Grants for Species Conservation Projects from MBZ Species Conservation Fund

The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund is now offering grants awarded to support the core operational costs of local, grassroots, species conservation organizations, which are struggling financially due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and as a result face personnel or financial constraints in conducting species conservation work in 2021. The grant size will remain a maximum of $25,000, but the minimum grant size will be $15,000 for this period.

Grant Intent:-

• The intent of the Covid-19 Relief Grants is to help ensure the operational viability of the organization until after the pandemic and associated economic crisis has passed. 

• The MBZ Fund wants to ensure that small, independent non-governmental organisations that are so crucial to the conservation of species in general survive the current crisis and will be able to continue their important work, after the immediate and significant effects of the pandemic have passed. 

• It is anticipated that a single grant would be to cover at most a 3 month period, and give time to find other sources of funding.

• Generally the Fund is primarily interested in providing support to in situ conservation work in the field (such as survey work and data gathering, direct action, recovery management, training and the like), focusing on the species in its natural habitat. However, the importance of ex situ work (genetic analysis, workshops, ex situ populations etc) is also recognised, and so a few grants may be given to projects which focus on ex situ conservation work in certain circumstances.

Eligibility:-

• Grants will be awarded based on demonstrated need to independent, local NGOs and are for a maximum of $25,000.
• Individual consultants whose work is focussed on in situ species conservation will also be considered for support. 
• Applications from international NGOs, government-related entities, universities and other academic institutions will not be eligible. 
• International travel, meetings (including Redlist workshops, conservation action plan workshops etc), and other costs which are not core operational costs in support of conservation work, will not be eligible.
• The Fund maximum grant size is $25,000, and any application asking for more than this from the Fund will be rejected. The total budget of a project can be higher if there are other sources of funding.
• The Fund was established to support species conservation work, and so if your project is not about an endangered species it is probably not worth your while submitting an application.

Benefits:-

• Core costs, for which the Covid-19 Relief Grants are meant to help include salaries and overheads, such as utilities, insurance, rent payments and leases. 

• It is anticipated that the grant would be to cover the core costs of independent local NGOs for at most a 3 month period of emergency.

About MBZ Species Conservation Fund:-

The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund is an innovative philanthropy proving small grants to boots-on-the-ground, get-your-hands-dirty, in-the-field species conservation projects for the world’s most threatened species. Through innovative micro-financing, the MBZ Fund empowers conservationists to fight the extinction crisis instead of bureaucracy and red-tape. To date the Fund has awarded over 2000 grants to a diverse range of species across the world. 

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