Conservation experts, business leaders and grant makers are inviting historically racially marginalized groups to apply for funding to protect natural places across the United States and Canada via an initiative called the Confluence Program.
Groups do not need a charitable status to apply, and the application window continues through October 24.
By the end of this year, the seven-person Confluence Program advisory committee will award four multi-year grants to groups led by Asian, Black, Brown, Indigenous, Latinx and other People of Color working to protect a natural place.
Each grantee will receive $50,000 in 2021 and another $50,000 in 2022 for its effort to protect land and/or water and elevate the voices and perspectives of the people working to protect that place.
Funded by The Conservation Alliance, the Confluence Program is designed to intentionally connect the Alliance, its member companies and other partners to historically racially marginalized people working to protect natural places.
The Conservation Alliance represents 260 values-driven private businesses committed to protecting land and water, and the program name represents the merging of the private business sector and the diversity of organizations doing conservation work.
In 2022 and 2023, The Conservation Alliance will provide additional support to Confluence grantees through resource-sharing and communications. This phase of the program will be designed to meet the specific needs of each group.
“Change comes when we effectively work at it. The openness of The Conservation Alliance to do things a little differently with this grant program will certainly create new opportunities for affinity groups and community orgs alike,” said Teresa Baker, program committee chair and In Solidarity Project founder. “In the environmental movement, there are systems and structures in place that have historically amplified some voices while excluding others,” added Brady Robinson, executive director at The Conservation Alliance. “A successful conservation movement is a coalition of everyone — where the people we’re partnering with and advocating alongside represent the diversity of our country in every way possible.”
To qualify for funding, groups and projects must meet three funding criteria:
- Groups must self-identify as led by historically racially marginalized people (Asian, Black, Brown, Indigenous, Latinx, and other People of Color).
- Projects must protect land and/or water in their efforts to foster a planet where natural places, wildlife, and people thrive together.
- Projects must elevate voices and perspectives of people working to protect a natural place. Natural places can include a variety of projects, such as small-scale, nearby, and community-loved spaces that need permanent protection.
Prioritization will be given to projects at the intersection of historically racially marginalized people and land or water conservation efforts that specifically:
- Center and advance leadership of historically racially marginalized people working to protect a natural place.
- Uplift traditionally underfunded or overlooked projects in conservation, such as nearby nature initiatives and other small-scale projects with recreation value, or natural places that are loved by the local community.
- Support collaborative coalitions to protect large landscapes across regions.
Meet the advisory committee and learn more about how to apply for funding at conservationalliance.com/confluence/
