: coalition building and goal setting; advocacy, education, and relationship building with key stakeholders and policy makers; gardens at youth centers and schools; youth culture camps focusing on traditional foods and/or gardening; educational sessions on traditional food cultures, harvesting, processing, and foodways; internship programs that develop Native youth leadership; support for Native youth attendance at relevant conferences or convenings; development of related programming at meetings or conferences; and films, storytelling, and art related to Native youth and food. The deadline to submit the eligibility quiz is August 26, 2022, with applications due September 15, 2022. Learn more and apply here.

Categories: Agriculture, food security, traditional foods, youth

Deadline for 2018 past. Deadline for 2019 unknown. The 2018-2019 Wildfire Risk Reduction Grant Program grant cycle will give priority to applicants who request funding for outreach and education projects (i.e. Fire Adaptive Communities, Firewise, Ready, Set, Go) that encourage reducing wildfire risk on private lands and can show a direct benefit to BLM lands. The program is also encouraging CWPP updates for plans that are more than five years old. Requirements for CWPP updates are included with the program information. A limited number of hazardous fuel reduction projects will be considered and should focus on treatments to private lands with a direct benefit to BLM lands.

Categories: wildfire, risk reduction, BLM lands, education, hazards

Network for Landscape Conservation 2025 Catalyst Fund Request for Proposals. Applications Due: May 16, 2025. The purpose of the Catalyst Fund is to accelerate the pace and practice of landscape conservation and stewardship across the United States. The Fund makes strategic investments in strengthening the collaborative capacity of place-based, community-grounded Landscape Partnerships. Through generous support from the Doris Duke Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Catalyst Fund will distribute approximately $400,000 this year through competitive grants to Landscape Partnerships that stand at pivotal points in their development. Funded Partnerships will also be invited to participate in a two-year peer learning program.  A portion of the Catalyst Fund is dedicated to supporting Indigenous leadership in landscape conservation and stewardship. We especially invite Partnerships that are led by Tribes and/or Indigenous organizations and communities to apply. For more information, visit: https://landscapeconservation.org/catalyst-fund/

Categories: Landscape conservation, collaboration, capacity-building

Deadline passed. Most recent deadline: May 16, 2023. The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Division of Preservation and Access is accepting applications for the Cultural and Community Resilience program. This program supports community-based efforts to mitigate climate change and COVID-19 pandemic impacts, safeguard cultural resources, and foster cultural resilience through identifying, documenting, and/or collecting cultural heritage and community experience. The program prioritizes projects from disadvantaged communities in the United States or its jurisdictions, and NEH encourages applications that employ inclusive methodologies. The deadline has been extended. Apply here.

Categories: cultural heritage, community, resilience

Most recent deadline: July 17, 2024. Applicants must first register before July 15, 2024 at 5:00 p.m. US CST to ensure a timely submission. Community Self-Determination Grants are intended to support community-based and community- driven sustainable solutions in all three of NDN Collective’s core strategies to Defend, Develop and Decolonize. Grants are intended to  support and invest in the long-term visions, sustainability, and power building of Indigenous Nations, communities and Indigenous-led organizations, fortifying the self-determination of Indigenous Peoples to create a just, equitable, and sustainable world for all people and the planet. Significant, flexible, multi-year funding will include the infusion of general operating support, power building, capital and holistic support for comprehensive initiatives and specific programs.

Categories: decolonization, resilience, sustainability, community, culture

NDN Collective Community Action Fund. Rolling Applications through October 31, 2025. The 2025 Community Action Fund Grant Cycle is Now Open! With grants up to $20,000 USD the Community Action Fund (CAF) grantsupports Indigenous-led direct actions and organizing efforts that are often urgent and time sensitive. The CAF prioritizes frontline, grassroots and community-based efforts that defend Indigenous Peoples’ rights, communities and Nations, including responses to climate disasters. https://ndncollective.org/community-action-fund/

Categories: climate justice, tribal sovereignty, community action

Deadline passed as of June 2, 2017. Deadline for 2018 unknown. The purpose of CIG is to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies, while leveraging the Federal investment in environmental enhancement and protection in conjunction with agricultural production. CIG projects are expected to lead to the transfer of conservation technologies, management systems, and innovative approaches (such as market-based systems) into NRCS technical manuals and guides or to the private sector. CIG is used to apply or demonstrate previously proven technology in order to increase adoption with an emphasis on opportunities to scale proven, emerging conservation strategies. CIG promotes sharing of skills, knowledge, technologies, and facilities among communities, governments, and other institutions to ensure that scientific and technological developments are accessible to a wider range of users. CIG funds projects targeting innovative on-the-ground conservation, including pilot projects and field demonstrations.

