NCF-Envirothon Diversity Enhancement and Underserved Audience Grants

The National Conservation Foundation (NCF) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), share a mutual goal of encouraging students to expand their knowledge and explore the environment and natural resource conservation through participation in Envirothon and its five areas of study: Aquatic Ecology, Forestry, Soils and Land Use, Wildlife and Current Environmental Issues. Recognizing that historically underserved communities and students often face significant barriers to participation, NCF and the USFS collaborate to offer the Diversity Enhancement and Underserved Audience Grant program (Diversity Grants) to provide additional support and financial resources to recipients with the goals of:
  • Increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion within local state and provincial Envirothon programs
  • Improving access to hands-on, outdoor natural resource education opportunities
  • Encouraging education exploration
  • Educating young adults on the importance of conservation




Examples of projects include, but are not limited to:
  • Participation Projects
  • Outreach and engagement projects that encourage and facilitate participation of historically underserved communities and students in the Envirothon
  • Cultural inclusion projects incorporating underrepresented culture into state/provincial Envirothon competitions and/or programs (in the form of ceremonies, histories, oral traditions, indigenous systems of science, traditional ecological knowledge, etc.) or translation of education materials into languages other than English
  • Projects that improve environmental literacy and provide students access to hands-on learning experiences
  • Accessibility projects that seek to adapt training and/or testing access to accommodate hearing, visually or mobility impaired students.
Thank you to our Grant Sponsors

Award History

Funds awarded in the past several years:

  • 2022- $8,000
  • 2021- $12,000
  • 2020- $23,000
  • 2019- $11,500
  • 2018- $12,000
  • 2017- $10,000
  • 2016- $13,500

2023 Diversity Grants

The 2023 cycle of the Diversity Grant Application period: 12/2/22 - 2/3/23

OPEN: December 2, 2022 

CLOSED: February 3, 2023 by 11:59pm EST

ELIGIBILITY: U.S. state and Canadian provincial Envirothon programs* that are up to date on all NCF-Envirothon Annual Membership Dues may apply.

  • *Individual schools, school districts, non-profit organizations, conservation districts, and/or other qualifying entities may partner with their local state or provincial Envirothon program to apply for Diversity Grant funding. The individual school, school or conservation district, organization, et cetera can be the sole focus of the Diversity Grant Project, but the local state or provincial Envirothon program will act as the fiscal agent, administering the grant funds, for the project.

FUNDING

  • U.S. Applicants (regardless of application history) = up to $4,000
  • Canadian Applicants (regardless of application history) = up to $2000

(Final amount awarded per applicant will depend, in part, on the number of applications received)

APPLICATION DOCUMENTS: