+ What is the size of the grant?

The size of the grant will be 20,000 USD.

+ When is the deadline?

The Conservation Finance Alliance Incubator application process will have two Phases.

The deadline for Phase I of the Conservation Finance Alliance Incubator is midnight EST, October 27th.

The deadline for Phase II of the Conservation Finance Alliance Incubator is midnight EST, December 1st.

+ What does the application process look like?

The application process for the Incubator will happen over two Phases. Phase I will invite short proposals to be submitted. Proposals of interest will receive feedback and support from the Conservation Finance Alliance.

Phase II will invite Full Proposals to be submitted. It is highly encouraged to build the Full Proposals from the short proposals submitted in Phase I.

You are not required to submit a shortened proposal to Phase I of the application process.

+ What materials do I need to submit?

The required material for Phase I is the shortened proposal – either online or using the downloaded template.

The required material for Phase II are the Full Proposal - either online or using the downloaded template, as well as any additional documents (such as a CV, Business Plan (if it exists) that you wish to include in your proposal.

+ When will winners be announced?

Submitting organizations will be notified of their acceptance by December 22nd, 2021.

+ All full proposals must demonstrate potential conservation benefit to be considered for funding. Click for selection criteria.

Overall strength of concept (10%)

Clarity of presentation (10%)

Degree of innovation (10%)

Skills and experience of the Proponent/Entrepreneur/Lead Actor (20%)

Degree of potential conservation benefit / impact on nature (20%)

Potential financial or economic impact (generating impact, aligning interests, or cost savings) (10%)

Scalability and Replicability (10%)

Likelihood of success (10%)

Subject to change

+ Am I able to submit more than one proposal?

Yes, you can submit as many proposals as you would like for different ideas.

+ How long should the detailed proposal be?

One to two pages.

+ How long should the Socioeconomic section be? Impact on nature section?

As short as one paragraph.

+ What stage of development are you looking for in a proposal?

We want the technical suppport and grant money provided by the Incubator to have the biggest impact possible. This means that we are ideally looking for ideas in the early stage or seed stage.

+ Is there a geographic focus?

The CFA is focused on high biodiversity areas, specifically the global south. We would love to see great concepts from Africa, but proposals are not restricted to any specific geographical region.

+ Are there specific ecosystems and conservation areas you would prefer to see concepts focused on?

No, we want to accept a broad range of proposals. Conservation benefit is part of the criteria, so proposals focused on areas/species that are more threatened or at higher risk will receive higher scores for that area of critique.

+ Do proposals need to be applicable globally?

Scalability and replicability are important, but (as we understand that legal structures and ecosystems vary globally) it is not necessary for your concept to be able to be applied globally.

+ Will you accept hypotheses for innovative ideas that still need to be researched or does it need to be something we know will work right now?

You have to be able to give us a sense that it can work. There needs to be enough information for the reviewers to assess the likeliness of success. We don’t need to know if it can work, these are meant to be innovative ideas.

+ What kinds of projects or companies were selected in Round 1 of the CFI?

Detailed descriptions of the 15 seleccted projects are available at the bottom of the Incubator page on the Conservation Finance Alliance website.

+ Why launch an Incubator?

It began as part of a grant proposal to Mava from CFA in 2017. We feel that conservation finance is a lever of change and can really make an impact by understanding and aligning the different interests of those involved in conservation. Great innovations have changed the course of conservation finance, and we want that to be happening more quickly. We have the money and have the team and we want to make this happen.