Sustainable Forests and
Communities Initiative
Purpose
The mission of the Sustainable Forests and Communities Initiative is to promote forest conservation and environmentally sustainable economic development, along with community building, at the local level.
2008 Guidelines
The Weyerhaeuser Family Foundation, through its Sustainable Forests and Communities Initiative, is interested in
supporting organizations that work in forested landscapes and implement integrated approaches to enhancing ecology,
the local economy, and community. The Foundation looks for projects that promote solutions to local problems by integrating
a three-faceted approach as follows:
- Ecology: Employing holistic land stewardship approaches involving management, conservation and ecological restoration
- Economy: Developing and encouraging enterprise-based conservation and/or job creation strategies that are of appropriate scale and are environmentally sound
- Community: Using inclusive, innovative and/or collaborative public processes to meet natural resource and conservation goals
Specific Project Interests
The Weyerhaeuser Family Foundation will consider funding projects that address the following programmatic guidelines, while meeting
the integrated approach described above:
- Individual projects that promise tangible outcomes that produce material positive impact on the ecology and economy of the community
- Projects that encourage cooperation among grantees, including convening, to further the approach outlined above
- Projects that propose to overcome identified obstacles to success encountered by previously funded projects, such as marketing efforts for new products
- Projects that improve the public's understanding of the community forestry movement
Projects involving collaboration of two or more grantees are of increased interest. Such proposals should exploit opportunities to leverage resources, accelerate creations of markets, develop regional synthesis, promote information-sharing, enable partnerships, and/or improve chances of project success.
Geographic Scope
The Weyerhaeuser Family Foundation supports activities in the regions in which the family's business interests originated: Idaho, Oregon,
Washington, northern California, western Montana, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Locally based organizations within these geographic areas are eligible to apply. Regional and national organizations promoting the integration of ecology, economy, and community, and which are working with local partners operating within the Initiative's geographic area, are also eligible to apply.
Types of Projects
The Foundation will provide project support. New or recently initiated projects (within their first three years) will be considered.
Restrictions
Please note the following restrictions that apply to the general program, also apply here. The foundation will not consider proposals in the
following areas:
- Books or media projects, unless the project is connected to other areas of Foundation interest
- Capital projects
- Individuals, scholarships or fellowships
- Ongoing projects or general operating support for an organization
- Organizations located outside the United States
- Land acquisitions or trades
- Lobbying activity
- Research projects
Application Process
The Letter of Intent is the first step in the application process and should be no more than two pages, to which you must
attach a one-page budget summary and an Application Cover Sheet - Sustainable Forests and Communities
Initiative. In addition, a copy of the applicant's letter from the Internal Revenue Service regarding exempt status should also be included with the Letter of Intent. Be sure to review Guidelines and Restrictions.
The Letter of Intent should contain the following information in a concise form:
- Brief background on the applicant organization
- Need for the project
- Plan to address the need
- Time frame
- Budget for the project
In order to be considered, proposal writers must make a clear case as to how the proposal fits with the announced interests of the Foundation.
Deadline
Letters of Intent for the Sustainable Forests and Communities Initiative program
must be received by the Foundation office no later than April 1, 2008.
In fairness to all applicants, the Foundation will strictly adhere to it's deadlines. Material received after the established deadlines will not be considered.
Foundation Process for Decision Making
The Board of Trustees will review all letters of intent at their meeting in June and will notify applicants in July of the Board's decision regarding the initial application stage.
Selected organizations will be invited to submit a full proposal which must be received by the Foundation office no later than August 1, 2008. Grant decisions will be made in November and funds will be distributed by year end.
Each grant proposal must carry the signature of the appropriate administrative officer of the tax-exempt non-profit applicant.
Organizations receiving grants are expected to assume proper fiscal responsibility for the expenditure of grant funds as well as to assure the Foundation that the purposes of the grants are fulfilled.
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| Application Cover Sheet - Sustainable Forests and Communities Initiative | Examples of Past Grants - Sustainable Forests and Communities Initiative |