Deadline: 1-Mar-21
Applications are now open for the Sarasota Bay Partners Grants Program 2021 to promote environmental education, community involvement, and stewardship to improve the overall quality of Sarasota Bay and its tributaries.
The mission of the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program’s (SBEP) Sarasota Bay Partners Grants program is to improve the overall quality of Sarasota-Manatee area bays, their tributaries, and their watersheds and to promote environmental education and community involvement in SBEP’s mission.
Funding Information
- A total of $30,000 is available for 2021 Sarasota Bay Partners Grants awards. A maximum amount of $4,000 may be awarded to each applicant.
Project Categories
Grant funding is available for projects to enhance wildlife habitats, water quality, environmental education, or community engagement in Sarasota-Manatee area bays, tributaries, and watersheds. Examples of projects eligible for funding:
- Habitat Restoration and Water Quality Projects
- Removing invasive species and replacing them with Florida native plants.
- Enhancing bay, creek, or pond shorelines with Florida native plants, including installation of living shorelines and vegetated buffer zones.
- Installing Bay-friendly landscaping such as rain gardens and bios wales.
- Bay-Related Environmental Education and Community Stewardship Projects
- Environmental education programs that incorporate principles of best practices in environmental education, such as those developed by the North American Association for Environmental Education.
- School or college environmental club service or outreach projects.
- Designing bay-related outreach materials for distribution to the public.
- Neighborhood engagement campaigns to encourage Bay-friendly behaviors.
Eligibility Criteria
- Non-profit organizations, schools, academic institutions, civic associations, religious organizations, neighborhood or homeowners’ associations, businesses, and local governments located in the Sarasota Bay watershed are eligible to receive funding for projects that will benefit Sarasota Bay.
Timeline
- Sarasota Bay Partners Grants are funded once per year. The Sarasota Bay Partners Grants application forms are posted on the SBEP website on the first business day of January each year.
- Applications are due on the first business day of March. A review committee meets in March or April to score applications.
- The SBEP Citizens’ Advisory Committee meets in April to recommend awards to the SBEP Management and Policy Boards.
- The SBEP Policy Board makes final award approvals in May and SBEP staff notifies applicants of the status of their award by the end of May.
- Awarded projects must be completed, with the final report and invoice submitted to SBEP, by August of the following year.
For more information, visit https://sarasotabay.org/get-involved/apply-for-a-grant/
