WildTeam 2021 Grant Writing For Wildlife Conservation v1

GRANT WRITING FOR WILDLIFE CONSERVATION
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Acknowledgements
We raised the money to develop this best practice through the income generated from our
training and consultancy services, and a kind donation of a private donor. We are very
grateful to the following reviewers, who provided suggestions that helped to improve earlier
versions of this document:
Alessandro Badalotti, International Union for the Conservation of Nature

Antony Lynam, Wildlife Conservation Society
Ashley Brooks, World Wildlife Fund, Tigers Alive Initiative
Catherine Payne, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust
Cathy Dean, Save the Rhino International
Chloe Hodgkinson, Fauna and Flora International
Eilidh Young, LTS International Limited
Francesca McGrath, Arcadia Fund
Helen Anthem, Fauna and Flora International
Helen Buckland, Sumatran Orangutan Society
Jack Bedford, Save the Rhino International
Jack Tordoff, Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Jamie Copsey, International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Species Survival
Commission, Conservation Planning Specialist Group
Jon Taylor, Save the Rhino International
Kanishka Karunanayake, Blackcap Services
Lenke Balint, BirdLife International
Meenakshi Nagendran, United States Fish and Wildlife Service
Mike Appleton, Global Wildlife Conservation
Nerissa Chao, International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Species Survival
Commission, Asian Species Action Planning
Nick Askew, Conservation Careers
Nicolas Heard, Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund
Rohit Singh, World Wildlife Fund, Tigers Alive Initiative
Sarah Brunwin, Sarah Brunwin Consultancy Services
Simon Wightman, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
Susie Offord-Woolley, Chester Zoo
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Authors
Adam Barlow, WildTeam UK
Lucy Boddam-Whetham, WildTeam UK
Matthew Creasey, WildTeam UK
Léa Kaplani, WildTeam UK
Beth Robinson, WildTeam UK
Thirza Loffeld, WildTeam UK
Photo credits
Front cover: David Clode
Introduction: Ekamelev Zav
Principles: Unknown
Selecting a grant: Unknown
Gathering information: Marvin Nauendorff
Creating content: Michael Bernander
Refining content: Aurelien Designatic
Preparing the application: Ian Kelsall
Processing the application: Paul Hewart
References: Eric Karits
Citation
WildTeam. 2021. Grant Writing for Wildlife Conservation v1. Wildlife Conservation
Professional Series. WildTeam, Cornwall, UK.
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Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................ 7
Purpose ........................................................................................................................... 8
Application ...................................................................................................................... 8
Overview ....................................................................................................................... 10
Supporting resources ..................................................................................................... 11
PRINCIPLES ..................................................................................................................... 12
Overview ....................................................................................................................... 13
Choose wisely ............................................................................................................... 13
Purpose ............................................................................................................................................. 13
Application ........................................................................................................................................ 13
Set up for success ......................................................................................................... 14
Purpose ............................................................................................................................................. 14
Application ........................................................................................................................................ 14
Get yourself noticed ...................................................................................................... 15
Purpose ............................................................................................................................................. 15
Application ........................................................................................................................................ 15
SELECTING A GRANT ...................................................................................................... 16
Overview ........................................................................................................................17
Identify potential grants .................................................................................................17
Make a short list.............................................................................................................17
Carry out due diligence ................................................................................................. 19
Make a final decision .................................................................................................... 19
GATHERING INFORMATION ............................................................................................ 20
Overview ....................................................................................................................... 21
Collate application guidelines ....................................................................................... 21
Extract Project plan information .................................................................................... 21
Collect background information.................................................................................... 21
Assemble supporting materials .................................................................................... 22
CREATING CONTENT ...................................................................................................... 23
Overview ....................................................................................................................... 23
4
Develop a structure ....................................................................................................... 25

Create need content ..................................................................................................... 26
Create impact content................................................................................................... 27
Create monitoring and evaluation content ................................................................... 28
Create activity content................................................................................................... 30
Create stakeholder engagement content ..................................................................... 31
Create risk content ........................................................................................................ 31
Create budget content .................................................................................................. 32
Create sustainability content......................................................................................... 34
Create project team content ......................................................................................... 35
Create summary content .............................................................................................. 36
ENHANCING CONTENT .................................................................................................. 38
Overview ....................................................................................................................... 39
Add quotes and anecdotes .......................................................................................... 39
Create boxes ................................................................................................................. 40
Create tables ................................................................................................................. 40
Create a logframe ......................................................................................................... 41
Create figures ................................................................................................................ 46
Create a title .................................................................................................................. 51
REFINING CONTENT........................................................................................................ 52
Overview ....................................................................................................................... 53
Remove repetition ......................................................................................................... 53
Shorten sentences ......................................................................................................... 54
Minimise adjectives and adverbs ................................................................................. 55
Minimise acronyms ....................................................................................................... 55
Replace jargon .............................................................................................................. 56
Use donor’s language .................................................................................................. 57
Apply the active tense ................................................................................................... 57
Evidence statements ..................................................................................................... 58
PREPARING THE APPLICATION ....................................................................................... 59
Overview ....................................................................................................................... 60
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Prepare supporting documents .................................................................................... 60

