Rose Foundation invites applications for projects to protect California wildlands

The Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environmentinvites applications for its California Wildlands Grassroots Fund (Cal Wildlands). The foundation will award grants of up to $10,000 (typically ranging between $4,000 and $7,500) to activists and organizations working to protect wildlands and habitats across the state. Cal Wildlands supports conservationists advocating for the permanent protection—including restoration and stewardship—of intact wildlands on public and private lands. Efforts to advance wildlands and open space protection through county general plans and other local planning mechanisms may be eligible for funding. Cal Wildlands also supports policy advocacy, litigation, and regulatory watchdog efforts at the local, state, and federal levels if the project objective is to protect wildlands. Strategies supported by the fund include but are not limited to:Grassroots organizing; organizational capacity building; participation in public meetings and hearings; public

education; communications; legislative and regulatory advocacy; media campaigns; lawsuits; listing petitions; conferences and meetings; skills and leadership trainings; restoration and trail maintenance; scientific research, including citizen science; coalition building; and developing partnerships with government agencies, private entities, nonprofit organizations, and communities.Activities supported by the fund include but are not limited to:Communications campaigns (including mailings, web-based communications and social media, paid advertising, etc.); strategic campaign planning and implementation; advocacy-related travel or other expenses; research; hiring technical, legal, or scientific experts or consultants; equipment purchase or rental; training; conferences; retreats; monitoring; mapping; and restoration and trail maintenance. Educational activities targeting legislators are allowable, but grant dollars may not be used for lobbying as defined by IRS 501(c)(3).Funding priorities include requests for discrete, project-specific support in which both the site and strategy are concrete and specific; geographic or issue areas that have not received significant financial support in the past, including rural communities and other regions without easy access to financial and political support; community-based advocacy and organizing efforts in which affected community members and interest groups steer the campaign/project; efforts that are predominantly driven and staffed by volunteers; projects that will establish or address a critical precedent that will influence other wildlands protection efforts; innovative strategies; and projects aimed at building diverse constituencies for wildlands protection and engaging non-traditional stakeholders, especially communities of color.Applicants must be a California-based nonprofit organization with actual annual expenses and income of $200,000 or less. The fund prioritizes project-specific requests but will accept general support requests from strong organizations whose work is well aligned with the fund’s priorities. The fund will support stipends for organizers, portions of staff salaries linked with a project, consulting fees for technical experts, equipment purchase, and research costs.For complete program guidelines and application instructions, see the Rose Foundation for the Communities and Environment website.