The South Mountain Partnership is accepting Pre-applications for the 2023 Mini-Grant Program to conserve the Landscape Resources that define the South Mountain landscape in southcentral Pennsylvania
Donor Name: South Mountain Partnership
State: Pennsylvania
Counties: Adams County (PA),
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 05/26/2023
Size of the Grant: $15,000
Details:
The Partnership Mini-Grant is designed to catalyze on-the-ground projects that sustain South Mountain’s sense of place through the protection and promotion of the Partnership’s four identified Landscape Resources:
- Natural
- Agricultural
- Cultural
- Recreational
The Partnership highly values interdisciplinary projects, or “nexus projects,” that tend to all of these Landscape Resources, as these Landscape Resources are all interrelated.
The Partnership is one of seven Conservation Landscapes supported by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). Funding is provided via DCNR’s Community Conservation Partnerships Program (C2P2) and the Environmental Stewardship Fund to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, which administers the Mini-Grant.
Goals
The Partnership works to identify projects that strategically benefit the region – be it impacting the resources across the region or by creating a new approach for addressing an issue, with lessons that can be diffused throughout the region. Eligible projects meet these four goals:
- Engage new partners to the Partnership to advance the mission of the Partnership.
- Implement projects throughout the landscape to protect, promote, and/or build upon the South Mountain region’s unique Landscape Resources.
- Integrate thinking and approaches across disciplines; the Partnership strives to support “nexus projects” that recognize the region’s interrelated Landscape Resources.
- Build and strengthen collaboration amongst partners across the landscape.
Priorities
The 2023 Mini-Grant prioritizes work in the spirit of their ongoing State of the Region Project. This includes:
- Collaborative projects involving multiple partners and community members
- Projects that support identifying or measuring the health of the region
- Projects that align with conservation and preservation elements of county or municipal comprehensive plans
Eligibility Criteria
- Non-profit organizations with a tax-exempt status 501(c)(3), municipalities, counties, and educational institutions are all eligible for the Mini-Grant. All projects must be within Cumberland, Adams, Franklin, or York County and have significant ties to the assets of South Mountain, the working lands that surround the mountains, and the communities tied to both. Non-profit organizations must provide a Federal 501(c)(3) registration number and a Pennsylvania Bureau of Charitable Organizations registration number.
- Single-year grant requests for a minimum of $2,500 to a maximum of $15,000 are considered; at the discretion of the review committee projects exceeding $15,000 and up to $25,000 may be considered for projects that have demonstrable regional impact and integrate across multiple priority areas. Applicants must match (at a 1:1 ratio) these funds with additional funding and/or eligible non-cash (in-kind) services. For larger projects with grant requests exceeding the maximum Mini-Grant amount (examples: land acquisitions and trail construction), they encourage interested parties to apply directly to DCNR’s C2P2.
Note: This Mini-Grant is funded through a DCNR Bureau of Recreation and Conservation grant. The Partnership identifies four priority Landscape Resources (natural, cultural, agricultural, and recreational resources), and they welcome project proposals that protect and promote this diversity of resources. Due to the original DCNR funding source, applicants with projects that address cultural and/or agricultural resources must make a strong connection to the natural and/ or recreational significance of the proposed project in order to be eligible.
For more information, visit Mini-Grants.
