Funding Opportunities

The purpose of the Rumphius Foundation is to make the world a little more beautiful; to sow little seeds of hope and joy that will strengthen community and protect the environment, in small but meaningful ways.

The Foundation seeks to brighten the lives of a diverse range of people in need of a helping hand through projects that enrich groups and organizations across America, and simultaneously educate young people about sustainability and healthy living.

Urban forests provide trees for people, where they live, work, and play. These natural resources, on public and private property, contribute to quality of life, support community development, green infrastructure, and provide a wealth of benefits to cities and towns. The USDA Forest Service Urban & Community Forestry (U&CF) Program is the only dedicated urban forest program in the federal government. It is a technical, financial, and educational assistance program that delivers nature-based solutions to more than 84 percent of Americans. The program works to restore, sustain, and manage more than 140 million acres of urban and community forest lands for the benefit of communities across the United States and its Territories. Healthy urban & community forests and green infrastructure are not only critical to all our nation’s forests, but research and studies have also shown that our urban and community forests are essential to the economic, environmental, physical, and mental well-being of our citizens.

According to the National Ten Year Urban and Community Forestry Action Plan (2016-2026), (Action Plan) urban and community stewardship has made progress over the last decade to address the health of urban and community forests. For example, sixty (60%) percent of cities are utilizing new and emerging tools to assist propagation, planting, management, maintenance, and stewardship.

The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program makes federal funds available to states, U.S. territories, federally recognized Tribal governments , and local governments for hazard mitigation activities. It does so with a recognition of the growing hazards associated with climate change , and of the need for natural hazard risk mitigation activities that promote climate adaptation and resilience with respect to those hazards. These include both acute extreme weather events and chronic stressors which have been observed and are expected to increase in intensity and frequency in the future. The BRIC program’s guiding principles include supporting communities through capability and capacity-building; encouraging and enabling innovation, including multi-hazard resilience or nature-based solutions; promoting partnerships; enabling large, systems-based projects; maintaining flexibility; and providing consistency. Through these efforts communities are able to better understand disaster risk and vulnerabilities, conduct community-driven resilience, hazard mitigation planning, and design transformational projects and programs.

FEMA will provide financial assistance to eligible BRIC applicants for the following activities:

• Capability and Capacity-Building activities – activities that enhance the knowledge, skills, and expertise of the current workforce to expand or improve the administration of mitigation assistance. This includes activities in the following sub-categories: building codes, partnerships, project scoping, hazard mitigation planning and planning-related activities, and other activities;

• Hazard Mitigation Projects – cost-effective projects designed to increase resilience and public safety; reduce injuries and loss of life; and reduce damage and destruction to property, critical services, facilities, and infrastructure (including natural systems) from a multitude of natural hazards, including drought, wildfire, earthquakes, extreme heat, and the effects of climate change; and

• Management Costs – financial assistance to reimburse the recipient and subrecipient for eligible and reasonable indirect costs, direct administrative costs, and other administrative expenses associated with a specific mitigation measure or project in an amount up to 15% of the total amount of the grant award, of which not more than 10% of the total award amount may be used by the recipient and 5% by the subrecipient for such costs generally.

Applicants can submit applications for this funding opportunity through FEMA Grants Outcomes (GO). Access the system at https://go.fema.gov/

Recipients of prior RAISE, BUILD or TIGER Discretionary Grants may apply for funding to support additional phases of a project awarded funds in earlier rounds of this program.

The Department seeks to fund projects under the RAISE program that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector; incorporate evidence-based climate resilience measures and features; avoid adverse environmental impacts to air or water quality, wetlands, and endangered species; and address the disproportionate negative environmental impacts of transportation on disadvantaged communities, consistent with Executive Order 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad (86 FR 7619).

Partners for Places aims to enhance local capacity to build equitable and sustainable communities in the United States and Canada.

These one-to-one matching awards support the planning and implementing of urban sustainability and green stormwater infrastructure projects.

For organizations, funding priorities are to:

Assist with the production and presentation of significant programs about architecture and the designed environment in order to promote dialogue, raise awareness, and develop new and wider audiences.
Support them in their effort to take risks in programming and create opportunities for experimentation.
Recognize the vital role they play in providing individuals with a public forum in which to present their work.
Help them to realize projects that would otherwise not be possible without Graham Foundation support.

This Water and Energy Efficiency Grants Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) provides funding for projects that result in quantifiable water savings, implement renewable energy components, and support broader sustainability benefits. These projects conserve and use water more efficiently; increase the production of renewable energy; mitigate conflict risk in areas at a high risk of future water conflict; and accomplish other benefits that contribute to sustainability in the Western United States.

The Community Connect provides financial assistance to eligible applicants that will provide broadband service in rural, economically-challenged communities where service does not exist.

This Notice of Funding Opportunity announces the availability of funds and solicits applications from eligible entities to develop projects for hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) reclamation and innovative destruction technologies. Section 60109 of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provided the EPA with $15 million for competitive grants for “reclaim and innovative destruction technologies” consistent with subsections (a) through (i) and subsection (k) of section 103 division S of Public Law 116-260 (42 U.S.C. 7675) (also known as the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act). Enacted in 2020, the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act authorizes the EPA to address climate-damaging greenhouse gases (GHGs) called HFCs by: phasing down their production and consumption, maximizing reclamation and minimizing releases from equipment, and facilitating the transition to next-generation technologies through sector-based restrictions on HFCs. HFCs are potent GHGs commonly used in refrigeration and air conditioning equipment, as well as foams and many other applications. A global phasedown of HFCs is expected to avoid up to 0.5°C of global warming by 2100. There are hundreds of possible HFC compounds. The 18 HFCs listed as regulated substances by the AIM Act are some of the most commonly used HFCs and have high impacts as measured by the quantity emitted multiplied by their respective global warming potentials (GWPs). For more information on the AIM Act and its implementing regulations, please visit https://www.epa.gov/climate-hfcs-reduction.