The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund 2019
  • Abu Dhabi

The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund is a philanthropic endowment established to do the following:

  • Provide targeted grants to individual species conservation initiatives
  • Recognize leaders in the field of species conservation; and
  • Elevate the importance of species in the broader conservation debate.
  • The Fund’s reach is truly global, and its species interest is non-discriminatory. It is open to applications for funding support from conservationists based in all parts of the world, and will potentially support projects focused on any and all kinds of plant, animal and fungus species, subject to the approval of an independent evaluation committee.

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In addition, the Fund will recognize leaders in the field of species conservation and scientific research to ensure their important work is given the attention it deserves and to elevate the importance of species in global conservation discourse.

The Fund has been established to provide targeted grants to individual species conservation initiatives, recognize leaders in the field and elevate the importance of species in the broader conservation debate. Its focus is global and eligibility for grants will extend to all plant, animal and fungi species conservation efforts, without discrimination on the basis of region or selected species. However, it is very competitive indeed with only around 9% of applicants in 2016 receiving a grant.

Grants will be awarded based on their ability to meet criteria pre-determined by the Species Fund, and are for a maximum of $25,000 for each project.

There are three grant rounds per year, and generally, applications received before the end of February will receive a reply at the end of April or early May. The next submission deadline will be the last day of June, (and applicants will receive a reply in September). The final round of grants in a given year usually has a deadline of the end of October, with applicants receiving a response in late December of the same year or early January of the following year.

The Fund receives a very large number of applications, and so it is intended that the Advisory Board would assess applications received three times per year, and pass its recommendation on to the Fund’s board. Thus the Fund will set application deadlines (corresponding to midnight GMT) for applications submitted which will receive a response by a certain date with the current timetable as follows:

  • For applications submitted before the end of 28th February 2019, applicants should receive a reply towards the end of April 2019.

Please note that the submission deadlines are inflexible and that the dates for a response to applicants are estimates depending on the workload for the review process. The deadline time is based on GMT.

The application and review timetable for the remainder of 2019 will be as follows:

  • deadline of 30th June 2019 for a response in late September 2019.
  • deadline of 31st October 2019 for a response in late December 2019.

Location:

United Arab Emirates

Benefits

Grants of maximum $25,000 for each project.

Eligibilities

The Fund intends to be as flexible and accommodating as possible when reviewing applications, and to take into account as many different factors as is reasonable when assessing the merit of a suggested project. To support this and to try to streamline the application process, the review process is kept comparatively simple.

However, the Fund does receive many more applications for support than grants could possibly be provided, so please find below some criteria and guidelines which would be useful to bear in mind when submitting an application.

  • Language: Applications must be submitted in English.
  • Currency: Budgets must be submitted in US Dollars.
  • Maximum Grant: The Fund maximum grant size is $25,000, and any application asking for more than this from the Fund will be rejected. The total budget of a project can be higher if there are other sources of funding.
  • Conservation status: The Fund was established to support species conservation work, and so if your project is not about an endangered species it is probably not worth your while submitting an application.

The Fund will use the IUCN Redlist (www.iucnredlist.org) as the primary guide to the conservation status of a given species, although documented variations for sub-species, distinct populations and sub-populations will be taken into account. For those species not assessed through the IUCN Redlist, we welcome other methods of assessment and the submission of quantitative data to confirm a species status. Generally, the Fund gives priority to those species facing a high threat of extinction (with an emphasis on Endangered and Critically Endangered species), as well as those which are listed as Data Deficient or unlisted but are suspected as highly threatened. Please ensure that the conservation status mentioned in the application is correct and cross-referenced to a website or publication. It might be of use to consult with the relevant IUCN/SSC Specialist Group if you are in doubt or would like some guidance.

  • Please note that applications with clearly incorrect conservation status and no justification will NOT be considered for funding.
  • Content: Text provided in an application should be kept concise and clear, with clearly stated quantitative goals, aims and methods. When writing an application, please bear in mind that there is only so much text which the Advisory Board and the Fund’s board of directors are capable of reading. Priority will be given to those projects that support the professional development of young conservationists.
  • In situ conservation: Generally, the Fund is primarily interested in providing support to in situ conservation work in the field (such as survey work and data gathering, direct action, recovery management, training and the like), focusing on the species in its natural habitat. However, the importance of ex-situ work (genetic analysis, workshops, ex situ populations etc) is also recognized, and so a few grants may be given to projects which focus on ex situ conservation work in certain circumstances.
  • Core costs: The Fund will not contribute to the core running costs of an organization or administrative overheads, and yet does recognize that sometimes support salaries, stipends, per diems and project related living costs can be a vital part of in situ conservation work.
  • Species: Generally the Fund would prefer to support projects which focus on a single species, but it also recognizes that in some geographic and taxonomic circumstances it makes more sense to group a number of species.
  • Grant amount: The Fund will not provide a grant of more than $25,000.
  • Grants for continuation: The Fund is happy to provide continued support for a project which had previously been supported, which is now completed and for which the Fund has received all required reporting by the time of the respective submission deadline.
  • External review: In some cases, the Advisory Board and/or the Fund’s board of directors may ask for an application to be passed on for additional review, which may add to the response time.
  • Online: Starting from December 1st, 2011 only applications submitted through the Fund’s online, web-based system will be considered. Supporting documents can be sent as email attachments, but the application itself must be online.

For more information, please also check our Frequently Asked Questions page.

Eligible Regions: Open for all

Application Process

  • You can complete and submit the application online by clicking the given link below. Before starting an application, please ensure that you have read and understood the application criteria (especially relating to the species conservation status) and have had a look at the Frequently Asked Questions page on the Fund’s website.
  • Once your application has been submitted you will receive an automated email acknowledging receipt of your application, which will also contain login details.

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Application Deadline: June 30, 2019

Application ClosedOfficial link
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