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Conservation & Sustainable Development Grant Guidelines

Understand guideline and funding cycles

MacArthur publishes program guidelines to help applicants determine whether their idea for a grant fits within a particular grantmaking strategy.

As a general rule, applicants should base this decision on three related criteria that appear in program guidelines: the topical focus addressed by the grantmaking strategy; the geographic area covered by the grantmaking strategy; and, finally, the type of funding (i.e., general operating support, research, program support, etc.) that supports the grantmaking strategy.

Like most strategic grantmaking foundations, the MacArthur Foundation considers funding only those applications that closely match the topical, geographic, and funding criteria for a specific grantmaking strategy.

Questions can be addressed to Program Officer Elizabeth Chadri (Africa), Program Officer Christopher Holtz (Asia), Program Officer Stephen Cornelius (Latin America), and Program Associate Kate Barnes (Coastal Marine).

Geographic and Programmatic Priorities

Our geographical focus will be on three regions: the Great Lakes of East Central Africa, the Greater Mekong and its headwaters, and the watersheds of the Andes. Each is a place of high biodiversity, important freshwater service, and carbon-storage value.

The Great Lakes and the Mekong were selected because success there would benefit the largest numbers of vulnerable people and because of the high level of threat to the ecosystem. The Watersheds of the Andes were selected because of their remarkable biodiversity values and because low population densities have left the habitat relatively unscathed.

We will also continue to build on the success of our Locally Managed Marine Area (LMMA) initiative through a coastal marine program in the Caribbean, Madagascar, and Melanesia. LMMA promotes the responsible management of coastal resources, including fisheries and marine habitats, by communities of local people. We will identify new areas where an LMMA approach could be effective, and also address land use upstream and, when appropriate, use of marine resources further out to sea. A core emphasis will be to document and disseminate best practices to increase impact – something that has had dramatic success in Melanesia.

Our policy grants will target biodiversity conservation at the global scale and reinforce the priorities of our regional work.

We will focus on four issues:

  1. Climate change mitigation and adaptation;
  2. Understanding and influencing China’s consumption patterns and use of natural resources, particularly in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Pacific;
  3. Integrating environmental and social considerations into commodities markets, (for example: carbon, timber, oil palm, cotton, and soy);
  4. Responding to the overexploitation and illegal use of marine fisheries.

View the Conservation & Sustainable Development Program Priorities.

Deadlines

MacArthur's conservation and sustainable development program makes grants on a three-year recurring cycle, with one portfolio of grants prepared annually within each region and for the coastal marine initiative.

Letters of Inquiry should be submitted by the below deadlines, and are then reviewed in an open and competitive process. A limited number of full proposals will be requested within approximately 8 weeks based on this review.

A typical grant portfolio consists of 10 to 15 grants per grantmaking area per year. Most approved grants receive funding for a three-year period, and grant renewals are evaluated, based on performance, following three years of implementation. CSD's Global Policy initiative considers Letters of Inquiry on a rolling basis.

Regional Grantmaking Cycle / Letter of Inquiry Deadlines:

2013

  • Andes Region-wide / By invitation only
  • Upper Mekong Basin / By invitation only
  • Large Rift Valley Lakes / April 5, 2013 (for September 2013 consideration)
  • Coastal Marine / By invitation only

2014

  • Mekong Basin Region-wide / By invitation only
  • Northern Andes (April)
  • River Nile Basin (April)

2015

  • Lower Mekong Basin (January)
  • Great Lakes Region-wide (April)
  • Southern Andes (April)

2016

  • Andes Region-wide (April)
  • Large Rift Valley Lakes (April)
  • Upper Mekong Basin (June)

2017

  • Mekong Basin Region-wide (January)
  • Northern Andes (April)
  • River Nile Basin (April)

2018

  • Lower Mekong Basin (January)
  • Great Lakes Region-wide (April)
  • Southern Andes (April)

2019

  • Andes Region-wide (April)
  • Large Rift Valley Lakes (April)
  • Upper Mekong Basin (June)

2020

  • Mekong Basin Region-wide (January)
  • Northern Andes (April)
  • River Nile Basin (April)