Environmental Education Grants for Nonprofits

We only have one environment. As concerns about climate change mount, the world is taking action to try and stave off environmental disaster - yet significant misinformation about environmental topics is still rife, particularly in the United States. Many nonprofits have made it their mission to help spread accurate information about environmental topics.

These nonprofits can only do this through the generous funding provided by environmental education grants. These grants can be used for a variety of purposes to improve environmental education. These could be through supporting workshops and curriculum in schools, helping fund nature-based field trips for those schools, or engaging communities in learning about sustainable practices. The overall goal is to try and foster a grassroots culture of environmental stewardship.

Environmental education grants can come from a wide range of sources. These can include federal agencies such as the EPA, or state environmental departments. This can also include private foundations such as the Surdna Foundation, or the National Environmental Education Foundation. It’s not uncommon to also be able to find local government agencies and corporate social responsibility programs providing grants as well.

When preparing an environmental education grant proposal, it's important to make use of a mixture of data. It’s tempting to simply pile on data about the massive array of environmental challenges facing the world - such as pollution, climate change, or falling biodiversity. But remember that these grants are for educational purposes. Try to highlight gaps in education, citing levels of environmental illiteracy in your region. You can draw on sources of data such as EPA reports to back up your argument. But make sure that you are a storyteller as well - you aren’t arguing for environmentalist measures. Rather, you are arguing for a cultural shift in how we view environmental issues.

If you need more assistance on how to write great environmental education grants, make sure to check out our excellent overview on the topic. You can also start browsing environmental education grants above right now, all ready for application.