National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF): 2026 National Coastal Resilience Fund

Pre-Proposal Due Date: Tuesday, March 31 by 11:59 PM ET

Funding Available: There is no maximum limit on the award amounts that can be requested for individual grants. The amount requested for an individual project should reflect the scope and needs of the project proposed. NFWF expects that average NCRF awards for projects involving Community Capacity Building and Planning, Site Assessment and Preliminary Design, and Final Design and Permitting to be in the range of $100,000 to $1,500,000. For Restoration Implementation projects, NFWF expects the average NCRF awards to be in the range of $1,000,000 to $7,000,000. It is expected that the award amounts will vary significantly based on the scope of the project, the work proposed, and regional variation.

Who’s Eligible: Eligible applicants include non-profit 501(c) organizations, state and territorial government agencies, local governments, municipal governments, Tribal governments and organizations, educational institutions, or commercial (for-profit) organizations.

Purpose: NFWF will make investments in planning, design, and implementation of nature-based solutions to enhance protection for coastal communities from the impacts of storms, floods, and other natural hazards while improving habitats for fish and wildlife.

Eligible Activities: Award decisions will be made based on regional circumstances and needs, but all proposals must address the following priorities:

• • Nature-Based Solutions: Projects must focus on identifying or implementing nature-based solutions, such as restoring or creating coastal marshes, reconnecting floodplains, rebuilding dunes, installing living shorelines, or other natural buffers (hereinafter “nature-based solutions”).
  • Community Risk Reduction Benefits: Projects must show clear benefits in terms of reducing current and projected threats to communities from coastal hazards, including, but not limited to coastal inundation and erosion, lake level changes, increased frequency and intensity of storms, and impacts from other chronic or episodic factors (e.g., nuisance flooding during high tides, permafrost melt) (hereinafter collectively referred to as “coastal hazards”).
  • Fish and Wildlife Benefit: Projects must improve habitats for fish and wildlife species. Proposals should be as specific as possible in identifying the anticipated benefits to habitats and species that will result from the project proposed.
  • Community Impact and Engagement: Projects will be prioritized that provide direct risk reduction and job creation benefits to communities and that directly engage community members in project planning, design, and implementation. NFWF encourages projects that are informed by local knowledge, that promote co-stewardship between a wide range of project partners, that protect or enhance habitat for (subsistence) species, and/or that contribute to food security. Project partnerships should ensure sustainability and long-term maintenance of projects.
  • Transferability and Sustainability: NFWF encourages projects that seek to re-shape our thinking on what constitutes coastal community risk reduction as experienced across different landscapes. NFWF seeks to advance solutions that are scalable, transferable to other areas, can catalyze further risk reduction, and can safeguard or create economic benefits for the impacted communities. Projects will be prioritized if they include specific plans for transferring and scaling the approaches developed through the project to ensure broader impact and integration into other government plans, programs, or policies in the community or region.