Resilient and Connected Appalachians Grant Program

The Resilient and Connected Appalachians Grant Program, offered by The Nature Conservancy, provides up to $100,000 for projects that acquire land and easements throughout the Appalachian region. This program emphasizes equitable conservation, aiming to support historically marginalized communities and enhance access to nature while addressing climate change impacts. Projects must demonstrate community engagement and align with the program's goals to protect vital habitats and foster resilience in the face of environmental challenges.

NOTE:
The Conflict Inquiry form is required for all non-profit organizations. Government entities, including Federally Recognized Tribal Nations do not need to submit the form.While not required, we strongly suggest that you contact your state representative to discuss your project, how it fits with our programmatic priorities, and answer any relevant questions.
The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy is a global environmental nonprofit working to create a world where people and nature can thrive.
Connectivity, Climate, Communities Fund
To make the highest possible impact on the climate and biodiversity crises, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is committed to advancing solutions and supporting partners throughout the Appalachians to connect and conserve vital wildlife habitat, build resilience to the impacts of climate change, and generate new job and recreation opportunities for communities.
Approximately one-third of the U.S. population lives in or within 100 miles of the Appalachians, including an estimated 36 million people that rely on the region for sources of drinking water. The landscape contains the world's largest remaining expanses of temperate broadleaf mixed forest and provides habitat to a wide diversity of plants of animals, many of which are listed as rare, threatened, or endangered. Conserving this landscape is critical for nature and for the people that live and work there.
However as climate change drives ecosystem instability, plants and animals are shifting their ranges northward, and people are having to find ways to adapt to complex and intertwined challenges. TNC and many others have been working to conserve vital Appalachian habitats for decades.
To succeed in these efforts, TNC’s Connectivity, Climate, Communities Fund offers two grant programs for conservation and community organizations, municipalities, Federally Recognized Tribal Nations, and local and state agencies in the Appalachians who are working to protect and conserve this region:
The Resilient and Connected Appalachians Grant ProgramThe New York Climate Resilience Grant Program
The Resilient and Connected Appalachians Grant Program provides grants of up to $100,000 for fee and easement acquisition projects throughout the Appalachians.
Equitable Conservation and Community Benefits
Conservation organizations are increasingly acknowledging the importance of incorporating social equity in their missions, partnerships, and projects and evolving how they work to have better outcomes for people and nature.
TNC defines community benefits as the positive outcomes that directly result from or are included within conservation projects as experienced by local communities and people. This is particularly important for historically marginalized communities, communities with limited access to nature, communities experiencing heightened impacts of climate change due to systemic underinvestment and poor infrastructure, and Indigenous communities.
RCA program funding will support projects that demonstrate meaningful community engagement, work with those historically excluded from conservation, and lead to a fairer distribution of benefits for people and communities.
Some examples of community benefits include improved and greater access to nature, protection of drinking water sources, recreational and resource-based economic opportunities, flood mitigation, engagement in cross-cultural initiatives, or protection of lands that will meet community-defined conservation needs. We encourage projects with meaningful community benefits that are integrated with the land protection goals.
Project Evaluation
Projects will be evaluated  according to their capacity to deliver land protection outcomes aligned with the program goals, including:
Location: the project is located within TNC’s Appalachians Program boundary and is in or near a mapped focal area.  Projects outside of focal areas will also be considered. Resilience: the percentage of the total project area that is part of the Resilient and Connected Network.Connectivity: adjacency to protected lands or other attributes that will lead to landscape connectivity over time (e.g., the project is a necessary acquisition for advancing a local or regional plan that aims to protect a critical conservation corridor).Collaboration: evidence of engagement with other organizations, community groups, or local governments (including, but not limited to, shared funding).Community: project elements that directly engage and or benefit people, especially vulnerable or marginalized communities.Timeline: the project will close within 12 months from the start of the grant agreement term.Feasibility: likelihood that the project will close and the costs seem reasonable.

Eligibility

The program is open to all non-profit 501(c)(3) conservation and community organizations, municipalities, Federally Recognized Tribal Nations, and local and state agencies. Conservation organizations that are not accredited by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission will need to provide additional documentation with their application.Other entities may also be asked for information related to their capacity for owning and managing conservation lands.Applicants must be based in one of the 18 states included in TNC’s  Appalachians Program boundary.Eligible states include: Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama.Applicants may only submit one project per year. An applicant may collaborate on or be party to another project that has a different lead applicant.Project EligibilityProjects must be located in TNC’s Appalachians Program boundary which includes portions of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia or Alabama.Projects must include lands that are mapped as part of the Resilient and Connected Network. Projects that cross state lines are eligible.Projects may include multiple parcels, but the parcels should be adjoining.Projects with multiple, non-adjoining parcels may be considered—please reach out to discuss before applying.Eligible project costs include the following:Project capital (purchase price)Project development (surveys, appraisals, title work, environmental assessments, etc.)Stewardship and legal defenseCommunity engagement costs related to project (meeting venue, supplies, travel, facilitation, etc.)Match for other private or public funding sourcesLegal supportOperational costs (e.g., staff salaries and travel expenses directly associated with the project)Indirect costs (not to exceed 20% of the total grant amount)

Ineligibility

Ineligible ExpensesLobbying fees and costsWhile we hope to be able to include State Recognized Tribes in future rounds, we are unable to do so this year, but projects submitted by other organizations on behalf State Recognized Tribe are eligible.