NOAA Planet Stewards is now accepting

proposals for 2024/2025 project funding!

Educators can receive up to $5000 to carry out hands-on stewardship projects that make a difference. Scroll down for all the details you’ll need to get started, along with information on two live video conferences we’re offering to answer your questions about stewardship projects and the application process.

Do you want to engage your students and community in actions that address pressing environmental issues? 

Through federal funding opportunities of up to $5,000, NOAA Planet Stewards will support formal and informal educators working with elementary through college age students, and the public, to carry out hands-on stewardship projects. Stewardship projects must make a substantive, and quantitatively measurable impact on an environmental issue related to the educator’s community. Projects should focus on the conservation, restoration, and/or protection of human communities and/or natural resources from environmental issues in one of the following four focus areas:

• Marine debris mitigation/removal
• Habitat conservation and restoration
• Carbon footprint reduction
• Carbon sequestration

Visit our Focus Area Resources page for more information about these topics.

NOAA Planet Stewards has developed the following Webpages and documents to help you plan your project and answer the questions on the application. We strongly recommend you carefully review and use these documents in the development of your proposal.

• Application Landing Page
• Project Development Guide
• Examples of Previously Funded Projects
• Examples of Funded Project Proposals:
  • Marine Debris: Clean Up Crew: Empowering Future Changemakers
  • Habitat Restoration & Conservation: Young Stewards Promoting Border Resiliency
  • Carbon Footprint Reduction: Runaway Carbon Cycle – Reducing Carbon Emissions
  • Carbon Sequestration: The Tiny Forest Project
• Application Walkthrough
• Evaluation Rubric
• Progress Report Template

Educators requesting funding from NOAA Planet Stewards must submit an application and supporting documents by midnight (Pacific Time) June 2, 2024.

Applicants will be contacted regarding the status of their submission no later than July 31, 2024.

If approved, funds will be made available for educators to carry out their project during the 2024/2025 academic year.

Educators receiving stewardship project funds are required to send a detailed progress report every six months until the project is completed. For projects taking place during the 2024/2025 academic year, the first progress report is due by midnight (Pacific Time), February 2, 2025. A final report must be submitted within one month of completing the project, but no later than July 28, 2025.

Eligibility

Funding from NOAA Planet Stewards is open to all formal and informal educators working with elementary through college age students, and the public.

Funding preference will be given to:

• Educators actively working in pairs or groups.
• Educators proposing projects that engage multiple classrooms, grade bands, entire schools, or multiple schools.
• Educators with organizational leadership roles, skills, or engaged in activities that give them an advantage in completing their project.
• Projects which engage underserved and underrepresented audiences. The NOAA Office of Education defines these as:

Underserved audiences: Populations who receive inadequate or inequitable services, who experience quality-of-life disparities, and who by design have little power or influence over outside decisions that impact their daily quality of life.

Underrepresented audiences: Populations in STEM who are categorized in the following racial or ethnic minority groups (Blacks or African Americans; Hispanics or Latinos; American Indians or Alaska Natives, and Native Pacific Islanders) based on their representation in STEM education or employment being smaller than their representation in the U.S. population.

• Projects engaging partners external to the submitting educator’s school or organization; especially those that provide tangible in-kind support.
• Projects designed to persist beyond the federal funding period.

Educators who have previously received funds from NOAA Planet Stewards may apply for this funding opportunity. These applications must either be:

• Significantly different from their previously funded projects, or
• Significantly expand the scope or impact of their previously funded project (e.g., involve significantly more/different types of students and/or members of the community, increase the quantitative impact of their project, etc.).

Educators currently implementing a stewardship project may apply for this funding opportunity if they have submitted a progress or final report and all required supporting documents that show significant progress in their current activities.

Tuesday, April 2 and April 30, 2024 I 7:00 – 8:00 PM ET

NOAA Planet Stewards is offering two opportunities for you to join a live video conference where you can ask questions about stewardship project development, implementation, and the funding application process.

This session WILL NOT introduce information already posted on our website, or found within the supporting documents noted above.

We strongly recommend you review ALL the information on our website and in our supporting documents before joining this meeting, and come with your questions in hand.

Spaces for these events are limited! 

Click the following link to join the live event, or copy and paste it into your browser: 

NOAA Planet Stewards Education Program