Montana Grants

This program provides funding to various organizations and agencies for projects that manage invasive weeds and restore wildlife habitats across Montana's ecologically significant landscapes.

The First Nations’ Young Natural Resource Professionals Cohort is a 12-month enrichment opportunity designed to enhance the knowledge and networks of young natural resource professionals in the Northern Great Plains. This program directly aligns with the First Nations Development Institute's mission to support Native American communities, particularly in areas of natural resource management and tribal sovereignty. The grant, ranging from $1,000 to $10,000, aims to foster professional development and community-led conservation efforts within tribal lands. The primary beneficiaries of this program are 15 early-career natural resource professionals, aged 18-30, who are tribally-affiliated and employed by tribal natural resource and/or environmental departments in Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. The program's impact goals are to develop professional, leadership, and technical skills among these individuals, enabling them to effectively employ tribal and community conservation priorities. The cohort prioritizes a deeper understanding of traditional stewardship practices, specialized project management training, and the ability to communicate the importance of upholding tribal sovereignty, cultural grounding, and connection to ancestral lands in resource management. Participants will gain access to a $5,000 stipend for their hosting Tribe, travel support for professional development, a $50,000 tribal grant to lead a conservation-focused project, and a supportive network with mentorship opportunities. Expected outcomes include participants gaining a deeper understanding of traditional stewardship practices, receiving specialized training in project management, and becoming adept at communicating the importance of tribal sovereignty and cultural connection in resource management. Measurable results will be demonstrated through the completion of conservation-focused projects and the sustained professional growth of the cohort members within their tribal communities. The project period runs from October 1, 2024, to September 30, 2025.

This funding opportunity provides financial support to organizations that deliver high-quality early childhood education and family services to low-income children and families across multiple states in the U.S.

This grant provides funding to nonprofit organizations and government units for projects that directly benefit the residents of Blaine County, Montana, addressing important community needs.

The Social Justice Fund NorthWest (SJF) is offering the 2024 Base Building Grant, aimed at strengthening grassroots organizations in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming. This grant directly aligns with SJF's mission to foster social justice by investing in community organizing as a primary strategy. The program focuses on "Base Building," defined as a tactic that expands the number and engagement of people who share a vision for social justice and actively work to achieve it through organized strategies. This approach underscores SJF's strategic priority of empowering communities to drive systemic change. The grant targets organizations committed to community organizing and led by those most directly affected by the issues they address. Specifically, SJF prioritizes organizations with at least 51% leadership from Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities, or those working predominantly in reservation, rural, or small-town communities. The impact goals are to build collective power, widen the base of engaged individuals, develop strong leadership within communities, and implement effective long-term strategies. The expected outcomes include a critical mass of collective power capable of winning and defending policy, cultural, or institutional changes, as well as a diverse and actively engaged membership. SJF's community organizing framework emphasizes four key areas: Collective Power, Widening the Base, Leadership Development, and Strategy and Long-Term Planning. Under Collective Power, the focus is on building a diverse membership and achieving policy or cultural wins. Widening the Base involves fostering authentic relationships with those most affected, recruiting new people, and using varied, tailored communication methods, including face-to-face engagement. Leadership Development ensures clear entry points to leadership, accessible political education, and continuous engagement and agitation. Finally, Strategy and Long-Term Planning requires organizations to develop and adapt a comprehensive base-building plan with clear goals, timelines, infrastructure, and accountability structures. The grant, providing $100,000 over two years ($50,000 annually), is open to nonprofit organizations, tribal agencies, or fiscally sponsored groups with 501(c)3 or 501(c)4 status, or federally recognized American Indian tribal governments. This funding mechanism directly supports SJF's theory of change, which posits that sustained investment in community-led organizing, focused on these core elements, will lead to meaningful and lasting social justice outcomes in the specified regions.

This grant provides $100,000 over two years to grassroots organizations in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming that focus on building community power and leadership among diverse groups, with a priority for those led by BIPOC and working in rural or reservation areas.

