Apply for a grant
Conservation urgency?
What's your 1wild NEED? Financial support? Equipment? Expertise? Volunteer work support?
Look around here, submit your application below or network with other conservationists, donors and supporters.
Grant criteria
Conservation needs are endless. Our funds aren't. To achieve as much as possible, we choose projects according to selective criteria.
1wild offers grants for conservation initiatives that aim to protect individual species or ecosystems. While any sound project submission will be reviewed carefully, we do prioritize a combination of the following:
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Hotspots of biodiversity and EDGE hotspots
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Species being
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under high threat as per IUCN Red List
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of exceptional importance for the gene pool of life as per EDGE score
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keystone species
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Underfunded conservation programmes.
Applicants must pass a highly selective assessment of these criteria.
We invest into biodiversity conservation work, conservation-targeted research, or species-/ecosystem-driven conservation policy. A key criterion for our support is that an activity either directly helps protecting a focal species or (if predominantly research- or policy-oriented) is designed in such a way as to support and promote the designation of an area as “critical habitat” with protected status.
Grant size
Although we do not set a specific upper limit for the amount of grants, we generally award relatively small contributions (CHF/USD 3,000-10,000 per project and year). The reason for this is threefold: We currently only use capital interest (not capital) to support projects, so our annual funds are both limited and dependent on investment performance. Grants awarded are potentially repeatable. Despite our strong focus on particularly valuable conservation targets, there are a large number of species with “orphan” status that need urgent attention. We therefore want to enable as many programs as possible to initiate or continue vital conservation measures. This broad approach also limits the risk of supporting ultimately unsuccessful projects and increases the prospects of receiving additional funding for conservation projects. Taken together, the annual funding per project must thus be kept reasonable.
Grant applications
Applications must be submitted online. Selection is very competitive, so please submit your application well ahead of the deadline. Upon submission of the form you will receive an automated email acknowledging receipt of your application. There are two grant rounds per year, which close end June and end December. For any questions regarding the application, or to be added to the 1wild's contact database, please use the "Contact us" details or send an email to projects@1wild.org
Grant payments only to charities
Grant payments can only be made to charities, i.e. to officially recognized non-profit organizations. This is due to both principles of good governance and a respective clause in our charter and an obligation by the Swiss Federal Supervisory Authority for Foundations, respectively.
Grant review
Grant requests are reviewed through the 1wild Board twice annually, in May and in November.
Current submission deadlines and grant review timelines are as follows:
NEW Grant submission deadline 1/2025: April 15, 2025
Grant review 1/2025: Quarter 2/2025
Grant submission deadline 2/2025: October 15, 2025
Grant review 2/2025: Quarter 4/2025
Applicants will be informed of approval or ineligibility of their grant request generally within 1-2 months after submission, i.e.
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by end June for the submission deadline of 15 April
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by end December for the submission deadline of 15 October
Apply for a grant
We recommend reading the form before starting to complete it.
Before filling the form, please ensure that you have read and understood the grant criteria and have looked at the Frequently Asked Questions.
Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are mandatory.
A printable version of the form is provided at the end in case you have trouble filling it online.