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@uoregon.edu. 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 Grant Deadline Description Funding Amount Sort descending Geography Website
Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program Office of State and Community Energy Programs

Deadline Passed. Most Recent Deadline: January 31, 2024. Tribes can use flexible EECBG Program funding for projects and programs that cut carbon emissions, improve energy efficiency and reduce energy use. Tribal governments submit an EECBG Program Formula Application and receive their funds as a grant to utilize on an eligible activity of their choice. The funding has already been put aside, but a pre-award information sheets must be filled out and received by July 31, 2023. Final application period for Local and Tribal applicantions ends January 31, 2024. Read the final allocation of funds here.

Categories: energy, greenhouse gas, carbon emissions, energy efficiency

Varies National Link
FY 2023 Competitive Funding Opportunity; Low or No Emission Vehicle Program Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration

Deadline passed. Most recent deadline: April 13, 2023. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the availability of approximately $1.22 billion in competitive grants under the Low or No Emission Grant Program (Low-No Program) for the purchase or lease of zero-emission and low-emission transit buses, including acquisition, construction, and leasing of required supporting facilities. Funds remain available for obligation for four fiscal years. This includes the fiscal year in which the amount is made available or appropriated plus three additional years. Apply here.

Categories: carbon emissions, transportation, transit facilities, clean energy, IIJA

Varies National Link
Safeguarding Tomorrow Revolving Loan Fund Program FEMA

Deadline passed. Most recent deadline: April 28, 2023. The Safeguarding Tomorrow through Ongoing Risk Mitigation (STORM) Act became law on Jan. 1, 2021 and authorizes FEMA to provide capitalization grants to states, eligible federally recognized tribes, territories and the District of Columbia to establish revolving loan funds that provide hazard mitigation assistance for local governments to reduce risks from natural hazards and disasters. These low interest loans will allow jurisdictions to reduce vulnerability to natural disasters, foster greater community resilience and reduce disaster suffering. Federally recognized tribes that received a major disaster declaration are eligible to apply. Currently, this includes 20 tribal nations.

Categories: hazard mitigation, technical assistance, drought, extreme heat, storms, wildfire, flood, earthquake, community resilience

Varies National, US territories Link
Clean Air Act Grants under the Inflation Reduction Act EPA

Deadline passed. Most recent deadline: April 17, 2023. EPA's Office of Air and Radiation is announcing approximately $25,000,000 in Clean Air Act (CAA) grants under section 60105(f) "Funding to Address Air Pollution: Clean Air Act Grants" of the Inflation Reduction Act. These funds will supplement annual funding for air pollution control agencies in support of activities under Clean Air Act Section 103. The funds will support efforts by air pollution control agencies and other organizations to partner with EPA to deliver cleaner air through programs that address air quality, transportation, indoor air, and climate change. Other activities may include planning and preparation for implementing other Inflation Reduction Act provisions. EPA regional offices will contact eligible entities about how to apply via Grants.gov.

Categories: air quality, pollution, non-competitive, IRA, transportation, GHG emissions

Varies National Link
Grid Resilience Formula Grants Department of Energy 6/17/2024

Grid Resilience Formula Grants. Applications Extended to June 17, 2024. Department of Energy (DOE) issued an amendment to the Administrative and Legal Requirements Document (ALRD) for the Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants Program, extending the deadline for States, Indian Tribes, and Territories to apply for grants and request allocations to Monday, June 17, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. ET.   The original deadline was today, April 17th.  The deadline extension reflects stakeholder feedback and provides additional time for States, Indian Tribes, and Territories to prepare applications. Applicants should submit their applications as soon as they are ready.  Applications will be processed on a rolling basis as they are received, and grants may be awarded prior to the June 17, 2024 deadline. For more information, visit: https://www.energy.gov/gdo/grid-resilience-statetribal-formula-grants-program

Categories: energy, infrastructure, grid, BIL

Varies National Link
Carbon Capture Large-Scale Pilot Projects DOE, Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED)

Deadline passed. Most recent deadline: July 7, 2023. Deadline for Concept Papers passed: April 5, 2023. The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED), in collaboration with the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) and National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), is issuing this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for Carbon Capture Large-Scale Pilot Projects. Awards made under this FOA will be funded with funds appropriated by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, more commonly known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). Carbon capture large-scale pilot projects will provide the support needed to test novel technologies at intermediate scale and under relevant conditions in both the power and industrial sector to:De-risk transformational carbon capture technologies and address community concerns through meaningful engagement and robust analysis of impacts, risks and benefits such as emissions, water usage, and jobs; andCatalyze significant follow-on investments from the private sector for first-of-a-kind (FOAK) commercial-scale demonstrations on carbon emission sources across the power and industrial sectors.

