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 Sort ascending Grant Deadline Description Funding Amount Geography Website
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
Indian Energy Purchase Preference Inquiries

Solicitation Opens for Tribes to Sell Clean Energy Credits to Federal Agencies under Indian Energy Purchase Preference. Most Recent Deadline: May 20, 2024. The GSA has opened a solicitation for 47,500 MWh of clean energy credits from Tribes in a move that both boosts opportunity for Tribal energy businesses and advances federal clean energy goals of running on 100% carbon pollution-free electricity by 2030 (E.O. 14057). The solicitation has the potential to lead to the first ever procurement under the Indian Energy Purchase Preference. 

  • The solicitation is for Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs), which include Renewable Energy Credits (RECs), and allow for the clean attributes of energy production to be purchased without having a direct connection to the energy source. One EAC is equivalent to 1 MWh of clean energy production.
  • Tribal-majority-owned energy businesses with carbon pollution-free electricity, or who compile carbon pollution-free electricity from other sources are eligible to compete in the solicitation.
  • EACs must have been generated between April 1, 2023, and Dec. 1, 2024, from generation sources that were put in service on or after Oct. 1, 2021. The EACs will be procured independently from physical power produced by Tribal sources.
  • The solicitation deadline is May 20, 2024. It is available athttps://sam.gov/opp/d2585e6204de4d42b6c3ba6663b2b7ba/view
  • WHCNAA, GSA, DOE, and DOD committed to implement the Indian Energy Purchase Preference at the 2022 Tribal Nations Summit and in 2023 DOE Secretary Granholm re-emphasized the need to implement the whole preference, which allows for buying energy byproducts such as EACs.
  • DOE’s Federal Energy Management Program and the Office of Indian Energy have been raising awareness on processes to sell EACs to the federal government, with office hours: Thursday May 9, 2024 from 1:00 – 2:00 PM: Register Here

For inquiries about selling power to federal entities under the IEPP, see the Office of Indian Energy’s pag

Categories: clean energy credits

National Link
Inflation Reduction Act Forest Landowner Support 8/21/2024

Deadline for Track B & C: August 21, 2024. The Inflation Reduction Act Forest Landowner Support programming provides financial assistance grants for projects that support underserved and small-acreage forest landowner participation in emerging private markets for climate mitigation and forest resilience. The Inflation Reduction Act provides the Forest Service $450 million for Forest Landowner Support which will be made available through a series of funding opportunities. Bookmark this webpage to stay up to date on current opportunities and deadlines or contact SM.FS.LandownerIRA@usda.gov to be added to an email distribution list.

Categories: forest landowners, IRA, inflation reduction act

See description. National Link
Climate Action Champions Competition

FY 2016 funding status unknown. The Obama Administration is committed to taking decisive action to combat climate change. Today, the Administration announced a new Climate Action Champions competition that will identify, showcase, and invest in up to 15 local and tribal governments across the country that demonstrate an ongoing commitment to cutting carbon pollution and preparing for the impacts of a changing climate. The competition will be administered by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and will be implemented in collaboration with a broad range of Federal agencies.The Climate Action Champions’ dual focus on both mitigation of greenhouse gas pollution and building resilience to climate impacts at the local level makes this competition unique.

Categories: Adaptation, Mitigation, Implementation

Non-monetary--see application for details Northwest, Southwest, Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Alaska, National Link
Marine Energy University Foundational R&D.

Most recent Deadline: February 20, 2024. Marine Energy University Foundational R&D. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) and Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) has released a $14.5 million funding opportunity for pioneering research in marine and ocean renewable energy at U.S. colleges and universities. The funding opportunity will fund projects across four topic areas, which includes up to $1.5 million for projects that advance potential synergies between offshore wind and/or marine energy and aquaculture development (topic area descriptions from the solicitation are copied below). We would appreciate your helping sharing this announcement with relevant contacts and network. We’ve also shared this with NOAA Office of Aquaculture. For more information and the link to apply: Funding Notice: Marine Energy University Foundational R&D | Department of Energy. Concept papers are due by 5 p.m. ET on February 20th, 2024 and are required to be eligible to submit a full application. https://www.energy.gov/eere/water/funding-notice-marine-energy-universi…

National Link
Community-Scale Clean Energy Projects in Indian Country Grants

DOE is soliciting applications from Indian Tribes, Tribal Energy Resource Development Organizations and Tribal Consortia to install “community-scale” or “facility-scale” clean energy systems on Indian lands to provide electricity and/or heating and cooling for local use in tribal buildings. For purposes of this announcement, “clean energy systems” include “renewable energy systems” and “combined heat and power systems.” Projects selected under this Funding Opportunity Announcement are intended to reduce energy costs and increase energy security for Indian Tribes and tribal members. Please note that on DOE website this grant can be found by searching for: DE-FOA-0000852.

