NFWF and ConocoPhillips Announce Grants through the SPIRIT of Conservation and Innovation Program

Longstanding public-private partnership awards conservation grants to improve water resources and biodiversity, fund innovative conservation efforts

HOUSTON, Texas (March 2, 2016) — The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and ConocoPhillips today announced $775,000 in grants to support conservation projects that will restore wildlife habitat, support biodiversity, improve water resources, and promote new and innovative approaches to conservation.

Since 2005, NFWF and ConocoPhillips have invested more than $8.3 million in projects through the SPIRIT of Conservation and Innovation Program. Grantees have matched this funding with an additional $14.3 million for a total conservation impact of $22.6 million. As a result of these investments, more than 198,000 acres of critical fish and wildlife habitat have been conserved or restored.

This year, eight projects have been selected to receive grants. These projects will restore over 10,000 acres of grassland bird habitat, as well as 44 wetland complexes. In addition, the grants will provide improved capacity to support monarch butterfly populations, and they will support innovative approaches to conserve species and reduce the impact of invasive species. The grant recipients will match the $775,000 in funding with $900,000 in financial contributions or in-kind support for a total on-the-ground conservation impact of more than $1.67 million. For additional details on the individual grants, please click here.

NFWF’s long-term partnership with ConocoPhillips has provided support for a number of important conservation efforts in recent years. With an early focus on migratory or imperiled birds, the partnership supported the creation of important bird initiatives, including International Migratory Bird Day. More recently, the program has focused on water resources, biodiversity and innovative approaches to conservation.

“Protecting species and their habitats has been a primary focus of ConocoPhillips charitable giving since the 1970’s,” said Ed Burke, manager of Brand and Community Relations at ConocoPhillips. “Through our SPIRIT of Conservation and Innovation Program and partnership with NFWF, we are proud to support this year’s winners and their pursuit to develop innovative ideas, tools and techniques that help advance leading-edge solutions for today’s complex water and biodiversity conservation challenges.”

“The grants announced today will provide significant funding to our partners working to advance our shared conservation goals,” said Eric Schwaab, vice president for NFWF’s conservation programs. “Funding these on-the-ground conservation activities would not be possible without our longstanding partnership with ConocoPhillips, through the SPIRIT of Conservation and Innovation program.”

Learn more about the ConocoPhillips SPIRIT of Conservation and Innovation Program at: www.nfwf.org/spirit

About the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation:

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) protects and restores our nation’s wildlife and habitats. Chartered by Congress in 1984, NFWF directs public conservation dollars to the most pressing environmental needs and matches those investments with private contributions. NFWF works with government, nonprofit and corporate partners to find solutions for the most intractable conservation challenges. Over the last three decades, NFWF has funded more than 4,000 organizations and committed more than $2.9 billion to conservation projects. Learn more at www.nfwf.org.

About ConocoPhillips:

ConocoPhillips is the world’s largest independent E&P company based on production and proved reserves. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, ConocoPhillips had operations and activities in 21 countries, $30 billion in annual revenue, $97.5 billion of total assets, and approximately 15,900 employees as of Dec. 31, 2015. Production averaged 1,589 MBOED in 2015, and preliminary proved reserves were 8.2 billion BOE as of Dec. 31, 2015. For more information, go to www.conocophillips.com.