Brief

Type of projects: grassroots environmental projects; conserving, protecting, restoring and/or advocating for the ecosystems upon which our civilisation depends
Countries: worldwide
Grant range: $1,000 to $5,000

The Pollination Project seeks to unleash GOODNESS and expand COMPASSION all over the world. We make daily seed grants to inspiring social change-makers who are committed to a world that works for all.

Our daily grant making began on January 1, 2013 and since then, we have funded a different project every single day. We also make larger impact grants of up to $5000 to projects that have demonstrated impact and success.

Through a global network of grantees and community partners, we identify extraordinary grassroots leaders who would not likely qualify for funding from other foundations or institutions. Once they have the backing of The Pollination Project, grantees often leverage their grant into more funding, building their team, media attention and more.

Our grantees have gone on to win prestigious international awards, secure large government and foundation grants, and secure national and international media attention.

As part of our funding platform, we welcome like-minded and values-aligned institutional and individual donors to join us either as daily givers themselves, or as sponsors for unique seed grant programs of mutual interest (such as youth environmental grants, education grants or targeted regional grants).

Our Grants are designed to:

1. Support passionate, committed people with a social change vision.
2. Support projects in their early stage of development and where a small amount of money will go a very long way – we want to kick start your dreams for a better world.
3. Help ensure sustainability of your work – during review, we often ask: “what happens once the grant runs out?”
4. Cover costs such as supplies, program materials, direct travel expenses for program implementation, website fees, discounted professional services, printing, copying, promotional costs, technical support.
5. Pay for 501(c)(3) filing fees and expenses only if your project meets our specific conditions.Please read more about the funding conditions here.
6. Support projects with a clear target audience, and a compelling plan to reach and impact that target audience in a positive way. If your project involves video or other media production, then this element of your plan will receive particularly careful attention from our team.
7. Support projects that do not expect to earn profit, or where any income will be used for a purely charitable effort. We do also offer Pay it forward loans to support for-profit social benefit projects.
8. Cover costs similar to these examples.

We are unable to fund the following:

1. We cannot support projects which directly conflict with our mission and values, such as those which involve the farming of any animals.
2. We do not make grants to projects that have well established funding sources, or that have any paid staff working on the specific project or other work for the organization.
3. We do not make grants to projects where the primary benefit is to the grantee or to any one individual.
4. We cannot support projects that influence the outcome of any specific election for candidates to public office, inducing or encouraging violations of law or public policy or causing any improper private benefit to occur.
5. We do not award grants that require grant payments via Moneygram, Western Union or any other cash-based payment system and can only make payments outside the USA using bank wire transfer or Paypal to the account of the person or organization applying for funding.
6. We cannot fund the following specific costs:
   • Scholarships, training fees or travel fees for one person to attend a training
   • Computers, tablets, or other technology where the primary benefit is for one person, or where the project only needs the equipment for short term use
   • Animal products of any kind – including, but not limited to, meat, dairy, leather, and wool
   • T-shirts which are to be given away or donated (shirts to be sold to raise money and uniforms for team members are okay)
   • Items which are to be donated to others on a one time basis (such as clothing, medical supplies, and textbooks)
   • Payments to the grantee or a member of the grantee’s family for their time or services
   • One time use or disposable items
   • Paper products which do not make use of either 100% recycled materials, or the most ecologically sound alternative if recycled is not available
   • GMO seeds, synthetic/chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, and other similar products which are harmful to the environment and to those who use them