Application Guidelines
Toyota TogetherGreen will be hosting a webinar on how to fill out an Innovation Grant application on Wednesday, April 24th at 3pm eastern. To register, click here.
Useful Documents:
Innovation Grant application (word version) *note: you must submit an online application to be eligible for a grant
To be eligible for an Innovation Grant, the applying organization must meet the following requirements:
- Constitute a branch, office, or other operational unit of the National Audubon Society (including National or State Offices; field units such as Audubon Centers and Sanctuaries), or be an Audubon Certified Chapter, or Audubon Certified Chapter-run Center or Sanctuary. Independent Audubon entities that wish to participate in a cooperative arrangement with National Audubon Society for this purpose are also eligible. Other organizations are encouraged to apply if they partner with an Audubon group on their project (find an Audubon group near you). If an Audubon group is not available in your community but you would still like to apply for a grant, you may apply without an Audubon partner.
- Be a 501(c) 3 tax-exempt public charity
- Have a commitment from at least one partner organization to serve as a collaborator
- Have adequate collective experience and organizational capacity to administer, implement, and evaluate the project
Selection Process and Criteria
Download the Innovation Grant Guidelines
Successful projects will:
- Achieve measurable, on-the-ground conservation results that contribute to one or more of the conservation goals of the Toyota TogetherGreen program (Habitat, Water, Energy). Those changes may be ecological (for example, restoration of a wetland) or behavioral (for example, getting a particular audience to remove invasive species at a particular location). Please consult the Innovation Grant Guidelines for more detail on the conservation goals.
- Reach under-represented and/or diverse audiences
- Demonstrate innovation and/or replicability
- Take place in the United States
- Achieve results during the course of the 12-month grant period, which will run from October 1, 2013 -- September 30, 2014.
Applications will be reviewed by an expert selection committee composed of individuals from the Audubon network and other organizations representing a wide variety of fields, including conservation planning, evaluation, science, education, communications, and conservation biology. Each application will be reviewed by a team of three reviewers from inside and outside of the Audubon network. All applicants can contact grants@audubon.org to receive reviewers’ feedback on their applications once decisions have been announced.
To find out how proposals are scored and ranked by reviewers, please see pages 3-6 of the Innovation Grant Guidelines.
Grant Restrictions
Toyota TogetherGreen Innovation Grants may not be used for indirect costs, overhead, or other expenses not directly related to the project. Funds may not be used for legal actions, land acquisitions, endowments, lobbying, electioneering, or construction of buildings.
All grant funds must be expended during the course of the grant period, which will run from October 1, 2013 – September 30, 2014. We will be unable to award extensions beyond that date.
How to Apply and Grant Deadline
All Innovation Grant applications must be submitted using our online form, unless you are applying for a Planning Grant (Planning Grant applications should be submitted via email). To help you fill out the application, we have included the application questions in a Word document so that you can work on your answers offline. When you are ready, create an account and copy and paste your answers to each question into the online form.
Applications will be available on April 8, 2013, and the deadline for submission will be 11:59 pm Pacific time on Friday, June 7, 2013.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about the Toyota TogetherGreen Innovation Grants Program, consult the list of Frequently Asked Questions or contact John Rowden, Research and Grants Manager at grants@audubon.org.