Funding Guidelines - Great Lakes Protection Fund
Funding Guidelines - Great Lakes Protection Fund supports collaborative teams testing practical approaches to Great Lakes impairments, with the goal of measurable ecological improvement across the region.
Funder: Great Lakes Protection Fund
Due Dates: Rolling (general project concepts) | March 18, 2026 (2026 preproposals)
Funding Amounts: Past project budgets: $250,000–$1.5 million; $4 million sought for new project activity in 2026
Summary: Supports collaborative, action-oriented projects that can produce measurable improvements to the Great Lakes ecosystem at a regional scale.
Key Information: Projects must pair real-world action with a strategy for basin-wide change; research alone is not supported.
Description
The Great Lakes Protection Fund supports teams developing and testing new approaches to improve the health of the Great Lakes ecosystem. Projects must target measurable improvements to significant physical, chemical, or biological impairments and show how a pilot or demonstration could lead to regionally significant impact. The Fund looks for strategies that change behavior through markets, social norms, or policy, with the people who will use the results involved in the work.
Its 2026 request for preproposals highlighted alternative uses for less-productive agricultural land, new operating models for high-water-use industries, and action on emerging contaminants. Ideas outside those areas may also be considered if they align with the Fund’s guidelines and strategic priorities. Scientific and policy research is supported only as part of a broader action strategy.
