It’s that time of year again. This week, The Conservation Alliance (TCA) member companies – and all of their employees – will have the unique opportunity to help select the next round of grantees for the member-directed grants program.
Each TCA member company is committed to protecting outdoor spaces and wild places. Our grant cycles provide an avenue for employees across each company to learn about and support grassroots conservation efforts throughout North America.
As part of our coalition, TCA members support conservation in a variety of ways. This includes:
- Membership dues: Dues are the foundation for our grants. The vast majority of membership dues get passed through directly to our grantees, helping to support their efforts to conserve wild places and outdoor spaces with a focus on critical land and water projects.
- Nominations: Twice a year, each member company can nominate up to two organizations to apply for funding through our member-directed grant program. This ensures member companies have a voice in the grants process from the start.
- Direct voting: After the TCA board approves a slate of grantee candidates for our member-directed grants, all member company employees have the chance to vote for their top 10 projects. These votes get tallied up with each member getting an equal vote. This process means that member companies play a large part in deciding how their funding is directed, while also being part of a larger conservation-focused community.
Over the years, our grantmaking portfolio has grown and changed. TCA now has three types of grants:
- Member-Directed grants are awarded twice a year in the winter and summer. Members nominate potential applicants and, after an initial review by the TCA board, make the final decisions through the voting process. Member-directed grants are still our largest category of funding and support a wide array of grassroots organizations working on local, regional, and national conservation projects.
- Confluence grants help us connect to and support historically racially excluded people for the protection of natural places. These two-year grants are awarded to groups led by Asian, Black, Brown, Hispanic, Indigenous, Latin American, or additional communities who identify as People of Color working to protect a natural place. Funding decisions for confluence grantees are made by an advisory committee composed of previous grantees, funders, and advocates.
- Discretionary grants support strategic priorities and urgent funding needs. Each year, a small number of discretionary grants, which are available by invitation only, are approved by the TCA board.
TCA member companies are the backbone of our ability to support grassroots conservation efforts. It is through this support that we are able to expand the impact of our community, empower leaders, and forge connections between businesses and grassroots organizations to protect outdoor spaces.
We invite you to be part of this effort. The voting period for TCA’s Winter 2023 grant cycle begins February 7th and over the course of the following month, we encourage all member company employees to participate in the process.
Read about each of the organizations and projects.
Learn about critical conservation efforts happening across North America.
Vote based on what is important to you.
Be inspired.
Submit your votes by March 7th!
