Research to advance conservation initiatives, community development, academic leadership and influence, pollution mitigation, accelerator programs, and species conservation are some of the topics with funding available in October 2025.
Discover opportunities that can enhance conservation and sustainable development!
- Earthshot Fellowship. The Earthshot Fellowship seeks to identify and support individuals, communities, companies and organizations that are developing innovative, high-impact solutions to the world’s greatest environmental challenges. Its focus is on five key areas: protecting and restoring nature, cleaning the air, revitalizing the oceans, building a world without waste, and fixing the climate. The goal is to drive projects with the potential to scale and generate significant positive change by 2030. Closing date: October 16. Apply here.
- Turtle Conservation Fund. The Turtle Conservation Fund (TCF) is a coalition of strategy and funding partnerships of leading turtle conservation organizations and individuals whose goal is to ensure the long-term survival of tortoises and freshwater turtles. TCF awards grants to fund direct research and conservation expenditures for turtle projects and programs. Deadline: December 1. Apply here.
- World Sustainability Award. The World Sustainability Award (WSA) recognizes individuals who have made innovative contributions to sustainability research. Awarded by the MDPI Sustainability Foundation, the award recognizes academic excellence and transformative impact across disciplines. Closing date: December 15. Apply here.
- Prince Talal International Prize. The Prince Talal International Award for Human Development aims to recognize and promote innovative and successful projects that contribute to sustainable development and investment in people, disseminating their experiences to strengthen international cooperation and address factors that limit progress in developing countries, especially those affecting women, children and vulnerable groups such as poverty, social exclusion, education and health. The theme of the current edition of the Award is “Clean and Affordable Energy”, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, with the purpose of promoting initiatives that promote universal access to sustainable, safe and environmentally friendly energy sources. Closing date: January 30, 2026. Apply here.
- Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund 2025. The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund is an innovative philanthropic organization that awards small grants to direct-action, field-based species conservation projects for the world’s most endangered species. The Fund was created to provide targeted grants for individual species conservation initiatives, recognize leaders in the field of species conservation, and elevate the importance of species in the broader conservation debate. Deadline: No deadline. Apply here.
- The Conservation, Food and Health Foundation. The Conservation, Food and Health Foundation is an organization whose primary mission is to protect the environment, ensure food security and improve public health in developing regions of Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Middle East. To fulfill this purpose, the Foundation specializes in financing innovative projects that offer practical solutions to local challenges, strengthen human capital and develop institutional capacities in three strategic areas: ecosystem conservation, sustainable agriculture and public health systems. As part of its intervention model, the Foundation prioritizes support for pioneering initiatives through seed funding for applied research, demonstration projects and training programs, with special emphasis on those proposals located in areas with limited access to financial resources. Its ultimate goal is to serve as a catalyst for these projects to achieve sustainability and scale their impact with the support of other investors. Deadline: No deadline. Apply here.
- Reece Foundation Grant. To support local initiatives that help communities in Australia and overseas gain access to clean water, sanitation or food security through irrigation. Deadline: No deadline. Apply here.
- Community Development Grant. The Inter-American Foundation (IAF) funds efforts by grassroots groups in Latin America and the Caribbean to improve the living conditions of the disadvantaged and excluded, enhance their decision-making and self-governing capacity, and develop partnerships with the public sector, business and civil society. The IAF looks for the following in a project it funds: (1) innovative solutions to development problems; (2) diversity of community voices in project development and implementation; (3) substantial involvement of beneficiaries in: the identification of the problem addressed, the approach chosen to solve it, the design of the project, and the management and evaluation of activities; (4) partnerships with local government, the business community and other civil society organizations; and (5) evidence of increased capacity for beneficiary self-governance. Deadline: No deadline. Apply here.
- Grants from Rapid Response Facility (RRF). The Rapid Response Facility (RRF) provides emergency support to natural World Heritage sites in times of crisis. The RRF is a partnership between the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and Fauna & Flora International (FFI). RRF grants are available to natural UNESCO World Heritage sites. The RRF only funds actions at a site facing an ‘emergency’ threat to its biodiversity. They do not fund ongoing problems, even if they require urgent action. Deadline: No deadline. Apply here.
- Grant program from OFID. Its focus areas are: (1) energy; (2) agriculture; (3) water and sanitation; (4) health; and (5) education. OFID has several financing schemes that include public sector lending (the main pillar of OFID’s operations), private sector support and grant financing. Its grant program focuses on (1) technical assistance, (2) support to the people of Palestine, (3) energy poverty, (4) HIV/AIDS program, (5) research and similar intellectual activities, and (6) emergency relief. Deadline: No deadline. Apply here.
- Rufford Grants Program. This grant program provides grants for nature conservation projects in the developing world. There are five consecutive funding schemes: Rufford Small Grant, 2nd Rufford Small Grant, Booster Grant, 2nd Booster Grant and Completion Grant. The overriding requirement is that the work must be pragmatic in nature and have a substantial and lasting impact on the issue in question (conservation). There will often be a significant human element to a successful proposal, with community education and involvement being very important. The Foundation has a broad scope of interest. In addition to the conservation of animals in their habitat, it also wishes to support conservation work focused on threatened habitats and other organisms such as plants, fungi or insects. Deadline: No deadline. Apply here.
