Toyota taking applications for TogetherGreen fellowships and grants

If you have donned your armor ready to mount a white charger to champion a crusade, your funding may be at hand. That is, if you have an innovative approach to a new conservation idea that uses new technology. Or maybe you have a unique way to restore habitat and protect species – maybe a way for people to coexist in a more harmonious way with coyotes or prairie dogs or other urban critters.

Perhaps you have an idea how to improve the quality or quantity of your water supply or combat global warming. You could be a grass roots rabble rouser able to galvanize an audience into action in the name of conservation.

If any of the above creates a profile of your burning desire, maybe a grant of from $5,000 to $25,000 would help. Or you could become a TogetherGreen Fellow with a $10,000 endowment to establish a conservation focused non-profit and enable the recruitment and training of you’re A-Team.

Since 2008, TogetherGreen projects have empowered over 200,000 individuals in conservation activism in all 50 states. The first three classes of Fellows and Grantees have blazed an impressive trail of activism, recruiting thousands of volunteers to improveme the environment in their communities, by means such as planting 110,000 native plants and trees, mobilizing over 100,000 individuals via environmental education and restoration of roughly 10,000 acres through their action.

“TogetherGreen offers people a chance to change lives and communities. How cool is that?” said David Yarnold, National Audubon Society President. “If you have an idea that will engage a community to protect the environment, we want to hear it. When communities, and individuals, are touched by TogetherGreen – they become better places to live.”

One 2010 Fellowship went to Kenya Stump, who has started a program to produce biofuel from cafeteria waste to power the schools’ buses in Lexington Kentucky. Kudos to Kenya!

Candidates for the TogetherGreen Fellows program must have at least six years in some form of environmental experience, a passion for conservation, a need to learn and grow, plus the desire and ability to reach a diverse and preferably underrepresented audience.

The advisory committee consists of a group of conservation professionals plus environmental education authorities in communications, outreach, and conservation planning provide input on the awards selection.

If you have a unique environmental project and would like to apply for a TogetherGreen Fellowship or Innovation Grant, visit togethergreen.org/fellows where you will find application guidelines, selection criteria, eligibility, benefits, and online applications for both programs.

The deadline to apply for a TogetherGreen Fellowship is 11:59 p.m. PDT on March 5, 2012; for an Innovation Grant the deadline is 11:59 p.m. PDT on April 2, 2012. Decisions will be announced in May 2012 for Fellows and June 2012 for Grants.

Should you require additional information about applying for TogetherGreen funding, please contact Florence Miller [email protected].