Keidanren Nature Conservation Fund (KNCF) Grant Program 2024

Deadline: 1-Dec-23

Applications are now open for the Keidanren Nature Conservation Fund (KNCF) Grant Program to expand the scope of biodiversity conservation activities.

Grant Categories

• Basic A Grant
  • Grant for small-scale projects of 1 million Yen or less for the first-time applicant to the KNCF Grant Program. While basically a single-year grant, applicants may be consecutively accepted for three years. Note that in order to reduce the burden of the applying organizations, application and reporting documents have been simplified.
• Basic B Grant
  • Grant for small-scale projects of 1 million Yen or less for local grass roots organizations conducting activities in countries designated by the UN as Least Developed Countries. While basically a single-year grant, applicants may be consecutively accepted for three years. Note that in order to reduce the burden of the applying organizations, application and reporting documents have been simplified.
• Standard Grant
  • Mid-sized grant that follows the conventional KNCF Grant Program. The upper limit is 10 million Yen. KNCF expects these projects to either be in their initial stages or to offer new approaches to solving problems. Applications may be made each year for a consecutive 3- year period.
• Collaboration Grant
  • Large-size grant with an upper annual limit of 20 million Yen with the requirement that applying projects are collaborative projects involving multiple organizations. KNCF especially wishes to support projects that involve cooperation with governments, local society and businesses and that serve as models for NGOs. The grant is designed for a continuous period of three years. The framework in which two or more organizations, each playing an important role, aims to complement each other’s activity areas through mutual collaboration and synergy, with the expectation of higher-level results. However, if the Steering Committee determines that the status of the progress of the project is insufficient, funding may be stopped even in the middle of the project.

Grant Period

• The grant period will be a 1-year period from April 1st, 2024 to March 31st, 2025. However, the period for the Collaboration Grant is in principle, a three-year period ending March 31st, 2027.

Eligible Activities

• Region: Activities that are mainly based in the Asia-Pacific region or inside Japan.
• Fields:
  • Activities that involve the preservation of biodiversity.
  • Activities intended to solve social issues that contribute to biodiversity preservation and that are applicable to Goals of SDGs.
  • Activities to support human resource development in order to preserve biodiversity, including environmental education.
• Other Requirements:
  • Confirm that you have satisfied the following requirements.
    • Appropriate cooperation has been obtained from the government organizations, related international organizations, non-governmental organizations and local residents in the locations of the target projects.
    • The results do not benefit any particular organization or individual.
    • The project is implemented by experts with scientific knowledge, or the advice and cooperation of experts with scientific knowledge has been obtained in implementing the project.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicant must be an organization that satisfies the following conditions:
  • It is able to appropriately report its activities, budgets and financial status of granted projects, when requested by KNCF.
  • It has incorporated status, or is a voluntary organization with societal credibility equivalent to an incorporated organization.
  • It has a record of conducting nature conservation projects for 3 years or more 2)
• Applicant must submit the documents listed below;
  • Financial statements or certified audits for the past 3 years.
  • For incorporated organizations, documents that show proof of such incorporation (However, this does not apply to the Basic A Grant and Basic B Grant that will be explained in the Grant Categories.)

For more information, visit Keidanren Nature Conservation Fund.