Categories: BIL, infrastructure, carbon, energy, GHG

Varies National, International Link
Public Transportation on Indian Reservations Program Department of Transportation

Most Recent Deadline: June 26, 2023. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the opportunity to apply for $8.9 million in competitive grants for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Public Transportation on Indian Reservations (Tribal Transit) Program. As required by Federal public transportation law, funds will be awarded competitively for any purpose eligible under FTA’s Formula Grants for Rural Areas Program, including planning, capital, and operating assistance for tribal public transit services in rural areas.  FTA may award additional funding that is made available to the program prior to the announcement of project selections. Applicants must provide transit service in a rural area with a population of less than 50,000.  A service area can include some portions of urban areas, as long as rural areas are also served.

Categories: public transit, BIL, infrastructure, rural

Varies National Link
Green and Resilient Retrofit Program US Department of Housing and Urban Development

Most Recent Deadline through March 2024. Part of the Inflation Reduction Act, the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program provides funding for direct loans and grants to fund projects that improve energy or water efficiency, enhance indoor air quality or sustainability, implement the use of zero-emission electricity generation, low-emission building materials or processes, energy storage, or building electrification strategies, or address climate resilience, of eligible HUD-assisted multifamily properties. Eligible owners primarily include owners receiving HUD rental assistance under Multifamily Section 8 project-based rental assistance, Section 202 Supportive Housing for Low-Income Elderly, and Section 811 Supportive Housing for Low-Income Persons with Disabilities. There are three different paths/cohorts depending on the properties' stages of development.

Categories: development, property, infrastructure, IRA, retrofit

Varies National Link
Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) USDA 12/31/2024

Deadline: Year round with periodic ranking cycles announced. The Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) protects the agricultural viability and related conservation values of eligible land by limiting nonagricultural uses which negatively affect agricultural uses and conservation values, protect grazing uses and related conservation values by restoring or conserving eligible grazing land, and protecting and restoring and enhancing wetlands on eligible land. ACEP has two components:Agricultural Land Easements (ALE) help private and tribal landowners, land trusts, and other entities such as state and local governments protect croplands and grasslands on working farms and ranches by limiting non-agricultural uses of the land through conservation easements.Wetland Reserve Easements (WRE) help private and tribal landowners protect, restore and enhance wetlands which have been previously degraded due to agricultural uses. 

Categories: IRA, farmland, conservation, wetlands

Varies National Link
Indigenous Animals Harvesting and Meat Processing Grant (IAG) Program USDA

Deadline passed. Most recent deadline: July 19, 2023. The Indigenous Animals Harvesting and Meat Processing Grant (IAG) Program will provide up to $50 million to improve tribal nations’ food and agricultural supply chain resiliency by developing and expanding value-added infrastructure related to meat from indigenous animals like bison, reindeer or salmon. The program will fund projects that focus on expanding local capacity for the harvesting, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling or distribution of indigenous meats.

Categories: food sovereignty, capacity building, infrastructure

Varies National Link
Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-Saving Transportation Department of Transportation

Most Recent Deadline: August 18, 2023. The purpose of the PROTECT Formula and Discretionary Grant programs is to plan for and strengthen surface transportation to be more resilient to natural hazards, including climate change, sea level rise, flooding, extreme weather events, and other natural disasters through formula and competitive discretionary grants. Funding areas include: planning grants, resilience improvement grants, community resilience and evacuation route grants, and at-risk coastal infrastructure grants.

Categories: roads, infrastructure, transportation, BIL

Varies National Link
Climate Commitment Act Tribal Consultation Capacity Grant Program State of Washington Department of Ecology

Deadline passed. Most recent deadline: July 18, 2023. This is a non-competitive grant program to support Tribes to engage in the consultation process on spending decisions from accounts created in the Climate Commitment Act (CCA). Funds will be distributed equally among all tribes with accepted applications. The Legislature appropriated $16 million for the 2023-2025 biennium. $4 million will be made available during this application window. The remaining $12 million will be distributed in fall 2023, via a distribution method  being developed by the Governor’s Office of Indian Affairs (GOIA).

