The National Forest Foundation (NFF) Matching Awards Program (MAP) provides funding for results-oriented on-the-ground projects that enhance forest health and outdoor experiences on National Forests and Grasslands.
Donor Name: National Forest Foundation
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Award
Deadline: 01/23/2023
Details:
Starting in spring 2023, the program is shifting its funding criteria to focus on projects that involve the public in hands-on service to National Forests and Grasslands. Starting in Round 2, projects funded under MAP must inspire participants to get personally involved in caring for their public lands, and take place on Forest Service lands.
MAP Round 1 2023 grants will support action-oriented projects that enhance outdoor experiences, forest and ecosystem health, and engage local communities in caring for their public lands.
Program Areas
All MAP applications must align with one or both of the NFF’s strategic focus areas of Outdoor Experiences and Forest Health. Applications that cohesively integrate the two program areas are encouraged.
Focus Areas
The new hands-on engagement orientation of the Matching Awards Program includes two required focus areas: Community Engagement and Service Activities. Proposed projects must align with both areas.
- Community Engagement: Community engagement, defined as in-person involvement of the public, must be the primary focus of every project funded under the Matching Awards Program. The National Forest Foundation recognizes that communities across the country have varied history and experience with public lands, and expects that effective and appropriate engagement experiences will vary by community.
- Eligible occasions for community engagement in public lands include, but are not limited to:
- Public lands days, cleanup days, and similar events
- Field trips for schools or collaborative groups
- Outdoor skills training
- Indigenous ecological practices
- Ceremonies or celebrations related to natural resources
- Trail or site ambassadors
- Service Activities: Service-oriented activities must be the secondary component of every project proposed to the Matching Awards Program. Eligible service-oriented activities must be completed by the participants and result in benefits to Forest Service lands. Benefits may be direct, such as trail maintenance or trash cleanup, or indirect, such as collecting monitoring data that will be used to benefit management decisions or education of trail users to prevent damage. The NFF recognizes that different activities are appropriate for different types of participants, therefore a variety of service actions are allowed, including both largeand small-scale stewardship activities.
- Eligible activities include, but are not limited to:
- Recreation area cleanup
- Native trees and shrub planting
- Trail maintenance
- Invasive species control
- Forest and watershed restoration
- Hazardous fuels reduction
- Ecological or social monitoring to inform management decisions
- Education about sustainable recreation principles
Eligibility Criteria
501(c)(3) nonprofits, universities, and federally-recognized Native American tribes.
For more information, visit NFF.
