The Office of Foundation Relations is pleased to share this open call for funding from the Environmental Justice Data Fund.
UCSC Contacts: Samantha Forde |FR | forde@ucsc.edu; Nathan Westrup |IBE | nwestrup@ucsc.edu
Funder: Environmental Justice Data Fund
Opportunity: Environmental Justice Data Fund Grants
Deadline: August 30, 2024
Overview
The Environmental Justice Data Fund aims to help frontline communities historically underserved and disproportionately impacted by climate change and environmental injustice in the United States use data to address environmental hazards, with special attention to air and water quality. The Fund will support eligible organizations to unlock resources, increase their access to federal infrastructure funding, and advocate for new policies that empower communities to address past environmental harm and pave the way to a more sustainable, climate-resilient future.
The Fund aims to provide one-time flexible project support for:
1. Data – Proposals for targeted data projects that meet the following broad parameters:
- Stage: Projects ranging from new to advanced
- Purpose: Projects ranging from building organizational capacity for data work to implementing research and data
- Activities: Research planning, scenario planning, data collection, data analysis, and/or data visualization, among others
2. Environmental Justice – Proposals for data projects that:
- Will use data work to mitigate past environmental harm and promote climate resilience with preference for projects focusing on air quality or water quality.
- Serve communities that have been historically underserved and disproportionately impacted by climate change and environmental injustice, including Black, Latino/a/x/e, Indigenous, Tribal, Southern, rural, and low-income communities
Award Amount & Terms
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The Fund will offer applicants the opportunity to choose a grant amount from two tiers. Based on the focus of the RFP, below is a general guide on how many grants the Fund expects to make at each tier: $500,000 – 2 to 4 grants; $250,000 – 6 to 8 grants
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For projects hosted at an academic or research institution, up to 15% of the grant funds may be used towards indirect costs.
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The Fund will allow one-time grants to last up to two years. Regardless of the duration of the grant, grantees will receive funds in one installment in 2024.
Eligibility
Organizations the Fund will support must:
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Serve frontline communities that have been historically underserved and disproportionately impacted by climate change and environmental injustice. Aim to create a local social and/or environmental impact as defined by the applicant.
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Center the perspectives of the communities being served via representation in project leadership and/or community participation, with a preference for community-driven decision-making.
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Be committed to environmental justice and possess a track record of environmental justice work.
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Note: The EJ Data Fund recognizes that there are organizations leading meaningful work in the environmental justice space that do not exclusively work on environmental justice issues. However, in this round of grantmaking the Fund will prioritize providing support to those organizations whose primary focus is on environmental justice work.
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Additionally, the organizations can:
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Be a part of an environmental justice-focused academic or research institution as long as it meets one of the stated legal status eligibility requirements. Preference will be given to smaller, regional, HBCU, and/or tribal-led institutions.
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Implement their program at a local, regional, or national level, so long as those efforts lead to localized impact.
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Operate as standalone organizations, as part of network hubs, or as coalitions of multiple organizations partnering on a single project. Collaboration between organizations is encouraged but not required.
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See here for a list of Year 1 grantees.
Timeline
- August 3, 2024: Proposals due
- Sept. – Oct. 2024: Advisory Board reviews proposals
- November 2024: Grantees are selected and notified
- December 2024: Funds are disbursed to grantees
Special Instructions
Please notify the Office of Foundation Relations if you are interested in applying to this opportunity (fr@ucsc.edu). Please submit a proposal intake form prior to UCSC’s internal Institutional Deadlines. For support developing your proposal, please contact the Research Development Specialist assigned to your unit or send a request to resdev@ucsc.edu. Within the Division of Social Sciences, please contact Ashlee Tews (ashleeac@ucsc.edu) to initiate notification and proposal support.
Call Sent: August 1, 2024
The Office of Foundation Relations is a unit of University Advancement. The FR team creates and maintains mutually beneficial, long-term relationships with private organizations, matching grant initiatives with educational and research programs and centers. FR supports faculty and staff to identify and approach these and other private foundations for funding, to assist in strategic positioning of the grant application, and to facilitate funder campus visits. For a list of recent funding opportunities, please visit the FR website. FR Calls for Funding