The Nebraska Environmental Trust (NET), a state entity funded by Nebraska Lottery proceeds, offers annual reimbursement grants to conserve, enhance, and restore Nebraska’s natural environment. The program supports projects that advance at least one of five priority areas: habitat conservation and restoration, surface and groundwater protection, waste management improvements, air quality initiatives including greenhouse-gas reduction, and soil health management. Funds may also be used for research, design, education, and community engagement activities that further these objectives.
Applications open each year around July and must be submitted online by midnight on the first Tuesday after Labor Day; for 2025 that deadline is September 2. Projects may request any dollar amount because NET sets neither a minimum nor a maximum award. Awards can span up to three years, disbursed in annual increments, and all payments are made on a reimbursement basis. The Trust strongly encourages cost sharing and outside match funding and rarely finances projects at one-hundred-percent.
Eligibility is broad. Individuals, nonprofits, public entities, and for-profit organizations may apply if the proposed work clearly delivers public environmental benefits in Nebraska. Applicants must answer a twelve-question eligibility screen addressing issues such as regulatory mandates, private benefit, environmental acceptability, and financial and technical feasibility. Projects passing this screen are scored using a Project Ranking System that weighs environmental impact, cost effectiveness, and alignment with NET priorities.
Successful applicants enter a grant contract that specifies allowable costs, reporting requirements, and bidding rules. At least two bids are required for purchases of personal property valued at one thousand dollars or more unless the applicant is a governmental body with its own procurement policy. Equipment funded by a grant must be used for its intended purpose for its useful life, and real property acquired with Trust funds must be held in perpetuity for the approved conservation purpose.
Grant administrators recommend starting the application early to gather accurate cost estimates, letters of support, and evidence of matching funds. All required signatures must be in place before any project costs are incurred because expenditures dated before contract execution are ineligible for reimbursement.
For additional information, contact the Nebraska Environmental Trust at 402-471-5409 or via email at env.trust@nebraska.gov.
Include cost estimates; outline match funds; demonstrate environmental benefits