Categories: non-competitive, consultation, assistance, Washington Climate Commitment Act

Varies ‎Washington State Link
Climate Commitment Act Tribal Carbon Offset Assistance Grants State of Washington Department of Ecology

Deadline passed. Most recent deadline: July 18, 2023. This is a competitive grant program for Tribes to design, assess the feasibility of, and implement carbon offset projects within Washington State. These funds are intended to increase the number of offset projects developed on tribal land within the state. Up to $5,000,000 is available for the 2023-2025 biennium. Per the CCA, offsets can make up 8% of compliance obligation through 2026. Of that 3% must be on tribal lands. After that it is reduced to 6% and 2%, respectively, through 2030.

Categories: Washington Climate Commitment Act, assessment, carbon offset

Varies Washington state Link
Wetland Reserve Easements U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service 1/1/2025

Funding Available: Natural Resources Conservation Service offers technical & financial assistance to help farmers, ranchers and forest landowners. Land eligible includes privately held wetlands that were previously degraded due to agricultural uses and can be restored. 

Types of Projects: To enroll land through wetland reserve easements, NRCS enters into purchase agreements with eligible private landowners or Indian tribes that include the right for NRCS to develop and implement a Wetland Reserve Plan of Operations (WRPO).

Wetland Reserve enrollment options include:

  • Permanent Easements – Permanent easements are conservation easements in perpetuity. NRCS pays 100 percent of the easement value for the purchase of the easement. Additionally, NRCS pays between 75 to 100 percent of the restoration costs.
  • 30-year Easements – 30-year easements expire after 30 years. Under 30-year easements, NRCS pays 50 to 75 percent of the easement value for the purchase of the easement. Additionally, NRCS pays between 50 to 75 percent of the restoration costs.  
  • Term Easements - Term easements are easements that are for the maximum duration allowed under applicable State laws. NRCS pays 50 to 75 percent of the easement value for the purchase of the term easement. Additionally, NRCS pays between 50 to 75 percent of the restoration costs.
  • 30-year Contracts – 30-year contracts are only available to enroll acreage owned by Indian tribes and program payment rates are commensurate with 30-year easements.

Categories: Easement

Varies National Link
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality Materials Grants Program Oregon Department of Environmental Quality

Recent Deadline: October 10, 2020. Since 1991, DEQ has awarded over $9 million in materials management grants. Grants are for projects that reduce impacts across the full cycle of materials and products. The lifecycle of materials and products includes product design, raw material extraction, manufacturing, transport, consumption, use, reuse, repair, recovery through recycling, composting or anaerobic digestion, and disposal.

Categories: material management, waste management, recycling, sustainbility

Varies - 2019 $600,000 was awarded to seventeen organizations Oregon Link
Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) Pilot Demonstrations DOE, Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy

Deadline for Full Applications passed. Most recent deadline: June 16, 2023. Deadline for Letters of Intent passed March 8, 2023. The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Geothermal Technologies Office’s (GTO) 2022 Enhanced Geothermal ShotTM analysis, building on the 2019 GeoVision report, concludes that with aggressive technology improvements, in areas relevant to enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), geothermal power generation could provide 90 gigawatts-electric (GWe) firm, flexible power to the U.S. grid by 2050. The objective of this funding opportunity announcement is to identify and develop EGS pilot demonstration projects in a variety of geologic formations and subsurface conditions. As such, this FOA has three topic areas that are addressed:Topic 1-EGS Proximal Demonstrations: EGS demonstrations utilizing existing infrastructure proximal to existing geothermal / hydrothermal development with immediate potential for electrical power production.Topic Area 2: EGS Green Field Demonstrations: Sites with no existing geothermal development and potential for shallow sedimentary, igneous and/or mixed metamorphic rock EGS with near-term electrical power production potential.Topic Area 3: Super-hot / Supercritical EGS Demonstrations: Super-hot/ supercritical EGS demonstrations located at well-characterized sites with existing well(s) in place and with near-term electrical power production potential.Topic Area 4 (not being accepted for this round of applications): Eastern-US EGS Demonstrations: EGS stimulation demonstration located at a well-characterized Eastern U.S. site, with existing well(s) in place and near-term electrical power and heat production potential.

