Our Grants

For listings of grants made, please see FY2003 Grants, FY2004 Grants, FY2005 Grants, FY2006 Grants, FY2007 Grants, FY 2008Grants, FY2009 Grants and FY2010 Grants.

What and Where we Fund:

Geographic Focus

The Christensen Fund (Christensen) focuses its grantmaking on maintaining the rich diversity of the world—biological and cultural—over the long run, by focusing on five geographic regions:

The Greater Southwest (Southwest USA and Northwest Mexico)
Central Asia and Turkey (current focus on the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan with some grants in the mountains and associated valleys of Northeast Turkey)
The African Rift Valley (especially Southwest Ethiopia and Northern Kenya)
Northern Australia (current on Arnhem Land, Far Northern Queensland, the Kimberley and the Torres Strait Islands)
Melanesia (current focus on Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu)*

Grants within the regional programs are generally directed to organizations based within those regions or, where appropriate, to internationally based organizations working in support of the efforts of people and institutions on the ground.

Grant size is typically in the $50,000 to $100,000 range over one year or two years, with larger grants being available generally per invitation only and to previous grantees.

*Note: New Melanesia applicants should apply initially for up to 12 months duration. Projects longer than 12 months are currently only being considered for previous Melanesia grantees.

San Francisco Bay Area Program

We support activities by Bay Area organizations that connect our mission and program area with Bay Area communities in the arena of working with Diaspora communities from our focus regions and building understanding of our mission. Bay Area grants are mostly in the range of $10,000 to $40,000 over one year.

APPLYING FOR A GRANT

Deadlines - The Fund awards grants on a rolling cycle, but because of a high volume of applications we plan our grants well in advance. We therefore encourage prospective applicants to submit their inquiries or pre-proposals by deadline dates noted below, preferably during the calendar year immediately preceding the proposed project or as invited by a Program Officer.

The Greater Southwest (US/Mexico) and Central Asia/Turkey

August 31 - For consideration for the following calendar year. This deadline is in advance of the mid-November Board meeting when grant projections for the following year are reviewed. Applicants will be informed if further exploration of a grant is indicated by no later than mid-January.

African Rift Valley, Melanesia and The Bay Area

September 15 - For consideration for the following calendar year. This deadline is in advance of the mid-November Board meeting when grant projections for the following year are reviewed. Applicants will be informed if further exploration of a grant is indicated by no later than mid-January.

Global Biocultural Initiative

Given the 2009 changes in the global programs, The Christensen Fund is currently unable to consider unsolicited applications for global grants.

Northern Australia

The Christensen Fund would like to alert potential applicants from the Northern Australia program that available grant funds for 2011 will be by invitation only. The program will continue to focus on supporting bottom up indigenous initiatives and collaborations across this region around caring for country and cultural vitality.

For events such as conferences and workshops, please apply at least 6 months in advance of their starting date to enable timely review and grant processing.

What happens after you submit an inquiry or a pre-proposal? You will receive an online notification confirming that we received your submission. After this confirmation, staff will carry out an initial review of the request within 8 weeks and inform the applicant of the status of their submission. Should the request be recommended for funding, it will be presented to the Board for consideration at the subsequent Board Meeting.

Full Review Process – If the Board approves the staff recommendation for funding, the full review process of the proposal commences. Staff will send the applicant a request for full proposal (RFP). The programmatic and due diligence full proposal review process requires more information about the prospective grantee organization and the proposed project/program. Typically the entire process (RFP, submission, review and grant award) takes 5 to 6 months from the initial inquiry or pre-proposal submission date with generally, final decision on the request made within 6 weeks after submission of a full proposal.

Nonprofit status Grantseeking organizations need to be US 501(c)(3) or a similar not-for-profit organization, government unit, university or museum either in the USA or in another country.

Questions on Online Submissions

Many common questions can be answered by viewing our Frequently Asked Questions page. If you have other questions or difficulties in submitting a request for funding, you may contact us by e-mail at info@christensenfund.org or by phone at (650) 323 8733.

Requesting a Grant

To submit a pre-proposal via the website for a grant request – please follow the link: Submit a Pre-Proposal *

*If Unable to complete online use the text version below. Once completed you can email at info@christensenfund.org on subject write:Pre-Proposal, Name of the Organization or fax it to 650-289-4089.

* US Registered Organization text version

* Non-United States Registered Organization text version

Last Revision Date: 07/23/2010