Rufford Small Grants Programme

Rufford Small Grants Programme

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: The Rufford Foundation
Amount: £7,000 - £18,000
Last Updated: May 24, 2025

Summary

The Rufford Small Grants Programme supports early-career conservationists in developing countries, providing crucial funding for pilot projects. With over £30 million allocated since its inception, the program facilitates various grant types, including up to £18,000 for Completion Grants. Applicants are encouraged to focus on nature conservation and submit updates on their projects. This initiative aims to empower individuals to make significant contributions to conservation and enhance local capacities.

Overview

The flagship Rufford Small Grants Programme gives funding to individuals working in developing countries who are starting on the ladder of conservation research and establishing pilot programmes. In some cases, if their work progresses well, these individuals may apply for one of the further grants from the Foundation. Since the Rufford Small Grants Programme was set up over 20 years ago, it has given in excess of £30 million through more than 5100 grants to projects in over 150 countries. The programme identifies scientists at the very early stages of their careers and provides targeted support to enable them to achieve their goal of making a difference in terms of conservation. Many recipients have gone on to be key influencers at a national and sometimes global level. The Rufford Foundation provides a staged funding process with four types of grants. In sequence, these are: 1st Rufford Small Grant (up to £7,000).2nd Rufford Small Grant (up to £8,000).Booster Grant (up to £12,000).Completion Grant (up to £18,000). On receipt of a Completion Grant, applicants cannot apply for further funding. At this stage we expect the project we have funded to be financially stable and supported through larger-scale funders. You can only make one funding application in any 12-month period. If your application is rejected, you will have to wait 12 months before you can make another one. 1st Rufford Small Grant Background Information This is the first stage of funding from The Rufford Foundation. A 1st Rufford Small Grant is for up to £7,000. Reporting You must provide project updates and a final report on project completion, copies of which will be posted on your webpage. Further Funding Having completed your project and provided updates and a final report, you can apply for a 2nd Rufford Small Grant, though this must be at least 12 months after the date of payment of your 1st RSG. 2nd Rufford Small Grant Background Information This is the second stage of funding from The Rufford Foundation. A 2nd Rufford Small Grant is for up to £8,000. Reporting You must provide project updates and a final report on project completion, copies of which will be posted on your webpage. Further Funding Having completed your project and provided updates and a final report, you can apply for a Booster Grant, though this must be at least 12 months after the date of payment of your 2nd RSG. Booster Grant Background Information This is the third stage of funding from The Rufford Foundation. A Booster Grant is for up to £12,000. The project must develop important elements of your previous work. Co-funding You should be considering how the project might be sustained in the long-term. Ideally, you should have plans to approach other funders for support, especially if you intend to request further funding from us. Reporting You must provide project updates and a final report on project completion, copies of which will be posted on your webpage. Further Funding Having completed your project and provided updates and a final report, you can apply for a Completion Grant, though this must be at least 12 months after the date of payment of your Booster Grant. Completion Grant Background Information This is the fourth and final stage of funding from The Rufford Foundation. Once an applicant has received a Completion Grant they cannot apply for any further funding from us. A Completion Grant is for up to £18,000. The project must develop important elements of your previous work. Co-funding By this stage, you should have co-funding. We suggest you aim to raise funding from other sources matching the amount you are requesting from us. We will require evidence of support from other sources. Reporting You must provide project updates and a final report on project completion, copies of which will be posted on your webpage. Further Funding Once you have received a Completion Grant you cannot apply for further funding. By this stage you should be able to access larger-scale funding.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. General Criteria: For all grants there are general criteria.

Projects MUST have a nature conservation focus.Applicants can be based in an advanced economy but the project itself must be in an eligible country. We will not consider projects from applicants from advanced economies unless the project is in an eligible country, of high conservation priority and efforts are made to enhance local conservation capacity.We generally fund people who are at the early stages of their conservation careers.We focus on supporting MSc or PhD students (or equivalent) or those who have graduated from such studies in the past 3 years. We ONLY consider costs related to the fieldwork element of the study. We will consider other applicants that fit the General Criteria outlined here though we will NOT support undergraduate students studying for a BSc or equivalent.Grants are designed to support small-scale or pilot projects, rather than providing a small amount of funding for a large-scale project. Ideally, we should be providing between 50 and 100% of the costs of the project. For projects where The Rufford Foundation is not the only funder, we will require evidence of support from the other sources.Projects can focus on particular species or have a more general focus such as on a threatened habitat or a major issue like human-wildlife conflict or the need for community education. Our website gives you a good idea of the range of work we fund. We consider work on any species, provided it fulfils the IUCN Red List criteria outlined below.For projects focusing on species, we will NOT consider work on those listed at a global level as Least Concern in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Species listed in all other categories will be considered.We will consider projects on species that do not appear on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species because they have yet to be assessed but are thought to be threatened.There are no restrictions on projects focusing on threatened habitats.

Ineligibility

General Exclusions The following types of projects will NOT be eligible for support.Pure research with no obvious conservation benefit.Expeditions, particularly where the applicant has to raise funds in order to participate.Attending conferences or seminars.Publishing books.Projects in these countries do NOT qualify for support from The Rufford Foundation.AustriaAustraliaBelgiumBulgariaCanadaCroatiaCyprusCzech RepublicDenmarkEstoniaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIcelandIrelandIranIsraelItalyJapanLatviaLithuaniaLuxembourgMaltaNetherlandsNew ZealandNorwayPolandPortugalPuerto RicoRomaniaSan MarinoSingaporeSlovak RepublicSloveniaSouth KoreaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandTaiwanUnited KingdomUnited StatesRestricted Countries:BhutanApplications will only be considered if they fulfill the following criteria:They are from those who have graduated with a BSc degree in the past three years or from MSc/PhD students or those who have graduated from such studies in the past three years.As per the Instructions for Applicants, this funding would be for fieldwork elements only.Projects must also have direct conservation benefit to threatened habitats or species.Any application that does NOT meet these criteria will be automatically rejected.Countries with Banking SanctionsBecause of international banking sanctions, we are unable to consider ANY applications for projects in the following countries. We keep this list under constant review and any changes in policy will be advertised on our website.CrimeaCubaIranNorth KoreaSouth SudanSudanSyria