The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) is soliciting proposals to strategically protect and enhance essential habitats in Hawaiʻi, from mauka to makai (from the mountain to the ocean), to reduce extinction risk and sustain resilient populations of native species relating to NFWF’s Hawai‘i Conservation Program Business Plan.
Donor Name: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF)
State: Hawaii
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 10/22/2025
Size of the Grant: $100,000 to $500,000
Grant Duration: 3 Years
Details:
Species and habitats of interest include palila (finch-billed Hawaiian honeycreeper), kiwikiu (Maui parrotbill), Oʻahu elepaio (monarch flycatcher), ‘alalā (Hawaiian crow), and conservation objectives on Lānaʻi. Major funding partners include Pūlama Lānaʻi and non-federal funds.
Program Priorities
In 2026, the Hawaiʻi Conservation Program will award grants to projects that address the following program priorities.
- Bird Conservation: Reduce extinction risk for a suite of endemic bird species by addressing direct threats and improving habitat conditions. Pervasive and ongoing threats for Hawaiian birds include avian malaria, habitat loss and degradation, and invasive predators and plants.
- Kuahiwi a Kai: Lānaʻi Watershed Conservation Program: Lānaʻi is home to rich natural and cultural resources, spanning from its upland forests (kuahiwi) to the surrounding ocean (kai). However, this landscape is under significant threat from uncontrolled populations of non-native ungulates, introduced predators, invasive plant species, and sedimentation. Over the past 150 years, poor land management and overgrazing by invasive axis deer and mouflon sheep have diminished the health of the island’s aquifers and ecosystems, triggering widespread erosion. This erosion has buried historic coastal cultural sites, degraded Lānaʻi’s iconic white sand beaches with sediment and smothered coral reefs. Terrestrial habitats critical to native species have also been severely impacted.
Funding Information
NFWF expects average awards for projects to be in the range of $50,000 to $200,000.
Grant Period
Projects may extend from one to three years.
Geographic Focus
Priority geographic locations include those found on the islands of Hawaiʻi Island, Maui, Lānaʻi, Oʻahu, and Kauaʻi.
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible applicants include non-profit 501(c) organizations, U.S. Federal government agencies, state government agencies, local governments, municipal governments, Tribal Governments and Organizations, educational institutions, and businesses.
- Ineligible applicants include international organizations and unincorporated individuals.
For more information, visit National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
