The Environment program supports ambitious and transformative applied conservation initiatives, i.e. on-ground nature protection and restoration.

The Foundation is interested in applications that are strategically important, nationally significant, and highly collaborative. This funding area considers large grants ($100,000+ and multi-year) for environmental conservation work taking place within Australia and across multiple areas including land, freshwater, marine, and coastal.

The Foundation will prioritise projects:

• that are forward-looking, adaptive and prioritise landscape and ecosystem resilience in the face of climate change.
• that work at a landscape/ecosystem scale, with a focus on connectivity to ensure ecosystem functionality.
• that focus on places of High Biodiversity Value, rare or threatened ecosystems, or those with high concentrations of threatened species.
• that engage strongly with communities and/or utilise citizen science to maximise community participation, voice and agency.
• that ensure First Nations engagement is best practice, and Indigenous knowledge is sought and incorporated as appropriate.
• have a strong, scientific evidence base and partnerships with appropriate experts.
• that can be scaled and replicated or adapted for broad application.
• that can leverage further resources, influence policy improvements, or assist governments to meet Australia's international climate or nature obligations.

Is your organisation eligible?

1. The Foundation only fund organisations based and operating in Australia.
2. They can only make grants to organisations with BOTH Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) Item 1 and Tax Concession Charity (TCC) status.

The Foundation does not fund pure research in the Environment program area.

They are currently not funding:

• school education or engagement projects
• projects or research relating to renewable energies or sustainable materials, or capital works.

Projects that fall into any of the following categories will not be considered for funding:

• Retrospective funding – projects which are already underway, or which will commence prior to the date indicated in our online application information are not eligible for consideration.
• Recurrent expenditure for which there is no future provision.
• Capital or endowment funds established to fund a chair or to provide a corpus for institutions.
• Research for undergraduate, masters or doctoral students
• Auspicing* is not permitted – the organisation applying must be the one that will run the program or project.
• Applications for public charitable purposes outside the Commonwealth of Australia**
• Applications for projects that have previously been declined by the Foundation cannot be resubmitted.
• Applications will not be accepted from organisations that have not successfully acquitted previous grants from the Foundation.
• Do not directly support schools

• Phone: (03) 9650 3188
• Website: https://www.ianpotter.org.au/contact-us/