Please contact NEGEF staff if you have any questions, concerns, comments or feedback.
If you live in Boston, Chelsea, Cambridge, or Somerville you apply through the Boston Grants Initiative. If you live anywhere else in New England (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT) you apply through the Small Grants Program.
NEGEF funds groups working on all kinds of environmental issues. We have six general issue areas: 1) Consumptions & Sustainable Behaviors; 2) Energy & Climate Action; 3) Environmental Health; 4) Food Systems & Sustainable Agriculture; 5) Smart Growth, Land Use and Natural Resource Management; and 6) Water in The Public Trust. If you aren’t sure if your issue is something NEGEF would fund, contact your state’s program officer.
NEGEF funds projects that have a strong community component. Typically this includes projects or programs centered on outreach and engagement that have on-going opportunities. If your group is requesting funds for an event or a mailing, be sure to emphasize how that event or mailing will contribute to ongoing outreach and engagement. Click here to read about our most current round of grantees and their projects.
NEGEF funds cannot be used for retroactive expenses, lobbying purposes, curriculum-based projects, micro-grant programs, or large capital acquisitions. NEGEF funds are not available for individuals or for-profits.
For the Small Grants Program:
February 15th — funds distributed in early-May
September 15th — funds distributed in early December
For the Boston Grants Initiative:
January 15th — funds distributed in late March
June 15th — funds distributed in late September
It generally takes 8-12 weeks to process funding requests after the deadline.
If it falls on a weekend, the deadline will be bumped to the following Monday. If it falls on an official holiday when post offices are closed, the deadline will be bumped to the next business day.
Yes. Contact your state’s program officer first to discuss the situation and the project.
No. NEGEF funds both informal groups (we call them “ad hoc”) and formal (incorporated or 501c3 status) groups. The only requirement is that your group must have a checking account in the group’s name or have a fiscal agent. This only needs to happen after a grant has been awarded — your group can apply without having a checking account or a fiscal agent by following these steps:
Go to IRS Website
Click on Apply for an EIN Online
Click on APPLY ONLINE NOW at the bottom of the page
Click on the Begin Application button
When you get to the list of the type of group, click on the View Additional Types option at the bottom, then Continue
Choose Community or Volunteer Group, then Continue
Click on the Continue button
Fill out all of the applicable information for the group
The groups we fund are primarily volunteer-staffed — we rarely fund groups that have more than 2 full-time equivalent staff. We also rarely fund groups with annual budgets over $100,000. If you aren’t sure whether your group would qualify, contact your state’s program officer.
To open a checking account your group simply needs an EIN (Employer Identification Number) and two members from your group to be signatories.
To get an EIN, visit the IRS website. Depending on your operating system’s capabilities and your internet set-up (pop-up blockers, Java enablers, etc.) you may or may not be able to apply online. If you can’t, they can mail the forms to you.
If you are having any trouble, contact your state’s program officer.
Fiscal sponsors are 501©3 designated entitities that agree to “sponsor” your ad hoc informal group. This can include churches, towns, and other non-profit organizations. The main thing to consider in setting up a fiscal sponsor relationship is whether the missions of the two groups (the 501c3 and your informal group) are related. Since the 501c3 is “sponsoring” your group, your group must be furthering their mission in some way.
These organizations can receive donations on your behalf. Sometimes there is a processing fee – be sure to ask! You can even talk to them about negotiating the fee down – ideally, a NEGEF grant goes entirely to the grantee.
NEGEF offers fiscal sponsor services to its grantees. If you have any questions, contact your state’s program officer.
There is no limit for applications. But a group can only be funded once a year.
NEGEF staff is available to review grant applications in advance and make minor suggestions. You are also welcome to contact your state’s program officer and we can connect you with other activists in your area who may be available to help you.
For Boston Grants Initiative applicants, our partners Boston Natural Areas Network and Alternatives for Community and Environment are available to help.
The budget included in the grant proposal should cover any and all expenses and income for the project for which you are seeking funds. The expenses that would be covered by NEGEF funds should be marked in some way (bold font, underline, asterisks, or notes next to those expenses are all acceptable).
In-kind income should also be recorded. This should include any donated or discounted labor or services, donations or discounts in materials, donations or discounts in sites or meeting spaces. This gives a clearer picture of the scope of the project, and also demonstrates whether your group has sought creative means of financing the project.
The income sources listed should include all received income (e.g. grants), all anticipated income (e.g. membership dues you have not received yet), and all income possibilities (e.g. grants you plan to apply for or pending grant applications).
Click here for an example of a clear and detailed budget.
Emailing the 5 page application to your program officer is fine. Please do not email lengthy applications and/or large attachments (i.e. materials such as photos or articles).
Mailing hard copies is also fine — this is a better option if you would like to include materials such as articles and photos with your application. If you mail the application, it needs to be postmarked by the application deadline.
Please do not fax your application. Please do not FedEx the application or send it priority. First-class mail is fine!
Not yet, but we’re working on it! We hope to have on-line application and report capabilities up and running by September of 2010.
We send out a confirmation email to every applicant within 2 weeks after deadline. If you haven’t heard from us after 2 week, please contact your state’s program officer to make sure we have received your applications. NEGEF staff also contacts each applicant with follow-up questions.
There are two NEGEF committees that approve NEGEF grant awards: the Small Grants Grantmaking Committee and the Boston Grants Initiative Steering Committee. Each committee is made up of activists and funders, and the Grantmaking Comittee has representatives from each New England state. There are 11 people on the Grantmaking Committee and 9 people on the Steering Committee.
Funding decisions have three steps. First, NEGEF staff goes through the grant applications and contacts all of the applicants. If there are past applications and grant reports these are reviewed. Staff makes notes about: the feasibility of the project; the clarity and detail of the budget; the demonstrated links between the project and any outcomes; the group’s capacity to meet their goals; and strong links to community-based engagement and action. Also, we try to fund a diverse set of groups and projects covering a range of issues across all parts of New England in rural, suburban, and urban areas. NEGEF staff then makes funding recommedations to the Committees – sometimes they agree with us, sometimes they don’t!
After staff sends their recommendations to the Committees, the Committees meet to decide on which groups will receive support. Lastly, the Committees’ decisions are sent to the NEGEF Board of Directors for approval.
There are three main reasons the Committees support only partial funds for a group. First, we believe that the validation a grant award offers to a community group is equally as important as the actual funds. Thus, when there are a lot of strong applications in one round NEGEF chooses to offer partial funding (and full validation!) so that as many groups as possible receive support. Second, the project budget does not seem clear and there isn’t a compelling case for the use of the total requested funds. Third, you may have received multiple grants from NEGEF before and if there are many strong applications we prefer to give full funding to new groups.