California Wildlands Grassroots Fund (Cal Wildlands)

Deadline: 28-Oct-20

The Rose Foundation for the Communities and the Environment has launched a call for applications for the California Wildlands Grassroots Fund (Cal Wildlands) to support the heroic efforts of activists to preserve California’s wildlands.

The Fund Supports:

Small nonprofit organizations with annual actual expenses and income of $150,000 or less; and
Individual activists (with a sponsoring organization) with a solid track recording of protecting California’s natural landscapes, ecosystems, plants, and wildlife.
Geographic areas and advocacy efforts that have not received significant foundation support.

Funding Priorities

Requests for discrete, project-specific support in which both the site and strategy are concrete and specific, e.g., saving the River Styx from hydroelectric development by getting stakeholders and community members to a hearing in Sacramento. During the COVID-19 public health emergency, they are fully accepting general support proposals from organizations whose overall work aligns with the fund’s objectives.
Geographic or issue areas that have not received significant financial support in the past, including rural communities and other regions without easy access to financial and political support.
Community-based advocacy and organizing efforts in which the campaign/project is steered by affected community members and interest groups.
Effort is predominantly driven and staffed by volunteers.
Project will establish or combat a critical precedent that will influence other wildlands protection efforts.
Innovative strategies.
Project outreach and organizing target non-traditional stakeholders and interest groups.

Funding Information

Typical grants range between $2,500-$6,000.
Maximum grant is $7,500.
If your organization’s actual annual income and expenses are $30,000 or less, they strongly encourage you to request a grant of $5000 or less.
If your organization’s actual annual income and expenses are between $50,000-$150,000, you may request up to $7,500.
Organizations seeking the maximum grant size of $7,500 must be able to articulate a clear project and budget that justifies the full grant.
The fund prioritizes project-specific requests, but will accept general support requests from strong organizations whose work is well aligned with the fund’s priorities. They will support stipends for organizers; portions of staff salaries linked with a project; consulting fees for technical experts; equipment purchase; and research costs.
Their goal is to help as many organizations throughout the state as possible and, as a result, they are not always able to provide 100 percent of the funding requested.
They does not fund beach clean-ups.
They does not fund film or video production or completion, although they will fund outreach or communications strategies that use films or videos as advocacy and organizing tools.

Note: Individuals may apply for Cal Wildlands support, but must be affiliated with 501(c)(3) organization. Cal Wildlands cannot make grants directly to individuals.

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible to apply to the California Wildlands Grassroots Fund, you must be able to answer YES to the following eligibility requirements/questions:

Are you and your organization based in California? If you think your organization meets the intent of this requirement even though you or your organization’s mailing address are located outside California, please explain why your organization qualifies for funding. Exceptions will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Were your organization’s actual annual expenses $150,000 or less last year? Was your actual annual income $150,000 or less last year?
Does your organization have a 501(c)(3) status from the Internal Revenue Service, or is it a sponsored project of a 501(c)(3) organization?
If you are an individual, are you affiliated with a 501(c)(3) organization?
Is your funding request $7,500 or less?
If you have received a grant from Cal Wildlands in the past, has it been 12 months since you last applied?
If you have received a grant from Cal Wildlands in the past, have you reported on your previous grant?
If you answer NO to any of these questions, you will not qualify for a grant from the California Wildlands Grassroots Fund.

For more information, visit https://rosefdn.org/calwildlands