Funding Opportunities

Sustainable Funding Options for a Comprehensive Riparian Restoration Initiative in the Colorado River Basin

Overview | Cover Letter | Full Report

There is growing awareness and concern about the current health and future viability of the Colorado River and its tributaries. Responding to these needs requires significant investment. Although traditional funding mechanisms such as Federal grants and philanthropic contributions provide a great start, these sources cannot sufficiently address the geographic scale and extended time-lines involved with restoring and maintaining the Colorado River System.

This paper is written for the purpose of exploring potential long-term and sustainable funding options that will be necessary for the successful implementation of a Colorado River Basin riparian restoration initiative. For the purpose of this paper, sustainable funding is defined, as a perpetual revenue stream that is sufficient in magnitude to accomplish a program’s goals and reliable enough to confidently develop long-term maintenance and monitoring programs.

Watershed Governance Structures & Funding Mechanisms: Considerations for a Colorado River Basin Restoration Initiative

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The Watershed Governance Structures & Funding Mechanisms: Considerations for a Colorado River Basin Restoration Initiative report summarizes governance structure information acquired during the analysis of watershed initiative case studies examined for the 2011 Tamarisk Coalition report Sustainable Funding Options for a Comprehensive Riparian Restoration Initiative in the Colorado River Basin. The purpose of this document is to provide an overview of the types of governance structure models employed in other restoration watershed initiatives and to determine which models had the greatest success in achieving sustainable funding.  These models were then assessed in terms of their applicability to the Colorado River Basin. The goal of this report is to inform future discussions about establishing a Colorado River Basin restoration initiative.

Tamarisk Related Grant Opportunities

The Tamarisk Coalition has developed a list of available Grant Opportunities to address tamarisk issues and riparian restoration. This list was revised in 2009 as part of the Colorado River Basin Tamarisk and Russian Olive Assessment.

The information lists possible grant opportunities available for addressing tamarisk and Russian olive (TRO) issues and riparian restoration. The tables are divided into Non-profit Foundations, Corporate, and Other Funding Sources; Federal and State Grants; and Congress Chartered Foundations.

The activities funded by the grantors have been categorized as Advocacy, Education, Policy, Direct Action, Research, and Start Up. The following categories are defined to aid the reader in selecting appropriate grants. Individual grantors may define categories somewhat differently.

• Advocacy (Adv) includes activities associated with communicating about tamarisk issues such as organizing community meetings or distributing public education materials.
• Education (Edu) involves direct education programs to a targeted group.
• Policy (Pol) is defined as activities related to influencing and/or developing environmental policies.
• Direct Action (Dir) includes activities such as volunteerism, control, revegetation, and other direct implementations.
• Research (Res) is defined as planning and implementing basic scientific research.
• Start Up (SU) is defined as funds for a new project (“seed money”) or funds for a new organization.

Additionally, geographic information is included to indicate the physical locations that are emphasized by the grantor.

Grants and grantors are subject to change at anytime for a variety of reasons.Thus, we recognize that the information in this list may be outdated. We currently working to revise and update this information and will announce when the new version is available to use. In the meantime, it is critical that you contact each funding source for the most current information before submitting an application

Grant Opportunities PDF

Other Resources

Our list of grant opportunities has been compiled as a tool to begin grant funding research. The list is not exhaustive and is designed only to provide an overview of available grants. For more detailed information, explore the resources listed below by visiting the funding sources web site or contacting the funding source directly.

1. Environmental Grantmaking Foundations
2. Center for Invasive Plant Management
3. Federal Government