This grant provides funding to states and territories to develop a coordinated early childhood education system that integrates various programs, including Head Start, to improve access and efficiency for families with children from birth to age five.

The U.S. Geological Surveys Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center (NOROCK) is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU Partner for research to assess distribution and threats to at-risk amphibians in the western USA. This research will focus specifically on how threats such as drought, non-native predators, habitat loss or transformation, environmental degradation, and pathogens are affecting the distribution and abundance of amphibians in the West. Field work will occur in the Northwest, Southwest, Rocky Mountains, and Great Plains, will occur primarily on BLM, NPS, USFWS, and USFS lands, and will focus on many species that are priorities to the Department of Interior and other partner agencies or stakeholders.

This program provides financial and technical support to Montana local governments for developing essential planning documents that help manage and protect renewable resources.

The Humanities Montana Film + Video grant program is a competitive initiative designed to foster the development, production, and distribution of documentary films and series. These projects must engage general audiences with humanities ideas in creative and appealing ways, aligning with Humanities Montana's mission to deepen public understanding of significant humanities questions. The program supports projects grounded in humanities scholarship, requiring a thoughtful, balanced, and analytical approach to subjects, while also demonstrating the potential to attract a broad general audience. The primary beneficiaries of this program are media producers collaborating with scholars, as well as the general public who will consume the resulting film and video content. The impact goals are to enhance public understanding of humanities themes, foster analytical thinking, and engage communities and cultures represented in the project content. The program aims to support projects that not only present diverse perspectives but also involve humanities scholars in all aspects, from research and script development to production and post-production. The grant prioritizes projects that focus on clearly defined humanities themes, build on sound humanities scholarship, and actively engage the general public in learning through appealing and accessible formats. Funding is categorized into three stages: Stage One for research and script development (up to $8,000), Stage Two for production (up to $10,000), and Stage Three for post-production and public distribution (up to $10,000). Each stage has specific prerequisites and expected deliverables, ensuring a structured progression of projects. Expected outcomes include the creation of completed scripts or detailed treatments in Stage One, rough cuts of films or videos in Stage Two, and fully distributed projects with public programming, outreach, and evaluation plans in Stage Three. Humanities Montana's strategic priority is to support major projects that may require multiyear support and significant stages of research, development, and production. The theory of change is that by funding high-quality, humanities-focused documentary films, they can effectively reach and engage broad audiences, thereby deepening public understanding and appreciation of the humanities.

The Humanities Montana’s Community Project Grants support public humanities programming throughout Montana. This initiative aligns with the foundation's mission to strengthen community and culture by promoting civic engagement, sparking thoughtful community dialogue, and reflecting on the human experience across the state. These grants are designed to foster bold and innovative projects that are meaningful to local communities and inspire timely community conversations. The primary target beneficiaries are the general public across Montana, with a particular emphasis on engaging diverse communities and cultures. The impact goals include deepening public understanding of significant humanities questions, building on sound humanities scholarship, and fostering analytical approaches that present a variety of perspectives. The program aims to strengthen cultural understanding and civic participation through accessible and appealing formats. The program prioritizes projects focused on clearly defined humanities themes. Funding is available for a wide array of formats, including storytelling, historical analysis, public writing workshops, literacy programs, ethical inquiry, interpretation at historic sites, book festivals, exhibits, lectures, speaker series, panel discussions, teacher institutes & workshops, humanities program planning, reading & discussion programs, and various humanities events. All projects must involve humanities scholars (academic, professional, or subject-expert) in all aspects and require at least one confirmed subject-expert. Expected outcomes include increased public engagement with humanities topics, enhanced community dialogue, and a deeper reflection on the human experience. Measurable results will likely be demonstrated through the reach and participation in the programs, the quality of humanities scholarship integrated, and the active involvement of communities and cultures represented in project content. For projects involving Native American communities, letters of support from participating scholars, researchers, and/or program participants are required, outlining their involvement. The maximum award for these grants ranges from $2,000 to $10,000.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner to support a study of grassland bird communities under a changing climate. Over the last half-century, populations of grassland birds declined by more than any other bird group in North America. This is because native grasslands have largely been converted to agricultural row crops, and the remaining prairies have become degraded through altered fire regimes, woody encroachment, the spread of invasive plants, and human development. Land managers and conservation organizations are racing to preserve and restore these ecosystems to stem further loss of grassland birds. Given limited resources, bird habitat models are needed to help managers prioritize where conservation efforts will be most effective. In addition to habitat loss and degradation of native grasslands, increasing greenhouse gas emissions will likely change temperatures and rainfall patterns across the Great Plains. This changing climate is expected to alter vegetation communities and the bird species that depend on them. To date, predictions of bird response to a changing climate have focused on changes in temperature and precipitation, but vegetation productivity also depends on factors such as vegetation type and soils. By studying how vegetation influences grassland birds across the western Great Plains, are creating maps of projected bird distribution, given vegetation and land-use change under multiple future climate scenarios. Predictive bird distribution maps will help land managers and other decision-makers understand how the site-level projects fit within regional and climatic contexts. A web-based application and raining modules accompanying these maps will increase capacity among Federal, State, Tribal, and private partners in their conservation planning under a changing climate.

