Abu Dhabi: The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, MBZ Fund announced it will expand its grant-making criteria so as to help partners meet core emergency operating needs precipitated by the COVID-19 crisis on Tuesday.
The main aim of this expansion is to ensure the survival of small, grassroots conservation organizations whose finances have been impacted by the pandemic.
The MBZ Fund is a philanthropic endowment that provides micro-grants of up to $25,000 to support in-the-field conservation projects for the world’s most threatened species. Since 2009, the Fund has supported 2,150 projects in over 180 countries, targeting more than 1,400 different species and subspecies.
In a press statement on Tuesday, the fund said that it will enable grassroots organizations on the frontlines to apply relief grants of up to $25,000 that can be used to cover core operating expenses, such as staff salaries, office rent, and other essential overhead costs. Razan Al Mubarak, the Founding Managing Director of the MBZ Fund, informed that the decision was made after conducting a survey in April 2020 of more than 300 of its grantees in 85 different countries.
Many conservationists were very concerned about the financial futures of their organizations as found by the survey. Sixty-eight percent of respondents said their organization had been negatively impacted; with 57 percent reporting their organization was experiencing financial difficulties and 22 percent reporting their organizations planned to eliminate jobs. Loss of revenues of organizations was reported due to decline in eco-tourism, decline in student enrollments and fieldwork experiences.
The COVID-19 relief grants will be distributed in two rounds. The deadline to apply for the first-round of relief grants from the MBZ Fund is 31st October, 2020, with successful grants receiving funding at the end of the December 2020. A second round of grant applications will be accepted before 28th February, 2021, with successful applications receiving funding before the end of April 2021. The grant application guidelines and criteria can be obtained from www.speciesconservation.org/grants/.
Source: wam.ae
