Pollinator Conservation Grants 2026: Who Funds Habitat

3 Kinds of Pollinator Groups and Who Pays Each

Pollinator money splits 3 ways, and each kind of group draws a different set of funders. Single gifts in the October 31, 2026 search ran from $1,000 to $550,000, and the kind of group explains most of that spread. Find your row first.

National groups pitch scale and science. A local pathway group can't win on scale, and it shouldn't try, so it should pitch something national groups can't show: named sites, planted square feet, volunteer hours and a plan for weeding in year 3.

Grants for Pollinator Conservation Groups: What 990-PF Filings Show

Foundations reporting grants on IRS Form 990-PF are a main source of money for pollinator groups, alongside member donations, plant sales and contracts. According to IRS guidance, private foundations file Form 990-PF to report their charitable distributions and activities each year, which is why every grant below can be traced to a filing. Grantsights analysis of 990-PF environment grants pulled October 31, 2026 found 47 foundations that made 70 grants to pollinator and monarch conservation groups, totaling $1,531,730, about $21,900 each on average.

These gifts come from a wider search of pollinator grants across all causes, so some carry no environment tag. They show the range:

For example, Monarch Joint Venture in St. Paul received $40,000 from the Sherwood Foundation in 2025 for monarch work in Nebraska's monarch priority zone, which shows a regional funder paying for habitat across a state line. One organization in Connecticut, Pollinator Pathway Inc. in Wilton, drew $20,000 from the Highstead Foundation in 2024 for restoring pollinator pathways, a clear sign that a volunteer pathway network can win a real grant.

Pollinator grants by state

These figures come from the October 31, 2026 Grantsights pull of 990-PF environment grants and count where the recipient sits, not where the work happens. 5 places had 3 or more foundations giving environment grants to pollinator groups.

Why Oregon leads

Oregon's 16 foundations are mostly giving to 1 recipient, according to our analysis of the October 31, 2026 pull. The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation is based in Portland, and gifts filed to that address make up most of Oregon's environment-tagged pollinator grants. The Church & Dwight Philanthropic Foundation gave Xerces $100,000 in both 2023 and 2024, the Clif Family Foundation gave it $50,000 in 2023, and The New-Land Foundation gave $15,000 in 2023 and again in 2024. Xerces also files from Seattle and Washington, D.C., addresses, so some of its gifts land in Washington State or the District of Columbia. That's why the District's 5 funders add up to only $12,720: they're small gifts, including $1,000 from The Nochera Family Foundation in 2023.

So Oregon's count doesn't mean an Oregon pathway group has 16 foundations waiting for it. It means one national invertebrate conservation group draws loyal funders, and a smaller group should study who else those funders support before it asks.

California's pollinator funders

California's 3 foundations made 5 environment grants worth $187,000. The free preview on the Grantsights environment funder list for California leads with The Eugene McDermott Foundation, which says it takes requests and lists what to send and a contact. Its filings show $50,000 to Ecolife Conservation in Carlsbad in 2023 for monarch butterfly conservation, $25,000 more the same year and $50,000 again in 2024. The Michael E. McGoldrick Charitable Foundation gave Pollinator Partnership in San Francisco $30,000 in 2024 for environment and conservation.

California's total also shows how the address rule works. The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation's $32,000 to Pollinator Partnership in 2022 counts in California because the recipient is in San Francisco, but the purpose was Project Wingspan across the Chicago region.

Why the Environment List

Environment is where tagged pollinator gifts lead. In a broader October 31, 2026 search across causes that Grantsights didn't hand-check, about 47 foundations tagged pollinator gifts as environment, against about 20 with an education tag and about 11 with an animals tag, and most matched gifts (from about 162 foundations) carried no cause tag at all. Pollinator habitat is conservation work, so the environment list is the natural place to start.

Median environment gifts were $10,000 in California, Oregon and Minnesota and $3,000 in Connecticut, according to Grantsights analysis of 990-PF environment filings pulled October 29, 2026. Only about 1 in 3 Oregon environment funders says it takes requests, so a cold letter to the rest rarely works. One state's environment funder list costs $29 at Grantsights, a full year of every cause costs $99, and either purchase can be refunded within 30 days if it doesn't help. Native plant groups ask many of the same funders, so grants for native plant societies is worth reading next to this guide.

What the Fish and Wildlife Service Doesn't Tell You About Pollinator Funding

According to the Partners for Fish and Wildlife program page, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has helped more than 25,000 landowners finish more than 40,000 habitat projects since 1987. That's real money for habitat, but the federal pages are written for landowners. Paired with the pollinator filings, those pages yield 5 lessons.