Categories: geothermal energy, BIL, infrastructure,

Varies between $5 million to $25 million National, International Link
Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) Renewable Energy Systems in Oregon Grants USDA, RD 12/31/2024

Rolling deadline. REAP (formerly known as the "006" program) offers grants and/or loan guarantees for the purchase and installation of renewable energy generating systems. Assistance is limited to small businesses, farmers and ranchers. Projects must be located in a rural area. REAP grants and guarantees may be used individually or in combination. Together, they may finance up to 75 percent of a project's total cost. Grants can never finance more than 25 percent if a project or $500,000 -- whichever is less. While applications are accepted continuously, funding is not always available. Please see website for opportunity to sign up to be notified about funding availability.

Categories: Renewable energy, Rural Development, IRA

Varies, includes loans Oregon, Northwest Link
ITC Native American Natural Resource Research Scholarship The Intertribal Timber Council (ITC), USDA

Deadline passed. Most recent deadline: varies by scholarship. The ITC Education Scholarship is designed to support tribally relevant, natural resource based, research being conducted by Native American scholars enrolled in a graduate program.

Categories: scholarship, natural resources

Varies, not to exceed $5,000 National Link
Agriculture and Food Research Initiative - Water for Agriculture Challenge Area USDA

Deadline passed as of August 4, 2016. Deadline for 2017 unknown. This AFRI Challenge Area addresses critical water resources issues such as drought, excess soil moisture, flooding, quality and others in an agricultural context. Funding will be used to develop management practices, technologies, and tools for farmers, ranchers, forest owners and managers, public decision makers, public and private managers, and citizens to improve water resource quantity and quality. The long-term goal of the AFRI Water for Agriculture Challenge Area is to tackle critical water issues by developing both regional systems for the sustainable use and reuse, flow and management of water, and at the watershed and farm scales, water issues focused on production and environmental sustainability efforts. Project types supported within this Challenge area are multi-function Integrated Research, Education, and/or Extension Projects and Food and Agricultural Enhancement (FASE) Grants.

Categories: Water Resources, Drought, Flooding, Water Quality, Agriculture

varies, total program funding $10,700,000 National Link
BLM CA Experimental Mesoscale Forecast Products for Fire Weather, Smoke Dispersion, Transport, Fire Danger, Fire Behavior BLM

Deadline passed as of August 11, 2017. Deadline for 2018 unknown. Perform research and studies pertaining to wildland fire and resource management, to develop products and tools for all levels of decision making to meet the objectives of the National Fire Plan, and to seek information to improve decision making in wildland fire management.

Categories: wildland fire, wildfire, hazard, risk, prevention, fuels, management, climate change,

Varies.
California Link
The Employees Community Fund (ECF) of The Boeing Company Boeing

Deadline passed. Application deadlines dependent on state requirements. Qualifying charitable or educational organizations can apply for grants from the Employees Community Fund (ECF) of The Boeing Company, which has been empowering employees to pool their tax-deductible donations for greater impact for more than 60 years. Employee advisory boards work to locally distribute combined employee donations, which are made through recurring payroll deductions or one-time gifts, to nonprofits in their community. Boeing pays all administrative costs so 100 percent of every employee dollar helps strengthen local communities. ECF grants have gone toward community projects such as aiding the homeless, stocking food banks, helping at-risk children succeed in school, providing job training for the unemployed, funding critical health services, supporting veterans programs and more.

Categories: climate change, environmental protection, conservation, community, human health, social justice

Varies. United States, International Link
Compton Foundation Grants Compton Foundation

The Compton Foundation has a unique approach to giving, making grants to groups based on two categories of work—leadership and storytelling. But giving goes to progressive social change, toward a “peaceful, just, and sustainable world.” Within that goal, a considerable amount goes toward the environment and curbing climate change. As of the beginning of 2018, we have closed our online inquiry system, and we have moved to an invitation-only grantmaking process. Visit website for more information. 

