Conservation and Sustainable Development

Grantmaking Guidelines

Since 2000, following a strategic review of the Foundation’s previous environmental program support, CSD has reaffirmed its commitment to a geography-based program. The core of CSD’s grantmaking is focused on providing support for biodiversity conservation activities in particular geographic Focal Areas in Africa, Asia/Pacific and Latin America/Caribbean. CSD’s grantmaking also includes a Research & Development component, which is organized around specific themes addressing salient issues within these Focal Areas.

Geography-based grantmaking
With the conservation of biodiversity as its single global environmental objective, CSD grantmaking is focused further on a few representative areas where the Foundation has made the long-term commitment required to have a lasting impact. Critical ecosystems of various types cover the entire planet and there are numerous legitimate ways to set priorities. However, much of the planet’s biodiversity is located in tropical regions where human needs are the greatest and financial resources to address conservation concerns are the most limited. Therefore, CSD grants are concentrated in eight Focal Areas in the tropics that exhibit high levels of species diversity (the number of species), endemism (the percentage of those species found nowhere else), and threat (the degree of endangerment to these species). In addition to these characteristics, diversity of habitat type, level of institutional capacity, and the Foundation’s history of engagement are considerations that have guided the determination of these Focal Areas.

The selected CSD Focal Areas encompass a broad swath of the world's biodiversity, from the steamy jungles of the Andean slopes to the high altitudes of the Himalaya, from the teeming coral reefs of Melanesia to the fantastic flora of Madagascar’s spiny desert. Concentrating CSD's conservation support allows for greater localized impact and more opportunity for synergy and learning.

The eight CSD Focal Areas are listed and defined below. For additional information about specific grantmaking priorities in each Focal Area please click on the name of the area of interest.

Africa

• Albertine Rift– highland forests of western Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and western Tanzania
• Madagascar 

Asia & Pacific

• Eastern Himalaya – mountain ecosystems of eastern Nepal, Bhutan, Northeast India and Yunnan Province, China
• Lower Mekong – forest and freshwater habitats of Lao PDR, Cambodia and Vietnam
• Melanesia – coastal and marine areas of Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and the northern coast and off-shore islands of New Guinea, including both Papua New Guinea and the Indonesian province of Papua

Latin America & Caribbean

• Southern Tropical Andes– eastern slopes of the mountains in Peru and Bolivia
• Northern Tropical Andes – eastern slopes of the mountains and inter-Andean valleys in Ecuador and Colombia, and the Chocó from northwestern Ecuador to the Darién in Panama
• Insular Caribbean– terrestrial and coastal ecosystems in the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Hispaniola, and Jamaica) and in selected islands of the Lesser Antilles

Within each of the eight CSD Focal Areas listed above two overarching goals guide grantmaking priorities:

• To promote conservation across large landscapes; and
• To strengthen local institutional capacity for biodiversity conservation.

A range of tools and approaches will be effective in countering the threats to biodiversity in these Focal Areas and striving toward the two broad goals of landscape conservation and institutional strengthening. There is no single way to achieve these goals and the Foundation welcomes creative ideas for making progress to reach them.

Ultimately, enduring conservation of biodiversity depends upon the capacity of individuals and institutions in each region.  Enhancing local capacity to implement projects and programs is an important factor in evaluating all funding requests.

Research & Development grantmaking
R&D grantmaking within CSD seeks to advance the state of knowledge and to develop new approaches to the practice of biodiversity conservation.  In determining specific themes for investigation, a dominant criterion is the ability of the Foundation to add value by investing in critical, but less-explored areas of conservation theory and practice. R&D grantmaking supports practically informed research designed to have broad and direct impact on conservation in the field and foster more open debate about conservation practice. Grants are currently clustered around two primary themes:

1) Advancing Conservation in a Social Context

Under this theme, CSD aims to support innovation in addressing the complex trade-offs that exist between human well-being and biodiversity conservation goals in specific places, and between conservation and other economic, political, and social agendas at local, national, and international scales.  The grantmaking goal is to improve understanding of how to identify, analyze, and negotiate such trade-offs.  At present, support for work under this theme is focused on a continuing research initiative on Advancing Conservation in a Social Context and any letters of inquiry for projects outside of CSD’s existing geographic cycle will be accepted by invitation only.

2) Adapting Conservation in the Face of Climate Change

Complementing on-going support for efforts to decrease the production of greenhouse gases by minimizing deforestation within CSD focal areas, the Foundation also seeks to support the adaptation of biodiversity conservation strategy and practice in light of climate change.  Grantmaking under this theme will take place primarily within CSD’s existing geographic areas, with an initial focus on assessments of how climate change is likely to affect biodiversity under different management regimes and building scientific understanding in this nascent field.  Support will also be considered for new technologies, tools, and interventions to conserve biodiversity in the face of climate change and efforts to enhance the ability of conservation actors to make informed decisions about future biodiversity management in CSD focal areas.

These two R&D themes are important elements within CSD’s geographic focal areas, with experimentation and field application supporting new theories being tested and developed under each.  The Foundation welcomes letters of inquiry for these themes within the grantmaking cycles for each CSD focal area.  The Foundation is not currently accepting unsolicited letters of inquiry for projects related to these themes that are not otherwise part of CSD’s geographic priority areas.

Grantmaking Cycle
CSD’s geography-based grants follow a recurrent three-year cycle. Please review the CSD Application Deadlines for more information.

Funding
For additional information about the specific grant strategies for which the Foundation is currently accepting letters of inquiry, please contact the Foundation staff. The format for Letters of Inquiry can be found in the section How to Apply for Grants.

Questions about any grantmaking area can be e-mailed to 4answers@macfound.org.

Grantmaking guidelines are subject to revision. Check this web site for the most recent version.