This grant provides funding for nonprofit organizations to undertake projects that conserve, preserve, or restore the environment in specific regions of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.

The US Geological Survey is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for research in the following research area: improving methods to model, map, and analyze predictions of habitat suitability and suitability for abundance of both well-established and emergent invasive plant species under current and future scenarios. The research will be used to develop modeling software, improve model transferability, analyze spatial patterns of model uncertainty, and optimize the development and delivery of model results to practitioners charged with the management of invasive species.

This grant provides financial support for nonprofit organizations in Montana to undertake significant capital projects, such as construction and renovations, that enhance their infrastructure and service delivery.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) is inviting proposals for its ConocoPhillips SPIRIT of Conservation program, which is specifically designed to advance bird species and habitat conservation. This program directly aligns with NFWF's mission to address the alarming loss of 3 billion birds since 1970. The foundation's strategic priority is to support projects that conserve, restore, or enhance critical habitats and to gather essential bird population data, ultimately aiming to reverse population declines. The primary beneficiaries of this program are bird populations, both migratory and non-migratory, particularly those inhabiting grassland, wetland, sage-steppe, and coastal habitats. The program's impact goals include improving habitat quality and quantity, enhancing breeding and wintering grounds, and supporting stopover periods for birds along major migratory routes. Expected outcomes include a measurable increase in bird populations, improved habitat conditions, and the collection of vital data to inform future conservation efforts. The program's priorities and focuses are centered on implementing science-driven and strategic conservation. This involves addressing habitat degradation, fragmentation, and loss. Geographic focal areas are critical, spanning major migratory routes from the northern slope of Alaska to the north-south axis of the central United States, including the Gulf Coast regions of Texas and Louisiana. The program emphasizes innovative methods for gathering lacking bird population data and conserving specific habitat types. Grant awards typically range from $100,000 to $275,000, with projects expected to be completed within two years. Eligible applicants include a broad range of non-profit organizations, government agencies (U.S. federal, state, local, municipal, tribal), and educational institutions. This inclusive eligibility criteria reflects NFWF's theory of change, which recognizes that collaborative efforts across various sectors are essential for achieving large-scale, sustainable conservation impacts for bird populations and their habitats.

