Grant Information
The Foundation works closely with our grantees to develop grant-making initiatives and conservation projects of appropriate size and scale. The Foundation looks for short-term catalyzing opportunities, while also recognizing the importance of steady partnerships and long-term support to achieve conservation outcomes.
We focus on wildlife landscapes where there are opportunities to secure tangible, long term results for the benefit of both wildlife and local communities. We seek to understand the key enabling conditions that affect the prospects for conservation success in each landscape, and to address the most critical challenges in each case.
The Liz Claiborne & Art Ortenberg Foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals.
Five Key Enabling Conditions:
We believe that the conservation of wildlife and wildlands requires at least five Enabling Conditions to be successful in the long-term. In the places where we invest, we evaluate and seek to bolster these key conditions:
• Sound ecological information. Sufficient and reliable scientific information is essential to understand a species or landscape’s importance and status, and to help decision makers make informed choices.
• Well-managed protected areas and viable wildlife corridors. Protected areas should have science-based management plans and effective governance, with adequate funding and community support. In many places, it is also important to have sufficient connectivity to allow species to move between protected areas or along their natural migratory routes.
• Supportive government agencies and public policies. Conservation cannot succeed without the support of government agencies and sound public policies that promote the protection and sustainable management of natural habitats and resources.
• Empowered and supportive local communities. Local communities are critical partners in the protection of wildlife and wildlands. Long term success requires that all stakeholders are engaged in, support and benefit from the conservation activities.
• Sustainable and diverse sources of financial support. Conservation requires a long-term commitment, often over generations. These efforts are most stable and resilient when there are multiple and diverse sources of financial support including public funding, private philanthropy and private sector revenues.
There are very few geographies where all these enabling conditions are in place. In most countries and locales, some or all of these conditions need to be dramatically strengthened. Therefore, the Foundation views the conditions as a guide to understanding what is most needed to ensure long term success at any given site.