A handful of funders for zoos: grants for conservation; funding for widlife; funds for biodiversity education; zoos and capital investment

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We will constantly update this post with more potential sources of funding for zoos.  As potentially zoos and botanic gardens from all around the world may access ( and contribute to…?) this forum, we will try and reference funders with a relevance to different parts of the world. 

Obviously “zoo projects” can mean lots of different things ( capital on site projects, educational programmes, in situ conservation projects, etc), and the following funders all fund different kinds of needs. So this is quite a rag-bag of opportunities, and it is up to you to sort through it.

For some of the large international funders, I really think it is also worth considering the virtues of inter-zoo collaborations for many of these sources of finance,  as well as looking for highly innovative  (even risky?) approaches amenable to eventual replication. The whole idea of changing the zoo paradigm through international co-operation could be very appealing to funders.

Naturally we are not responsible if our references to their funding remit is out of date …or just plain wrong.  It should also go without saying that any would be applicant needs to look very carefully at the funder’s own details before proceeding.

Here are the potential funders ( latest added at the top)

The Leverhulme Trust, UK can fund

http://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/grants_awards/grants/international_networks/

Organisations working in  developing countries and with projects where conservation elides with human economic development and agriculture might look at USAID.  Normally does not support unsolicited proposals, but worth making a link with their in country office. See: http://www.usaid.gov/about_usaid/

A nationally specific fund is the Namibian Nature Foundation, whose main objective is to contribute toward sustainable environmental development in Namibia. Make grants of up to 50,000 namibian dollars.  http://www.nnf.org.na/index.php

The Ford Foundation, under its overall theme of “Asset Building & Community Development” has an Environment and Development programme that “helps people and groups acquire, protect, improve and manage land, water, forests, wildlife and other natural assets in ways that help reduce poverty and injustice”.  The Ford Foundation has no connection these days to the Ford Motor Company by the way. See: http://www.fordfound.org/

Alcoa is one of the world’s biggest providers of aluminum and aluminum based products, and operates a large international grant maling foundation, supporting conservation.  If your zoo or botanical garden is near an Alcoa site ( …and the company has hundreds of sites in dozens of countries), you may be eligible for funding . See:  http://www.alcoa.com/global/en/community/info_page/Foundation.asp

The Australia France Foundation supports bilateral cooperations between the two nations in “the broadest possible range of activities”. Potentially this could apply to zoo interests ( and I bet no zoo has ever approached them)http://www.france.embassy.gov.au/pari/Affintro.html

The Aga Khan Foundation supports amongst other areas, rural development and income generation to alleviate poverty in Africa and Asia. A properly articulated in situ zoo project with human poverty alleviation might well qualify.  The allied Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan Fund for the Environment specifically supports biodiversity. http://www.akdn.org/agency/akf.html

The American Himalyan Foundation funds environmental projects in the Himalyan region  http://www.himalayan-foundation.org/live/home/home

The William Cadbury Trust has certainly made grants to zoo run projects in the past and lists environment as an aim (both in the UK and internationally) http://www.wa-cadbury.org.uk/page.asp?id=8

Rufford Small Grants for Nature Conservation (RSGs) are aimed at small conservation programmes and pilot projects: http://www.rufford.org/rsg/

The Nando Peretti Foundation, based in Italy makes grants to international conservation projects. Currently closed to new applications, but likely to open again soon: http://www.nandoperettifound.org/

Biffaward is a multi-million pound fund which awards grants to community and environmental projects across the UK. The fund’s money comes from landfill tax credits donated by Biffa Waste Services. Biffaward is managed by the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts on Biffa’s behalf. http://www.biffaward.org/index.php/contact  The Darwin Initiative is a small grants programme for biodiversity and conservation projects around the world. It tends to favour projects with a strong scientific rationale: http://www.darwin.gov.uk/The Lubee Foundation, based in Florida, is dedicated to the conservation of old world fruit bats. It provides small grants and partnership initiatives within this area: http://www.lubee.org/default.aspxThe International Herpetological Symposium makes (very) small grants to individuals working in relevant fields. No restriction to the USA is specified on theur website: http://www.kingsnake.com/ihs/grant.html

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