Although environmental protection is a highly controversial issue among politicians, the Obama administration unveiled the “Clean Power Plan”. Under the plan, the administration will require states to meet specific carbon emission reduction standards based on their individual energy consumption. According to the administration, “The plan also includes an incentive program for states to get a head start on meeting standards on early deployment of renewable energy and low-income energy efficiency.” Even before the program was officially announced, some states unveiled plans to fight it. On another front, a multi-million dollar campaign backed by the energy industry has sought to discredit the science behind climate change.

While political debates continue to stall, scientists and researchers are making strides to implement change. Scientific research is being funded by such federal agencies as the National Science Foundation on the domestic front, and the US Agency for International Development on the international level. Key examples of public and private funding for environmental progress are listed below.

The National Science Foundation (NSF)

The NSF has various initiatives that fund environmental research such as the Environmental Sustainability Program, intended to promote sustainable engineered systems that support human well-being. Research efforts supported by the program typically consider long term outlooks and may incorporate contributions from the social sciences and ethics. The program also focuses on balancing society’s need to provide ecological protection while maintaining stable economic conditions. The four programs funded are Industrial Ecology, Green Engineering, Ecological Engineering and Earth Systems Engineering.

http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=501027

Rockefeller Brothers Fund

Global stewardship is the emphasis of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Supported projects are ecologically based, economically sound, socially just, culturally appropriate, and consistent with intergenerational equity. The Fund encourages partnerships between the public and private sectors. Recognizing the global nature of many environmental problems, the Fund also promotes international cooperation in addressing environmental challenges.

http://www.rbf.org/program/sustainable-development

The MacArthur Foundation

Recently the MacArthur Foundation announced 15 grants totaling more than $4.2 million in support of conservation and sustainable development in the southern Tropical Andes. Often referred to as the “global epicenter of biodiversity”, this region is also the primary source of fresh water in South America, holding 90 percent of the world’s tropical glaciers. As climate change and development present a growing threat to the region’s diverse ecosystems, new grants invest in research, policies, and practices that advance sustainable development and prudent stewardship of resources.

https://www.macfound.org/info-grantseekers/grantmaking-guidelines/conservation-grant-guidelines/

Charles Steward Mott Foundation

The Charles Steward Mott Foundation supports programs that improve the social and environmental accountability of those investing in large-scale infrastructure and energy projects in developing countries. This work includes a focus on the investment patterns of emerging economies, particularly of Brazil and China, whose financial institutions are becoming major lenders for emerging economies.

http://www.mott.org/FundingInterests/Issues/Sustainable%20Development#sthash.mwbM7JmD.dpuf

Kresge Foundation

The Kresge Foundation focuses its program funding on climate change that impacts communities. They invest in three primary areas:

1. Regions that have strong potential to serve as models for climate resilience in coastal cities and low-income communities.
2. Sustainable water resources and urban energy resilience programs are also their focus of support.
3. Activities that develop and disseminate promising climate-resilience approaches.

http://kresge.org/programs/environment#sthash.mH1SvX0F.dpuf

William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

The cornerstone of Hewlett Foundation grants is to protect the environment. This commitment is achieved by efforts to engage in complex environmental problems at home and abroad, from creating new Bay Area parks to shifting to clean energy in the United States, Europe, China, and India. Through its Environment Program funding, the Foundation pursues goals that are designed to guard the environment for future generations, improve ecological integrity, understand the effects of global climate change, develop clean energy, and reduce environmental problems.

http://www.hewlett.org/programs/environment

While unveiling the Clean Power Plan, Obama said: “We’re the first generation to feel the impact of climate change and the last generation that can do something about it.” How we move forward and how we succeed in creating the needed paradigm shifts will depend on many complex factors. Obama has taken a bold step toward making an impact. Funding agencies, whether federal or private, are increasingly stepping up to the plate. Nevertheless, as the funding agencies listed above have acknowledged, much more still needs to be done.

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1) Dates and Submission Procedures

Knowing and adhering to the deadline for proposal submission is critical. This section will also contain directions on where to submit the proposal, which in most cases will be through Grants.gov. If directed to submit through this venue, understanding how to do so is extremely important, otherwise it can be a difficult and taxing experience.

2) Eligibility

RFPs contain very specific parameters specifying who is eligible to submit proposals and who is not. It is vital to follow these requirements. One of the worst rejection reasons you can receive is that you are not eligible for the competition in the first place. This will occur if you or others on your team did not do their homework.

3) Instructions on Details of the Proposal

In this section you will find the instructions for formatting, organizing, and submitting your proposal. Whether or not including appendices and other components is allowed will also be described here. It is not unusual to see as many as 50% of submitted proposals rejected due to applicants not following these directions. It is highly frustrating to be eliminated for using the wrong font or incorrect margins.

4) Statement of Work

The RFP will define the goal and, in many cases, the objectives of the project. What the agency wants to fund and in what areas will be spelled out in this section. If your own goals and objectives do not exactly fit, you should have a conversation with the program officer to ensure that your approach will be allowed.

5) Budget

The amounts and categories for the request will be clearly outlined in the RFP, including matching requirements, amounts that can be charged for administration and other related categories. This will also be the section where you are told how to format your line items, what your budget justification should include, and what forms need to be completed.

6) Scoring Criteria

These are the criteria that determine how your proposal will be scored. When reading this section, look for the scoring method, score weighting and evaluation process. Knowing how your proposal will be assessed will give you an understanding of where to direct your efforts and how best to write your narrative. Ultimately, by understanding these criteria, you will be able to write in a way that reviewers can easily locate the areas for scoring. At all costs you should avoid making the reviewers work.

These six elements are the major sections of the RFP that pertain directly to writing the proposal. There will, however, be other information you will need to know and complete, such as certifications and various forms. The RFP tells you what the federal agency wants and expects in the grant solicitation. It is then up to you to inform the federal agency how you will carry out the program. Becoming a student of the RFP and paying attention to all the specifics will ensure that you will not be rejected because of minor details such as an incorrect font, or in the worst case scenario, for not being eligible for the competition in the first place.

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