Categories: climate change, sustainability, conservation, management, prevention, restoration

Deadline Passed 10/31/2019. Deadline Unknown for 2020. Natural disasters have become more frequent in Indian Country over the past several years. Tribal nations and their citizens have endured tremendous loss of life, livelihood, and property. However, the federal government has restricted the avenues for tribal nations to access disaster relief funds. Even when tribal nations access disaster relief funds often they are not flexible enough to meet all of the tribal nation’s needs on the ground. The NCAI Disaster Relief Microgrants are shaped to flexibly cover the needs of tribal nations and/or tribal citizens (who live near their nations) that have been impacted by recent natural disasters such as, tornadoes, wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes, severe storms, severe winds, blizzards, etc. 

Categories: natural disasters, impacts, refleif funds

Deadline passed. Most recent deadline: May 12, 2022. Na’ah Illahee Fund supports the development of strong Rights of Nature work led by Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest region who are the protectors of this land. The NIF grantmaking committee will select 5 individuals or groups to receive funding and participate in a series of online workshops to facilitate the advancement of community-led projects that advance Rights of Nature strategies. Awards are up to $20,000 (up to 5 awardees). Please contact joni@naahillahee.org with any questions. Learn more and apply here.

Categories: Rights of nature, environmental stewardship, cultural teaching, community-led, innovation

Indigenous Lifeways Fund. Most recent deadline: November 25, 2024. Indigenous Lifeways Fund, dedicated to supporting Indigenous-led projects that foster healing, promote environmental justice, and uplift traditional knowledge in our communities. Proposals accepted on a rolling basis. First round deadline to apply: Nov. 25, 2024. We welcome proposals for Indigenous-led projects in areas such as: Environmental Justice: Restoring ecosystems, improving water and air quality, and addressing pollution in frontline communities; Food Security and Sovereignty: Restoring traditional food systems, from gardening and hunting to seed saving and community food sharing; Green Infrastructure: Clean energy projects, composting, and other sustainable practices that protect Mother Earth; Youth Leadership: Initiatives that foster the transfer of Traditional Knowledge from elders to youth, ensuring our lifeways continue to thrive; MMIR (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives): Campaigns and educational projects raising awareness and supporting justice for MMIR. For more information, visit: https://naahillahee.org/indigenous-lifeways-fund/?blm_aid=1053448. The Indigenous Lifeways Fund seeks to support Indigenous-led projects and activities that:

• Promote healing and wellness in Indigenous communities
• Transfer Traditional Knowledge to future generations
• Address barriers to community-led problem-solving
• Advance environmental justice and regenerative economies                                                                                                                                   

Categories: Environmental justice, Indigenous lifeways, traditional knowledge

Deadline passed. Most recent deadline: October 7, 2022. The Natural Hazards Center, with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Science Foundation, is calling for proposals focused on studying public health preparedness, response, and resilience to disasters in inhabited U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, tribal areas, and rural communities across the United States. Proposals can focus on one location or offer comparisons across regions. Learn more including the steps to apply here.

Categories: public health, resilience, disaster preparedness, research

Most Recent Deadline: June 28, 2024. Native Voices Rising (NVR) is a project of Common Counsel Foundation and Native Americans in Philanthropy. NVR provides general operating support grants that are intended to strengthen Native-led organizations that are building community leadership and power to improve the wellbeing of their communities. Eligible organizations are rooted in a Native community, led by Native people, hold a vision for change that improves the lives of Native community members, engage large numbers of community members to take action together and seek to improve the policies and rules that impact the community.

Categories: community building, development, community health, community engagement

Deadline Passed 09/01/2018. On October 2, 2017 (The Trust Effective Date, or TED), the United States District Court approved the final Mitigation Trust Agreements, completing the settlement with automaker Volkswagen AG (VW), to resolve allegations that VW violated the Clean Air Act (CAA) by selling diesel-engine cars that produced excess emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx). The Mitigation Trust Agreements are designed to reduce NOx emissions from other diesel engine vehicles, thereby mitigating the effects of the VW violations. All 567 federally-recognized Tribes can apply for beneficiary status.

Categories: NOx emission reduction, mitigation

Most recent deadline: March 22, 2024. The Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP) is a $3 billion program, from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Consolidated Appropriations Act, to support Tribal governments bringing high-speed Internet to Tribal lands, including telehealth, distance learning, affordability, and digital inclusion initiatives. The program seeks to improve quality of life, spur economic development, and create opportunities for remote employment, online entrepreneurship, remote learning, and telehealth by expanding broadband access and by providing digital training and inclusion programs to Native American communities.

Categories: Broadband, communications, internet

Deadline Passed. Most recent deadline: January 23, 2024. The Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP) is a $3 billion program, from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Consolidated Appropriations Act, to support Tribal governments bringing high-speed Internet to Tribal lands, including telehealth, distance learning, affordability, and digital inclusion initiatives. The program seeks to improve quality of life, spur economic development, and create opportunities for remote employment, online entrepreneurship, remote learning, and telehealth by expanding broadband access and by providing digital training and inclusion programs to Native American communities. This second round of funding from the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program will make approximately $980 million available on Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian lands for deployment of Internet infrastructure, affordability programs, telehealth and distance learning initiatives.