Categories: climate change, community, adaption, planning, storytelling, oral history, social justice

Varies. National Link
Northeast Resilient Landscapes Fund (Rolling Basis) Doris Duke Charitable Foundation

As changing climate threatens to unravel decades of work to protect wildlife habitats, land protection must focus on the places most likely to harbor plants and animals. Recognizing that challenge, we launched the Resilient Landscapes Initiative to integrate climate science into conservation planning and to protect resilient landscapes throughout the eastern United States. OSI partners with conservation organizations in the Northeast to assemble networks of protected lands most likely to preserve plant and animal diversity in a changing climate. The Fund supports projects in four focus areas in New England, the mid-Atlantic, and the Central Appalachians offering the greatest opportunity to conserve missing links for resiliency in the overall landscape. The Fund provides capital grants and loans to qualified non-profits for the acquisition of land or conservation easements on climate-resilient lands, capitalized with a grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Categories: climate change, conservation, landscape, sustainability, adaptation, mitigation

Varies. West Virginia, Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Massachusetts, Southern New Hampshire, Maine Link
Ecolab Foundation Grants EcoLab Foundation

Deadline Passed for 2017. Deadline for 2018 unknown. Focus Areas of Giving- Youth and Education: programs that promote youth development, particularly for youth at-risk, Civic & Community Development: affordable housing, work readiness, crisis assistance and hunger relief, Environment & Conservation: hands-on environmental learning programs, Arts & Culture: arts education for children and youth as well as support for museums and the performing arts.

Categories: climate change, conservation, social justice, civic engagement, housing, shelter, food justice, adaptation, mitigation

Varies. Nationalo, regional Link
Tomkat Charitable Trust: Grants for Climate & Energy Tomkat Charitable

Tomkat does not accept proposals, but they can be reached by email. This fund is strongly and vocally in support of clean energy development and sustainable living. Aside from energy, Steyer and wife Taylor (get it, Tomkat), are also invested in healthy foods and sustainable food systems, going so far as to start their own ranch. They also back some education stuff and more run-of-the-mill environmentalism, but their biggest giving to date has gone to energy and climate. 

Categories: climate change, sustainability, food justice, subsistence, emissions, conservation, coal, carbon

Varies. International Link
George P Hanley Foundation George P Hanley Foundation

They do not accept unsolicited proposals. Visit page for contacs. George is a Chicago trader who started his philanthropy giving scholarships and supporting universities. This foundation gives to sustainability and clean energy projects, focused in the Midwest, particularly when it comes to schools.

Categories: climate change, sustainability, social justice, conservation, education

Varies. National Link
Hewlett Foundation: Grants for Climate Change Hewlett Foundation

Deadlines Vary. Grantseekers can find Hewlett’s climate change grants through its Climate and Energy subprogram, which focuses on reducing greenhouse gasses through the following areas: Clean energy and the reduction fossil fuel use. This area of giving lasers in on increasing renewable energy use (think solar, wind and geothermal) and energy efficiency. Clean transportation. Hewlett focuses its clean transportation giving on increasing fuel efficiency as well as access to alternate methods of transportation such as biking, walking and public transportation. Building and increasing public support. This area of giving focuses on growing public support among diverse members of the community of clean energy and transportation efforts.

Categories: climate change, conservation, sustainability, social justice,

Varies. National, International, San Francisco, California Link
Henry P. Kendall Foundation: Grants for Climate Change Henry P. Kendall Foundation

Kendall is a regional foundation based in Boston that isn't quite what you'd call a climate funder, as its sole focus is sustainable food systems. But its focus on food is driven by goals of improving health, coupled with sustainability and reducing greenhouse gas produced in agriculture.

Categories: food justice, climate change, agriculture, health, human health, social justice, conservation, sustainability

Varies. National Link
KENDEDA FUND: Grants for Climate Change KENDEDA FUND

Complex global challenges like climate change should become the drivers for solutions-based, equitable decision-making. We help young people and community leaders gain the skills and knowledge to become active participants in addressing these challenges. Our People, Place, and Planet work aims to address social and ecological challenges through community-based solutions and leadership.

Categories: climate change, conservation, sustainability, social justice

Varies. International Link
Kresge Foundation kresge foundation

Funding opportunities take three forms: Open on an ongoing basis, without deadlines. Open for a limited time, with specific deadlines. By invitation from a Kresge program officer.­­­
Communities that address climate change head-on will be better prepared for new circumstances and uncertainties. Decisions about infrastructure, building design, land use, transportation and other policy and funding issues can make communities stronger, more equitable and more resilient to the changing climate.

Categories: Climate change, environment, social justice, food justice, agriculture, sustainability, conservation, carbon, emissions, adaptation, mitigation

Varies. National Link