The Office of Foundation Relations is pleased to share this open call for funding from Allen Family Philanthropies.
UCSC Contact: Caroline Rodriguez | caroline@ucsc.edu
Funder: Allen Family Philanthropies
Opportunity: Accelerating Natural Climate Solutions in the United States
LOI Deadline: January 15, 2026, 12:00 noon PT
Overview
Allen Family Philanthropies believes that science and technology solutions can be catalytic in deploying high integrity Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) projects. For this RFP, The foundation is particularly interested in projects that develop, test, and deSOEploy science and technology solutions for overcoming NCS implementation barriers recently identified by Brumberg et al. (2025) and Kroeger et al. (2025). These studies identified eight types of barriers: 1) material inputs, 2) finance, 3) markets, 4) adverse NCS impacts, 5) knowledge, 6) social and behavioral, 7) rules and laws, and 8) governments and organizations. The foundation believes that the collaborative development of generalizable science and technology solutions to overcome these barriers will be critical for NCS to meet their mitigation potential.
The foundation is particularly interested in U.S.-based projects consisting of diverse teams of scientists, practitioners, and key stakeholders (e.g., community members, landowners, state land managers, etc.) to co-develop, test, and deploy science and technology solutions addressing barriers to NCS implementation.
Please see a recording of the informational Webinar here.
Award Amount & Terms
- Lead organization should be able to demonstrate that it has the capacity to manage the project and supporting funds.
- The foundation encourages proposals with co-funding (committed or planned).
- Up to $1.5 million – $10 million is allocated to the RFP to fund 6-7 projects.
- Project duration up to 3 years (please read FAQS for longer projects)
- Please read FAQs on “Use of Funds” for Indirect Cost policy
Eligibility
To be considered for this opportunity, applicants must meet all of the following criteria:
- Projects must be based in the U.S., including U.S. territories.
- Projects must specify the proposed NCS pathway(s) and targeted barriers.
- Projects must be intentionally designed to, in spirit, adhere to principles for high-integrity NCS projects (Principles for high-integrity NCS projects, table referenced in section above).
- Project teams must propose to advance the development and deployment of a generalizable solution to a particular barrier or set of barriers.
- Projects must clearly explain why and how the proposed solution(s) is positioned to overcome the barrier, ideally by embedding the proposed project within an existing NCS project.
- Projects must articulate a study design for developing and deploying solutions.
Please see a submission portal user guide here.
Please find a list of FAQs here.
Timeline
- January 15, 2026, 12:00pm PST (noon): LOI process closes in Fluxx
- February 5, 2026: The foundation requests proposals from select, eligible applicants
- March 10, 2026: Proposals due
- Early Q3 2026: Funding decisions announced
Special Instructions
Please notify the Office of Foundation Relations if you are interested in applying to this opportunity (fr@ucsc.edu). 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).
Call sent: December 17, 2025
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.