Deadline: 15-Feb-2024
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) is offering grants to improve the health of coral reef systems.
Grants will be awarded to reduce land-based sources of pollution, advance coral reef fisheries management, increase capacity for reef-scale restoration and to support management in their efforts to increase the natural recovery and resiliency of coral reef systems.
The Coral Reef Stewardship Fund is a partnership with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) and receives additional funding support from the USDA National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) and Aramco Corporation.
Most of the projects funded under this program will benefit from coordinating with the jurisdiction’s natural resource management agency partner in the project development and implementation. Therefore, engaging reef managers in proposal development is strongly encouraged to understand their priorities in these categories and will likely increase proposal competitiveness. A list of curated US jurisdictional priorities that have a nexus to the program priorities in this RFP has been developed by NOAA for reference as a starting point. While it is not required to address one of the listed jurisdictional priorities, it may increase your competitiveness.
Program Priorities
- The most competitive applications under this funding opportunity will work directly with local coral reef managers to implement priority projects in the following conservation categories for reefs associated with the priority geographies above. Coral reef conservation projects that either fall outside of or only indirectly address these priority categories or geographies are still eligible for funding but are considered lower priority than those with a direct nexus.
- Threat Reduction to Priority Reef Sites
- Projects under this category will support implementation of activities identified in watershed management plans, marine protected area plans or fisheries management plans with an increased priority for activities that benefit reefs at the above locations. Applicants should identify the specific plan – including the year it was finalized, how the threat/activity is listed in relative priority to other activities in the plan, the measurable goal/target for this activity in the plan and the contribution to that target that the project seeks to achieve.
- Establish Water Quality Targets: Projects will work at one of the listed watersheds above or the broader jurisdictional level to establish criteria and science-based targets for nutrient and sediment reduction. Projects under this priority must work directly with the appropriate management agency(ies) through scientific and technical assistance to establish water quality targets that directly address coral reef management goals.
- Reduce land-based pollution inputs to coral reef tracts: Projects should engage local industry, agriculture, community groups, landowners, land managers, and/or individuals in direct sediment and nutrient threat reduction activities. Project activities may include but are not limited to actions such as stream restoration, green infrastructure, native planting, best management/conservation practice installations to reduce sediment and/or nutrient flow to reefs, and/or efforts to reduce polluted runoff through water conservation or grey water re-use as prioritized in established management plans.
- Increase fish stocks of key species along priority reef tracts: Projects should identify activities that support local managers and communities in reef fish management within priority reef tracts including but not limited to training, cost/benefit analysis of management options and activities to increase compliance. Proposals should incorporate specific performance metrics to monitor the effectiveness of project activities toward increasing fish biomass within key functional roles over the long term.
- Projects under this category will support implementation of activities identified in watershed management plans, marine protected area plans or fisheries management plans with an increased priority for activities that benefit reefs at the above locations. Applicants should identify the specific plan – including the year it was finalized, how the threat/activity is listed in relative priority to other activities in the plan, the measurable goal/target for this activity in the plan and the contribution to that target that the project seeks to achieve.
- Coral Reef Emergency Response Preparation and Restoration
- Projects under this category will enhance jurisdictions ability to implement coral reef emergency response and restoration projects. The expected size of awards through the Coral Reef Stewardship Fund is unlikely to be sufficient to support large-scale restoration efforts but rather help jurisdictions to prepare for these larger efforts and increase their likelihood for success.
- Planning and Capacity Building for Responding to Episodic Events: Projects should include activities to develop response plans for priority reef areas for episodic events such as outbreaks of disease, large bleaching events and invasive species.
- Increase Capacity for Coral Restoration at Larger-Scale: Projects under this category will increase the available number and diversity of corals and associated reef species available for direct coral reef restoration efforts.
- Support Out-planting Success: Projects under this category will focus on smaller-scale out-planting case studies that seek to learn about the effects of predation, competition, water quality, disease resistance, etc. on survival of outplants or that help streamline logistical hurdles like permitting that can be used to increase the success of larger scale restoration efforts.
- Projects under this category will enhance jurisdictions ability to implement coral reef emergency response and restoration projects. The expected size of awards through the Coral Reef Stewardship Fund is unlikely to be sufficient to support large-scale restoration efforts but rather help jurisdictions to prepare for these larger efforts and increase their likelihood for success.
- Increase Management Capacity in Coral Conservation
- The Coral Reef Stewardship Fund supports applied research that responds to needs identified by jurisdictional coral reef managers. Projects under this category will work with a specific natural resource management agency partner and fill a critical gap in coral conservation that directly supports a management decision.
- Threat Reduction to Priority Reef Sites
Funding Information
- The Coral Reef Stewardship Fund offers one grant cycle per year and available funding is expected to be approximately $3,500,000. Average grant awards will range from $80,000 to $600,000, however there is no maximum or minimum requirement. Projects should be 6 months to 3 years in duration.
Geographic Focus
- Projects proposing coral conservation work in U.S. coral jurisdictions (American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, Florida, Guam, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands) are eligible and invited to apply. Priority will be given to projects that conduct applicable land-based and in-water conservation activities in the locations found in the table below. Applications for projects in international jurisdictions will be accepted by invitation only.
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible applicants include non-profit organizations, state government agencies, local governments, municipal governments, Tribal governments and organizations, and educational institutions, including parties within and outside of the United States.
- Ineligible applicants include U.S. Federal government agencies and for-profit entities.
- NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program staff are available and encouraged to provide general information on programmatic goals and objectives, ongoing coral reef conservation programs/activities, and regional funding priorities; however, NOAA employees are not permitted to assist in the preparation of applications or write letters of support for any application. If NOAA employees will be a collaborator on a project, they may provide a statement verifying that they are collaborating with the project applicant, confirming the degree and nature of the collaboration, and acknowledging the utility of the proposed work. NOAA employee activities, including travel and salaries, are not allowable costs.
For more information, visit NFWF.