Categories: Renewable energy

$50,000-1,500,000 Northwest, Southwest, Midwest, Northeast, Southeast, National, Alaska Link
Great Lakes Restoration Initiative FY 2023 Request for Applications (RFA) to Create Great Lakes Environmental Justice Grant Programs (GLEJGPs)

Most recent Deadline: August 11, 2023. This Request for Applications is expected to result in the award of cooperative agreements to support the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Action Plan III (pdf) (12.51 MB, October 2019) . This RFA is the Great Lakes National Program Office’s (GLNPO’s) major competitive grant funding opportunity for FY-23 to help fulfill EPA’s commitment to Environmental Justice (EJ) by establishing Great Lakes Community Environmental Justice Grant Programs to be used for issuing and overseeing subawards for environmental restoration projects in historically underserved Great Lakes communities. This RFA is targeted at a pass-through entity or entities ("principle recipients") with established relationships with underserved communities or with the ability to quickly build and sustain such relationships with those communities in order to develop and implement a subaward funding program to fund projects in those communities pursuant to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Action Plan III.

Categories: Great Lakes, environmental justice, cooperative agreements

Great Lakes Region Link
National Sea Grant Law Center Coastal Resilience RFP

National Sea Grant Law Center Coastal Resilience RFP. Letters of Intent due: March 8, 2024. The National Sea Grant Law Center is pleased to announce that we are accepting applications from eligible applicants to conduct research on the effectiveness of laws and policies related to a wide range of coastal resilience issues including sea level rise, flooding, amplified storm surge, increased frequency and intensity of storms, land use, or other environmental factors, and whether those policies are achieving desired policy changes. The 2024 Coastal Resilience Program grants have a recommended funding level of $75,000, and the Law Center anticipates selecting up to two projects for funding. Matching funds will not be required. Please see the attached RFP for more detail. The RFP is also available on our Funding Opportunities webpage. General questions about the Coastal Resilience Program and the scope of projects considered should be directed to Stephanie Otts, Director of the National Sea Grant Law Center, via email, sshowalt@olemiss.edu, or phone, (662) 915-7714. General questions about the application process should be directed to Lauren Fremin, Project Coordinator for the National Sea Grant Law Center, via email, lrfremin@olemiss.edu. For more information, visit: https://nsglc.olemiss.edu/funding/.

Link
DOE Alaska START Program for Community Energy Planning and Projects (DOE)

The US Dept of Energy Office of Indian Energy is accepting applications for the third round of the Alaska Strategic Technical Assistance Response Team (START) Program to assist Alaska Native corporations and federally recognized Alaska Native governments with accelerating clean energy projects.

Categories: Planning, Development, Sustainability

Unknown Alaska Link
Tribal Cultural Affairs Program Grant Funding Opportunity for Washington Federally Recognized Tribes.

Most Recent Deadline: February 29, 2024. In 2023, the Washington State Legislature allocated funding to ArtsWA (Washington State Arts Commission) to bolster arts and culture in Washington Tribal Communities. This funding can be utilized for a wide range of artistic and cultural endeavors. For instance, it can be used to enhance cultural teachings within a community, support the artistic practices of community members, procure necessary supplies, promote creative entrepreneurial opportunities for tribal individuals or groups within the creative economy, and support other arts or cultural initiatives suitable for each particular community. Each Tribe has the opportunity to submit one application, which can cover multiple projects if needed. For this cycle, the maximum funding amount per application is $18,000. The application provides space for each Tribe to indicate any additional funding requests. These requests will be evaluated if further funding becomes available or if some Tribes do not apply. Any funding that remains unrequested by the closing date will be reallocated as additional funding to those who have applied, amending their original funding. Comments and questions? Please contact Cheryl Wilcox, Tribal Cultural Affairs Manager, via email at cheryl.wilcox@arts.wa.gov. For more information, visit:

Categories: Washington State, Culture, cultural initiatives, art

Washington 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
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
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
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
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