Keystone Initiatives are a core portfolio of multi-year initiatives through which the Foundation and its partners seek to achieve measurable outcomes. Specific goals and strategies are identified for each Initiative. Outcomes are continuously evaluated and objectives refined as the Initiative evolves. Keystone Initiatives are selected by the Foundation's board of directors, based on recommendations from staff.

Working with partners, Keystone staff develop Business Plans for each Initiative. Business Plans include logic frameworks that provide a visual representation of desired outcomes, primary threats, and strategies for each Initiative. Business Plans provide specific guidance on the types of projects that will be considered for funding by the Foundation to fulfill the objectives of specific Keystone Initiatives.

It is expected that applicants interested in Foundation funding for Keystone Initiatives will review the Business Plans for the Keystone Initiative of interest and prepare their application materials accordingly. Prospective applicants should contact the Keystone directors to discuss project ideas prior to submitting proposals to help ensure the relevance of funding requests.

All applications submitted for funding through the Keystones should explicitly reference how proposed projects fit within Business Plans and logic frameworks, or why they do not. All applications will be considered through a competitive process. Keystone staff will continuously evaluate best practices and innovative solutions and work with grantees or groups of grantees to assure the collective results achieve the Foundation's and its partner's objectives in "moving the needle".

Grant Cycles

Preproposal: April 1, 2010
Full Proposal: June 1, 2010
Notification: November 30, 2010

Preproposal: September 1, 2010
Full Proposal: November 1, 2010
Notification: March 31, 2011

Initiatives

View by Taxonomy
Birds
Fish
Marine and Coastal
Wildlife and Habitat

View by Issue
Imperiled Wildlife Species
Wildlife Movement and Migration
Climate Change and Adaptation

Selecting Initiatives
How Initiatives are Selected
Moving the Needle
Defining a Comparable Unit of Change

Funding and Implementation
Keystone Initiative Grant Guidelines