Funding Criteria
For an organization to be considered for project funding, the following criteria must be met:
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1. The partner must:
- Work within our district
- Complement District efforts rather than duplicate them
- Display a clear benefit to private lands and/or residents of our district
- Have a work plan or scope of work in place with identified goals
- Have the ability to use the funds in the fiscal year applied for (July 1, 2024–June 30, 2025)
- Be financially independent or have an established fiscal agent
- Have the ability to supplement with funds from other sources
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2. The partner's mission must align with our mission
We provide resources, education, and expertise to inspire people to actively improve air and water quality, fish and wildlife habitat, and soil health.
Read our mission -
3. The partner’s work must address one or more of the District's Long-Range Business Plan Strategic Directions.
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4. Priority will be given to partners addressing the following District Priority Goals:
- Support, foster, and further grow staff, board, and partners’ capacity to embed equity and inclusion.
- Promote and conduct assessments on non-governmental properties and provide guidance on voluntary conservation actions.
- Assist farms, livestock, and horse operations, and ranches addressing water quality concerns.
- Maintain and increase native habitat coverage and connectivityConnectivity the degree to which patches of landscape are connected, either helping or impeding animal movement and other ecological processes like the flow of water or dispersal of seeds throughout the district.
- Assist working forestlands.
- Address wildfire risk and landscape resiliency to wildfire.
- Support school and community gardens, especially in the most racially diverse neighborhoods in our district.
- Promote actions people can take to maintain the benefits from conservation projects and resources that they can use to help manage their own lands for conservation value long-term.
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5. For partners focusing on land access and educational programs: Priority will be given to funding partner’s work that helps advance the goals listed below.
- Increase access to land among Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC) and culturally specific groups.
- Increase culturally specific land-based education, including funding and support for BIPOC-led and culturally specific groups to provide land-based education.
Learn more about these goals in our Education Program Niche Finding report.
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6. Previously funded partners must have their current agreements and past reporting with the District in good standing.
See last year’s recipients of partnership funds in our current annual report.
Funding schedule
Funding for our 2024-2025 funding is now closed. Please check back in November 2024 for programming to be awarded in July 2025.
Funding applications are reviewed and ranked by a staff-led team, funding recommendations are presented to and approved by a public budget committee, and then approved by the District’s seven-member elected Board of Directors.
Funding ranges: Partner funding awards for 2023-2024 ranged from ~$7,000 - $33,000. Educational partner awards were typically ~$10,000 while those conducting education and on-the-ground conservation work extended the range of funding. View page 20 (bottom left) of last year's Partner Funding Awardees in our most recent annual report. Up to $35,000 can be requested, but only top ranking candidates may access that level of funding while most partners will be awarded lesser amounts.
Contact us at info@wmswcd.org with general questions or comments about this page. Please contact Mary Logalbo to inquire about the funding program and your organization’s eligibility.
Mary Logalbo
Urban Conservationist
Contact me about:
Urban services; Stormwater & erosion; Partner funding; School & community gardens; Plants; Equity and inclusion; Wildfire risk on urban forests; our Long Range Business Plan.