The FY2025 Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Community Grant, offered by the Executive Office of Mayor Muriel Bowser and the Mayor’s Office of Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs (MOAPIA), seeks grant applications from qualified Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) serving the District of Columbia’s AAPI community. This grant program is aligned with the broader mission of empowering District residents, fostering public safety, and enhancing education. MOAPIA's strategic priorities are evident in the funding areas, which aim to improve the quality of life for all residents and build stronger communities. The grant targets members of the AAPI community of all ages residing in the District of Columbia. The impact goals are to create a vibrant downtown where residents, workers, and visitors can live, work, and play, fight to protect the middle class, reduce all forms of violence including gun violence, and ensure every child has the opportunity to reach their full potential. These goals reflect a comprehensive theory of change that by investing in key areas, the District can foster a more equitable, safe, and prosperous environment for its AAPI residents. The program prioritizes initiatives within three key funding areas: Downtown Comeback, Public Safety, and Education. The Downtown Comeback focus seeks to reimagine a downtown with vibrant centers of activity and ensure job opportunities for Washingtonians across all eight wards, enabling them to build better lives. The Public Safety focus aims to create significant, lasting change by reducing and ultimately ending all types of violence, including gun violence. The Education focus emphasizes supporting schools as community heartbeats, ensuring every child has access to quality education, including reading, math, sports, arts, civic engagement, and youth engagement. Expected outcomes include a more vibrant and economically secure downtown, a reduction in violence and improved public safety across the District, and enhanced educational opportunities and well-being for students and residents. While specific measurable results are not explicitly detailed beyond the funding areas and target populations, the grant's emphasis on progress reports reflecting substantial progress towards grant agreement goals suggests a commitment to accountability and impact. Eligible organizations can be awarded up to $40,000 for a project period from October 1, 2024, to September 30, 2025, further indicating a structured approach to achieving these outcomes.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) is offering the 2024 Monarch Butterfly and Pollinators Conservation Fund (Pollinator Fund) to advance pollinator conservation. The core mission of this fund is to protect, conserve, and increase habitat for the monarch butterfly and other native insect pollinators. This aligns with NFWF’s broader Monarch Butterfly Business Plan, indicating a strategic, long-term commitment to these species. The fund aims to support both technical assistance for private working lands and direct habitat improvement projects. The target beneficiaries of this grant program include monarch butterflies and other at-risk native insect pollinator species, such as the rusty patched bumble bee, Franklin’s bumble bee, Karner blue butterfly, Dakota skipper, Poweshiek skipperling, and Mitchell’s satyr. The program also indirectly benefits private landowners, farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners, especially those in Historically Underserved and Special Emphasis categories, by providing resources and incentives for conservation practices on their lands. The overall impact goal is to significantly enhance the quality, quantity, and connectivity of pollinator habitat across eligible states. The Pollinator Fund has two main categories of focus. The first is Technical Assistance for Private Working Lands, which prioritizes increasing voluntary engagement of private landowners in conservation practices through staff resources and targeted outreach for Farm Bill programs like CSP and EQIP. The second category, Habitat Improvement, focuses on on-the-ground restoration and enhancement of pollinator habitat, emphasizing regionally appropriate milkweed and diverse native nectar plants, as well as increasing the supply of native seeds and seedlings. These priorities align with NFWF's strategic goal of fostering sustainable ecosystems through direct habitat restoration and incentivizing private land stewardship. Expected outcomes and measurable results are central to this program. All proposals must demonstrate how they will directly and measurably contribute to the Pollinator Fund's goals, specifically by providing the number of acres restored or enhanced. A minimum of 100 acres in California or 500 acres in all other eligible states must be restored or enhanced. Historically, successful projects have averaged 2,120 acres, indicating a substantial scale for expected impact. The program's theory of change posits that by providing financial assistance and technical support, and by focusing on key geographical areas and species, NFWF can effectively reverse declines in monarch and other native pollinator populations, thereby contributing to broader ecosystem health and biodiversity. The total funding of up to $5.1 million in 2024, contributed by a diverse group of partners, underscores the collaborative and impactful nature of this strategic initiative.

This program provides financial support to LGBTQ+-owned and allied restaurants, cafes, and bars to help them thrive and recover.

The Otto Bremer Trust (OBT) is implementing new grantmaking approaches to effectively invest in people, places, and opportunities in Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. The new model includes Strategic Grants and Community Responsive Fund grants. Strategic Grants are awarded directly by OBT to organizations with at least $500,000 in expenses from the previous year, aligning with OBT's objectives. Community Responsive Fund grants are managed by intermediary partners, focusing on organizations with less than $500,000 in expenses.