Small Environmental Grant Scheme

• Wettenhall Environment Trust (formerly The Norman Wettenhall Foundation) is a grant making organisation. These grants support projects that enhance and maintain the vitality and diversity of the Australian natural living environment.

• Our main focus is citizen science, long term flora and fauna conservation, and threatened mammal conservation.
• We like to fund small groups where our grants can make a big difference.

The Small Environmental Grant Scheme

We are looking for projects about flora and fauna conservation around Australia. These projects should involve any of the following:

• monitoring, recording and sharing data
• delivering community education
• providing community capacity building (e.g. training)
• research and science

Also;

• Projects must be directly making positive changes to biodiversity conservation in Australia
• Projects should have some short term outputs, but also have long term objectives and values
• Projects should show the following: enthusiasm, collaboration, passion, innovation
• We are keen to hear about your results, so you must be prepared to submit a final report when your project is completed, including photos we can use to promote our work and yours on social media or annual reports
• We can’t fund individual property owners. According to our constitution we cannot fund wildlife rescue or rehabilitation organisations and their activities.

Opening and closing dates;

There are opening dates, but no closing dates, and this is how it works:

• The Expression of Interest (EOI) application form appears on the website on the opening date (click 'apply' at the bottom of this post)
• Submit your EOI as close to the opening date as possible
• If your EOI is accepted, you’ll be supplied with login details and closing date for submitting your full application.
• The grant round will be closed to Expressions of Interest when there are enough suitable applications received.

You can apply for funding in any one of these grant rounds – February, May, August and November. 

Here are dates when the rounds open and the application form appears online:

• 1st December 2021 (funding released February 2022)
• 1st April 2022 (funding released May 2022)
• 1st July 2022 (funding released August 2022)
• 1st October 2022 (funding released November 2022)
• 1st December 2022 (funding released February 2023)

Can you apply?

1. Is your project about Australian flora and fauna conservation or threatened mammal conservation?
2. Do you have partners?
3. Is your project ready to go, and can you do it? Be sure before you apply.
4. Grants are usually under $10,000, but can be bigger. Don’t put $10,000 in your total line and make your budget add up to this figure. We are nothing like a government agency and we want to see EXACTLY where you need help.
5. Universities – you can apply for up to $5,000. But we don’t fund pure research, you must be partnering with an ‘on ground’ group and be able to show it. You must have a community partner. Please also note that we want all the grant to be used by the applicant, and no administration charge will be paid to the university.
6. All grant recipients must fill in a final report on-line at the end of their project. The signed grant conditions letter is your written agreement to this. Please don’t apply unless you are willing to do this report and supply photos for our use. If you don’t report, you can’t apply again.

What we fund:

• Projects that directly make positive changes to biodiversity conservation in Australia.
• Projects should have some short term outputs, but also have long term objectives and values.
• Projects that show the following: enthusiasm, collaboration, passion, innovation
• Projects that use citizen science
• Projects that are about community education relating to conservation
• We can fund equipment, wages, travel or what is essential to you carrying out the project.

What we don’t fund:

• Art projects
• School projects
• Advocacy
• Tree planting, fencing or pest plant or animal control
• Private property owners or farm projects
• Workshops alone, any workshops need to be a part of a larger project with an ‘action’ component
• Animal or wildlife refuges and their activities
• Invasive monitoring
• Gardens – bush food gardens, sensory gardens, vegie gardens, permaculture, chicken houses, water tanks, arboretums etc (particularly in kinders and schools) – we’re too small to fund all these projects around Australia so please don’t apply
• Pure academic research – academic applicants need to show how their research is directly linked to a community group doing conservation work. Research needs to be of benefit to those groups working on habitat or species conservation.