Tom and Bruce Shinn Fund Grant

The Tom and Bruce Shinn Fund, established by the North Carolina Native Plant Society, supports U.S. students at North Carolina colleges engaged in research on native plants and habitats. Grants up to $1000 are available for projects like floristic inventories, endangered species preservation, and community ecology studies. This initiative honors Tom and Bruce Shinn, who were dedicated to native plant conservation and education, promoting sustainable practices in horticulture and ecology.

Background
The Shinn Fund is named in honor of Tom and Bruce Shinn, native plant enthusiasts who developed and maintained a wildflower garden at their home near Asheville. They travelled throughout the Southeast searching for plants and kept careful records about propagation techniques. Tom Shinn’s detailed propagation records became the basis for a native plant propagation handbook, first published by the NCNPS in 1977.
The Tom and Bruce Shinn Fund provides several grants each year to support undergraduate and graduate students that are researching North Carolina’s native plants and habitats.
Shinn grant projects may include, but are not limited to:

• floristic inventories of local greenspaces or natural areas
• research to protect and preserve endangered or threatened species at risk within their native habitat
• horticultural research of native species not found in the nursery trade
• research on species population genetics, ecology, or range distribution
• restoration of native species or their habitats
• research and management of pest plant species
• community ecology of sensitive or threatened habitats
• Funding
• Grants are awarded up to $1000.

Eligibility

The fund is only open to students that are U.S. citizens and attending a North Carolina college or university.Students must be working with an advisor and conducting basic or applied research in botanical or horticultural areas that fulfill the mission of NCNPS: “to promote the enjoyment and conservation of North Carolina’s native plants and their habitats through education, protection, cultivation, and advocacy.”Your proposal can include some field work outside of North Carolina as long as the work involves North Carolina natives and some research occurs in the state.