1. Partners for Fish and Wildlife is a landowner program. The program page says it gives free technical and financial help to landowners, managers, tribes, corporations, schools and nonprofits that want to improve wildlife habitat on their own land, and that projects run at least 10 years. A pollinator group that owns or manages a preserve can talk to its state coordinator. A group that plants on other people's property should bring the landowner into the conversation, since the page says the program partners with nonprofits to complete projects on private land.
2. EQIP pays producers, not pollinator groups. The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), run by USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service, defines a payment in 16 U.S.C. 3839aa-1 as financial help provided to a producer, and eligible land as land where agricultural commodities, livestock or forest-related products are produced. A city park doesn't fit that definition. What a pollinator group can do is help a farmer plan and plant a pollinator strip on eligible land, the kind of farm work the Brookhill Foundation's grants to Xerces for a Wisconsin farm pollinator specialist point to. Conservation grants for farmers explains how those contracts work.
3. Private land is where the habitat is. The same Fish and Wildlife Service page notes that nearly 70 percent of land in the United States is privately owned. A proposal that shows signed letters from 10 landowners who'll plant milkweed is stronger than one that only lists public parks.
4. The monarch listing isn't final on the page. As of October 31, 2026, the monarch species page describes a proposed rule to list the monarch as threatened, with critical habitat and a 4(d) rule. Don't write "endangered monarch" in a request. Say what the page says, and check it again before you submit.
5. Advocacy groups compete for the same funders. Some of the larger gifts in the search went to pesticide policy work, such as CS Fund's $20,000 to Beyond Pesticides in 2023 and 2024 for its Pollinator Protection Network. If a funder's list is mostly policy groups, skip it for a planting project; your best bet is a funder whose past gifts name sites and acres.

One more gap: no federal page says who weeds a pollinator meadow in year 3. Funders know that new habitat fails without upkeep, and a group that budgets for it stands out.

Costing a Pollinator Habitat Project

The 70 environment grants averaged about $21,900, but a local project usually asks for far less, and the common mistake is asking only for plants. Most groups underestimate site prep and follow-up weeding, which can cost more than the seed. This table is illustrative, not data: costs vary by region, soil and how much volunteer labor you have.

Report square feet or acres planted, the share of plants still alive after a year and the number of bee or butterfly species seen. Those numbers let a funder compare your project with a land trust's prairie work. The land trusts guide shows how land trusts report acres to the same funders.

5 Pollinator Projects Foundations Have Paid For

Foundations paid for each habitat project below, according to filings in the October 31, 2026 search.

1. A preserve habitat project. The TD Charitable Foundation gave the Connecticut Audubon Society $15,000 in 2023 to protect pollinators at the Smith Richardson Preserve in Fairfield County.
2. A youth planting project. The Burt's Bees Greater Good Foundation gave the North Carolina Wildlife Federation $25,000 in 2024 to connect young people with nature by restoring pollinator habitat at a Boys & Girls Club in Durham.
3. A conservation corps crew. The Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust gave Conservation Corps Minnesota & Iowa $30,000 in 2023 for butterfly habitat.
4. A library garden. The Myra Foundation gave the Grand Forks Public Library in North Dakota $15,000 in 2025 for a pollinator garden.
5. A park biodiversity project. The Hugh J. Andersen Foundation gave the Pollinator Friendly Alliance in Stillwater, Minnesota, $22,000 in 2024 for a community biodiversity project at Pinepoint Park.

Gardens draw similar gifts, so the botanical gardens guide and the school gardens guide cover funders that pay for planting with students and visitors.

Common Mistakes in Pollinator Grant Requests

The TD Charitable Foundation's $15,000 to the Connecticut Audubon Society named one preserve, and that kind of detail is what weak requests leave out. These 5 mistakes show up when a pollinator group writes as if every funder already loves bees.

• Leading with the crisis, not the plan. A common mistake is opening with national bee decline numbers and never saying which sites you'll plant. Funders want your acres, not a summary of the news.
• No upkeep budget. A red flag for environment funders is a habitat request with no money for weeding after the first summer.
• Counting events, not habitat. Plant sales and talks matter, but report the square feet that changed.
• Using honeybees as the story. Most funders in the filings back native pollinators and monarchs. A request built around a beehive can read as a beekeeping project and get filed in the wrong pile.
• Sizing asks blindly. Read a funder's past gifts in how to read a 990-PF before you name an amount.

A Pollinator Group's Funding Calendar

This 12-month plan follows the planting season, so the money arrives before seed has to be ordered.

The Grantsights grant database tracks open federal and state notices, including conservation and habitat programs a landowner partner might apply for.

Related Guides for Habitat Groups

These 4 guides cover funders that also back habitat and planting work. Land trusts drew some of the largest pollinator gifts in the search, including $150,000 from the River Beech Foundation to the Land Conservancy of New Jersey in 2023.

Groups that plant in shared plots should read grants for community gardens. Audubon chapters running pollinator meadows will find overlapping funders in grants for bird conservation groups. Land trusts and native plant groups each have their own guides linked above. Planting days need shovels and seeders, and grants for tool libraries shows how community tool lending programs are paid for. Beach nest patrols use the same environment list, and grants for sea turtle conservation groups covers their state permits and funders.

FAQ: Common Questions

Is there a federal grant for a pollinator nonprofit? Not one built for nonprofits; federal habitat money mostly goes to landowners and producers.

How many foundations fund pollinator conservation? 47 in Grantsights' search of 990-PF environment grants pulled October 31, 2026.

Why does Oregon lead the pollinator counts? Most of its gifts go to the Xerces Society in Portland.

Who funds monarch butterfly work in California? The Eugene McDermott Foundation is California's free preview sample.

Is the monarch butterfly a listed endangered species? The Fish and Wildlife Service page shows a proposed threatened listing, not a final one.

What's a typical pollinator grant? About $21,900 on average, with a median of $15,000.

Sources

• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Partners for Fish and Wildlife (opens in a new tab)
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Monarch (Danaus plexippus) (opens in a new tab)
• 16 U.S.C. 3839aa-1: Definitions, Environmental Quality Incentives Program (United States Code, 2024 edition) (opens in a new tab)
• IRS: About Form 990-PF (opens in a new tab)