What will you do to support biodiversity?
The Sprout Fund Spring Program is a funding stream to support local biodiversity initiatives in 2011. Supported by The Pittsburgh Foundation, this new program will catalyze community-based projects in Allegheny County, Westmoreland County, and the surrounding communities of Southwestern Pennsylvania with small grants of up to $20,000.
Updates
Brainstorming Biodiversity
Thanks to everyone who attended the 2010 Biodiversity Symposium! The creativity, ingenuity and initiative demonstrated by those in attendance will surely help sustain our ecosystems and our communities well into the future. Apply for your project today!
Apply Now
Download and complete the application questions and budget form to submit your biodiversity project idea. The Spring Application is an opportunity for you to tell The Sprout Fund about your vision and how your proposed project would help improve biodiversity in our region.
Symposium
Held on August 9, 2010, The Spring Symposium hosted a gathering of community leaders, environmental experts, and engaged citizens to promote a better understanding of biodiversity, brainstorm project ideas and applications, and plant the seeds for potential collaborations.
Project Examples |
Biodiversity, or the variety of life on Earth, is essential to sustaining the living networks and systems that provide us with health, wealth, food, fuel and the vital resources our lives depend on. The loss of biodiversity, due in part to human activity, has greatly accelerated. These irreversible losses impoverish us all and damage the life support systems we rely on every day.
By supporting two classes of projects, $5,000 awards and $20,000 awards, Spring will catalyze the execution of 20 community‐based projects that creatively address the challenges we face and inspire a greater stewardship of our region’s natural resources. The following examples are good benchmarks for the anticipated size and scope of Spring Awards:
Burgh Bees
$5,000 Example: The world’s pollinators, including honeybees, are dying at an alarming rate and this ongoing crisis is threatening food supplies worldwide. To fight this loss of biodiversity Burgh Bees, a group of local beekeeping enthusiasts, hosts beekeeping classes and installs public apiaries in an effort to reestablish bee populations.
GTECH Strategies
$20,000 Example: While vacant land may be an eyesore to some, it’s also an opportunity to improve environmental stewardship. That’s the idea behind GTECH Strategies, a social enterprise that remediates and revives neighborhood plots and industrial tracts. GTECH’s Bioenergy Gardens cultivate crops like sunflower and switchgrass to restore the land and produce feedstock for biofuels.
