The Environmental Small Grants allows Environmental Equity and Justice Partnership program to assist worthy grassroots organizations engaged in environmental work through support of small projects that are of special importance to those applicants and their communities. The focus is on supporting organizations that identify and work on the root causes of problems and that approach issues with a commitment to long-term change. The programs should have a clear agenda for change and a strategic plan for achieving the organization's goals.

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Grant Size

There is no fixed grant size. Keeping up the spirit of small grants, EEJP gives preference to smaller budgets. An average grant size foreseen is within the range of Rs. 200,000 to Rs. 300,000, or even less. The outer most limit for small grants for any activity is Rs, 500,000 (Rupees Five Lac) and no support shall exceed this amount.

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Duration

There is no minimum duration for activities supported under Environmental Small Grants. On the outer side, activities should not exceed 15 months*

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Who Can Apply

The Environmental Small Grants is limited to applicants within India. To be eligible, the applicant MUST meet the following requirements:

• Should be legally established grassroots non-governmental organizations;
• Have the requisite approval under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 1976;
• Have Environment as one of the primary focus;
• Should be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action and not acting as an intermediary;
• Have an annual organisational budget (from all sources) averaging less than Rs. 40 Lac over last three years.

Since EEJP has limited funds and cannot offer funding to all the groups that meet the above criteria, priority is given to groups that:

• Have democratic decision making structures and strong leadership.
• Have well defined strategic goals and objectives.
• Have prior experience of similar work, preferably with crossover linkages
• Are locally active in demonstrating clear commitment to addressing threats to environment.
• Are working on challenging issues that are critical to the realization of environment justice;
• Are geographically located in a region that has limited access to funding resources;
• Are planning to take up activities that would be significantly enhanced by a small grant.
• Coordinate or participate in local and regional networks of like-minded organizations.
• Actively seek to include the perspectives of those served by or benefiting from its activities.
• Have a well-stated follow up/ sustainability plan.

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Kind of Projects Supported

Grant decisions are based on many factors and are affected by competition for limited funds. Therefore, it is not possible to specify the types of projects that will be funded, and applicants should not interpret previous grants as precedents for what will subsequently be funded.

In brief, EEJP is looking for projects that are action-oriented; builds public involvement and support; are strategic; focuses on root causes; accomplishes specific goals and objectives; and takes place in communities.

Interventions should seek to evolve innovative approaches, action and/or research initiatives on the cross cutting issues of toxicity, waste and pollution within the environmental justice framework. In addition, support may be provided for policy advocacy and information dissemination strategies that broaden public understanding of the issues. (refer to Focus Areas)

The projects should be in line with broad EEJP Principles and focus on:

• challenging the status quo by re-imagining existing solutions;
• promoting new environmental thinking, perspectives and research;
• producing and disseminating knowledge products that brings change on the ground;
• raising cross over awareness about issues and concepts of environmental justice.
• promoting public participation in environmental decision making;
• building capacity, advocating policy change, raising public education, among others.

EEJP must be highly selective in making grants, since there are far more requests than can possibly be funded. Applicants should understand that a decision to decline funding does not necessarily mean that EEJP disapproves of the proposed project or fails to appreciate its merits.

Projects That Are Not Promoted:

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EEJP is designed to support small projects and not to contribute small amounts for much larger budgets. Therefore, EEJP does not encourage projects that require significantly more money than the amount requested for the grant.

Likewise, projects that can occur only after certain "contingencies" are met are not considered. If a project cannot be carried out promptly after a grant is made -- because additional funds must be raised or for other reasons -- the grant request will not be considered. If the proposed project costs more than the amount requested, other funds must have been raised or formally pledged at the time the proposal is submitted.

This program is also not intended to provide partial support for ongoing activities that will not change in any significant way.

In terms of specific activities, EEJP cannot support formal academic training programs, operational projects, ongoing institutional core support (such as equipment), fellowships (refer to Environmental Fellowships), study programs, individuals applying on their own behalf, profit making activities, or non-legal entities.

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Application Process:

EEJP expects the applicants to submit the Concept Note in the prescribed format ( Download Form: MsWord; PDF ). Carefully read the instructions for preparing the concept note. Provide concise response to every question asked and limit the total length to no more than 3-pages. Submissions made in any other format will not be considered. Do not send any other supporting documents unless requested.

Detailed proposals in prescribed format will be invited from only the short listed applicants at a later stage during the process.

Application can be submitted in English or in Hindi.

Only one application per applicant is acceptable during the current grant cycle. In case more applications are received from an individual. EEJP will randomly pick one and disqualify the other/s. In case of large number of applications, EEJP may even decide to disqualify all the applications linked to any single applicant.

Before submitting the request, applicants should determine that the organization and the activity, both are eligible for consideration under the program.

The application for Environmental Small Grants may be submitted by e-mail, courier, or post (applications sent by Fax will not be accepted) not later than 31st May, 2011. Application received after the deadline will be reviewed in the next grant cycle (refer to the Grant Timeline under Grant Process ).

The review may take up to four months to complete and applicants should keep the same in mind while conceptualising the Activity Plan. Because of the large number of submissions, it may not be possible for applicants to discuss potential or pending proposals with EEJP staff, nor will the staff be able to discuss reasons why a request was not funded. The Board’s decision is final and cannot be contested.

The FAQs section includes answers to some of the common questions received on regular basis and may help answer your queries. For other queries, please email at: info@eejp.org

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Where To Send Your Application:

Concept Note should be submitted to:

By courier/ post/ hand: Coordinator
Environmental Equity and Justice Partnership (EEJP)
H 2 (Ground Floor), Jungpura Extension;
New Delhi 110014

By email at: smallgrant@eejp.org (only for submissions)

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Downloads

ESG Guidelines (.pdf)
Application Form (.doc)
Full Application Package(.zip)