Deadline: 12-Jun-23
The Habitats Trust Grants accepts proposals for conservation of India’s natural habitats and native species of flora and fauna and does not focus on any particular geography.
The proposed projects must have direct conservation benefits to threatened habitats and/or species.
The Habitats Trust Grants recognises and supports conservation organisations and individuals, who work to conserve India’s natural habitats and native species of flora and fauna, especially the lesser-known species and neglected habitats. The Grants aim to support holistic, innovative, and replicable conservation projects.
Types of Grants
- THT Conservation Grant
- The THT Conservation Grant supports organisations that focus on India’s conservation challenges, especially for lesser-known species and critical habitats.
- The grants are intended towards promoting holistically designed conservation efforts. The grant is only open to organisations. It will be administered for three years and be given to two shortlisted applicants.
- THT Action Grant
- The THT Action Grant supports individuals and organisations, who are working towards on-ground action conservation projects, which focus on lesser-known species and/or habitats that require urgent conservation intervention.
- The grant is open to organisations and individuals. It will be administered for two years and be given to three shortlisted applicants.
- THT Seed Grant
- THT Seed Grant aims to fill an urgent and critical gap in conservation action, focussing mostly on lesser-known species and critical habitats. The grant will be administered for up to one year.
Funding Information
- THT Conservation Grant: (₹ 1,00,00,000)
- THT Action Grant: (₹ 25,00,000)
- THT Seed Grant: (₹ 3,00,000)
Eligibility Criteria
- THT Conservation Grant & THT Action Grant
- Applications will only be accepted through the THT Grant’s application portal online, on The Habitats Trust website
- Applicants must be registered in India.
- Only projects that are being carried out in India will be considered.
- Applications must be submitted in English; however, language is not a selection criterion.
- Applicants can only apply for one grant per year.
- The budget should be provided in INR (Indian Rupee).
- Preference will be given to applications involving conservation work on neglected natural habitats and/or threatened species and/or data deficient species.
- Pure research work will not be considered; however, special consideration will be given in the case of data gathering for data deficit species or habitats which may be a critical element in developing a conservation or management strategy.
- Grant applications should be backed with peer-reviewed publications. A reliable justification must be provided for data-deficient habitats and species.
- The IUCN red list will be the primary guide to determine the conservation status of the given species. However, for species that may not be globally threatened but are threatened in India will be considered.
- Grants will only be provided for the conservation of native species and natural habitats. Projects focusing on non-native and exotic species will be disqualified.
- Postgraduate and Ph.D. studies, including thesis work, are not eligible to apply for the grant. Successful grant recipients cannot use the grant funding for postgraduate and Ph.D. studies, including thesis work; however, the data collected from the project can later be converted to a thesis provided prior written consent from The Habitats Trust is obtained by the grantee.
- Projects must be structured to provide long-lasting and impactful conservation outcomes.
- Project impacts must be measurable and appropriate indicators must be provided.
- The projects will be evaluated on the basis of – applicant strength, capacity to deliver, project relevance, status of target habitat/species, objectives of the proposed project, activity plan, methodology, outcomes, impact and budget.
- Grants will not be provided for expeditions or for international travel to attend conferences and seminars.
- The grant amount should not be sublet or provided to another entity as loan.
- The applicant will have to take full responsibility of the proposed project, especially in cases where the project will be executed by a consultant.
- They discourage applications where organisations are used as proxies by individual applicants
- The organisation applying should not have any political or religious affiliations.
- The organisation must not be blacklisted by any government agency/department/ministry, donor, or international agency.
- The organisation or functionaries/governing body members should not be/have been involved in any fraud or other non-conforming behavior with the law.
- Successful applicants must submit bi-annual reports and a final report on the work supported by The Habitats Trust as per the reporting cycle and templates provided.
- Grants will be dispatched as per a bi-annual funding schedule over the project duration.
- Field evaluation visits by The Habitats Trust team will be carried out for all shortlisted projects.
- Grant recipients cannot apply for the grants again up till one-year post project completion and submission of final report.
- THT Seed Grant
- This grant is open to organisations and individuals.
- Only projects being carried out in India will be considered.
- The application must be written in English.
- The budget should be in INR (Indian Rupee).
- The IUCN red list will be the primary guide to determine the conservation status of the given species. Habitats Trust welcomes submissions of quantitative data to confirm a species’ status if the species is not included on the IUCN red list.
- The Habitats Trust does not consider pure academic research grants, however projects involving the creation of baseline data of conservation value for lesser-known species and habitats can be considered.
- Postgraduate and Ph.D. studies, including thesis work, are not eligible.
- This grant will not be given for infrastructure establishment, establishment of NGOs.
- Not more than 10% can be allotted towards personnel cost.
- Organisations:
- The organisation must be a registered not-for-profit entity in India i.e. Society, Trust, Section 8 (previously Section 25) company or a registered institute under Section 35(1)(ii) Of The IncomeTax Act, 1961.
- The organisation must have registered registration u/s 12AB of the Income-tax Act, 1961.
- The organization must have an 80G certificate. For institutes, in case 80G certificate is not applicable, approval by the Central Government under Section 35(1)(ii) Of The Income-Tax Act, 1961 will be considered.
- The organisation should not have any political or religious affiliations.
- The organisation must not be blacklisted by any government agency/department/ministry, donor, or international agency.
- The organisation or functionaries/governing body members have not been involved in any fraud or other non-conforming behaviour with the law
- The grants amount should not be sublet or provided to another entity as loan.
- Individuals:
- Individuals should have bank statements, PAN card and Aadhaar card.
- The grants amount should not be sublet or provided to another entity as loan.
For more information, visit Habitats Trust Grants.