Recent Deadline: 03/05/2021. Build and Broaden 2.0 is designed to support fundamental research in the SBE sciences by scholars at minority-serving institutions (MSIs). Proposals are invited from single Principal Investigators based at MSIs and from multiple co-investigators from a group of MSIs. Principal Investigators who are not affiliated with MSIs may submit proposals, but must collaborate with PIs, co-PIs, or Senior Personnel from MSIs and describe how their project will foster research partnerships or capacity-building with at least one MSI as a primary goal of the proposed work. Proposals may address any of the scientific areas supported by SBE.

Categories: scholars, science, STEM,

Deadline Passed 08/19/2019. Deadline Unknown for 2020. The Decision, Risk and Management Sciences program supports scientific research directed at increasing the understanding and effectiveness of decision making by individuals, groups, organizations, and society. Disciplinary and interdisciplinary research, doctoral dissertation research improvement grants (DDRIGs), and workshops are funded in the areas of judgment and decision making; decision analysis and decision aids; risk analysis, perception, and communication; societal and public policy decision making; management science and organizational design. The program also supports small grants that are time-critical (Rapid Response Research - RAPID) and small grants that are high-risk and of a potentially transformative nature (EArly-Concept Grants for Exploratory Research - EAGER).

Categories: research, decision making, public policy, science

Most Recent Deadline: June 1, 2024. The Confronting Hazards, Impacts and Risks for a Resilient Planet Program (CHIRRP) invites projects focusing on innovative and transformative research that advances Earth system hazard knowledge and risk mitigation in partnership with affected communities. Hazards compounded by changing climates, rising populations, expanding demands for resources, aging infrastructure, and increasing reliance on technology are putting our economy, well-being, and national security at risk.

CHIRRP projects will demonstrate convergence of three essential elements: (1) Equitable Community Partnerships; (2) an Earth System Science approach to advance knowledge of hazards, impacts, and risks and (3) Actionable Solutions that increase resilience.

Categories: Earth system hazards, risk mitigation

Deadline Passsed 09/26/2018. Deadline Unknown for 2019. Humanity is reliant upon the physical resources and natural systems of the Earth for the provision of food, energy, and water (FEW). It is becoming imperative that we determine how society can best integrate across the natural and built environments to provide for a growing demand for food, water and energy while maintaining appropriate ecosystem services. The overarching goal of INFEWS is to catalyze the well-integrated interdisciplinary research efforts to transform scientific understanding of the FEW nexus in order to improve system function and management, address system stress, increase resilience, and ensure sustainability. This interagency cooperation allows the partner agencies - National Science Foundation (NSF) and the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA/NIFA) - to combine resources to identify and fund the most meritorious and highest-impact projects that support their respective missions.

Categories: food, energy, water, natural resources, environmental health, resilience, sustainability

Deadline Passed 4/17/2018. Deadline Unknown for 2019. Cultivating Cultures for Ethical STEM (CCE STEM) funds research projects that identify (1) factors that are effective in the formation of ethical STEM researchers and (2) approaches to developing those factors in all the fields of science and engineering that NSF supports. CCE STEM solicits proposals for research that explores the following: ‘What constitutes responsible conduct for research (RCR), and which cultural and institutional contexts promote ethical STEM research and practice and why?' Factors one might consider include: honor codes, professional ethics codes and licensing requirements, an ethic of service and/or service learning, life-long learning requirements, curricula or memberships in organizations (e.g. Engineers without Borders) that stress responsible conduct for research, institutions that serve under-represented groups, institutions where academic and research integrity are cultivated at multiple levels, institutions that cultivate ethics across the curriculum, or programs that promote group work, or do not grade. Do certain labs have a ‘culture of academic integrity'? What practices contribute to the establishment and maintenance of ethical cultures and how can these practices be transferred, extended to, and integrated into other research and learning settings? Proposals for awards from minority-serving institutions (e.g. Tribal Colleges and Universities, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Alaska Native or Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions), women's colleges, and institutions primarily serving persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged.

Categories: STEM, culture, research, development, underrepresented groups, integration

Deadline passed. Most recent deadline: 10/12/2021. The National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR) seeks to support bold, ground-breaking, and potentially transformative projects addressing systemic racism in STEM. Proposals should advance racial equity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce development through research (both fundamental and applied) and practice. Core to this funding opportunity is that proposals are led by, or developed and led in authentic partnership with, individuals and communities most impacted by the inequities caused by systemic racism. https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/racial-equity-stem-education…

Categories: Equity, STEM

Deadline passed as of November 3, 2016. Deadline for 2017 unknown. 2017 Preservation Technology and Training Grants (PTT Grants) are intended to create better tools, better materials, and better approaches to conserving buildings, landscapes, sites, and collections. PTT Grants will support the following activities: Innovative research that develops new technologies or adapts existing technologies to preserve cultural resources (typically $25,000 to $40,000). Specialized workshops or symposia that identify and address national preservation needs (typically $15,000 to $25,000). How-to videos, mobile applications, podcasts, best practices publications, or webinars that disseminate practical preservation methods or provide better tools for preservation practice (typically $5,000 to $15,000).

Categories: historic preservation, cultural preservation, curator, conservation