Format documents ........................................................................................................ 60
Name documents ......................................................................................................... 61
Make final checks ......................................................................................................... 61
PROCESSING THE APPLICATION ..................................................................................... 62
Overview ....................................................................................................................... 63
Submit application ........................................................................................................ 63
Confirm submission ...................................................................................................... 63
Track submission .......................................................................................................... 63
Respond to result .......................................................................................................... 64
REFERENCES ................................................................................................................... 65
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
7
INTRODUCTION
Purpose
One of the most common ways for a conservationist to raise funds to cover the costs of their
work and sustain their organisation is by applying for grants [1]. However, grants commonly
have a high number of applicants, making them very competitive [2-3]. The ability to create
high-quality grant applications is, therefore, a key conservation skill, often mentioned as a
desired attribute in conservation job adverts [4]. Building on fundraising guidance from the
conservation [1] and development sectors [5-8], the purpose of this best practice is to
provide conservationists with guidelines to help them raise more funds through grants.
Application Box 1. Wildlife Conservation

Professional Series.
This best practice can be used to develop
grant applications for any type or scale of
This series provides practical guidelines to
conservation work. For example, this best
help conservationists achieve a greater
practice could be used to help prepare a
impact. The best practices in this series
grant application for £12,000,000 to fund an
have been designed to be used together,
international programme to create improved
with shared terms and complementary
solar panels, or for £5,000 to buy camera
content. These combined best practices
traps for a bear monitoring project.
provide a complete set of guidelines for
planning, funding, managing, monitoring,
This best practice can either be used as a
and reporting on conservation work. Each
stand-alone approach, or in combination
best practice comprises of a manual and
with the other best practices in the Wildlife
a set of supporting documents that are
Conservation Professional Series (Box 1). In
free for anyone to use, distribute and
this series, the Project Management for
adapt to suit their needs.
Wildlife Conservation best practice [9]
provides the overall framework for carrying out a conservation project. The Grant Writing for
Wildlife Conservation best practice is primarily used during the fund phase of a conservation
project (Figure 1).
The Strategy Development for Wildlife Conservation [10] and the Monitoring and Evaluation
for Wildlife Conservation [11] best practices can be used to create the overall Project plan,
which provides the content for any grant applications. Finally, the best practice on
Stakeholder Engagement for Wildlife Conservation [12] provides guidance on developing
relationships with donors, partners and other stakeholders, that may in turn improve the
chances of the grant application being successful.
For all WildTeam best practices, it is important that conservationists use them intelligently,
by deciding for themselves how to adapt and apply the guidance to best suit their needs.
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INTRODUCTION
Figure 1. Use of best practices in project phases.
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INTRODUCTION
Overview
Box 2. Definition of terms.
The terms “project” and “project team” are
used throughout this best practice to refer to Project: An effort to achieve a measurable
any type of team or level of conservation impact, within a defined schedule and
work, i.e. project, programme, and budget.
organisation level (Box 2). Likewise, the term
“Project plan” is used to refer to any level of Project team: Made up of a number of
plan, i.e. project, programme, and roles that are collectively directly
organisation level (Box 2). responsible for carrying out the project.
This best practice begins with a set of Project plan: The blueprint for the project,
overarching principles to guide the project containing all the major information
team when creating their grant application, required to carry out and assess the
and then describes each step of project.
the process.
[9]
The 7 steps of the process are:
• Selecting a grant that matches project team criteria.

• Gathering information needed to develop the grant application.
• Creating content for the grant application.
• Enhancing content using quotes, anecdotes, boxes, tables, a logframe, and figures.
• Refining content to ensure that information is presented succinctly and is easy to
understand.
• Preparing the application by preparing supporting documents, formatting and
naming all documents, and making final checks.
• Processing the application from submission to responding to the result.
The steps in the process are sequential (Figure 2), and each is made up of a series of
activities.
Figure 2. Grant application process steps.
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INTRODUCTION
Supporting resources
A set of supporting resources is provided to help a project team develop a grant application
using this best practice. These supporting resources are made up of the supporting
documents referred to in this best practice, as well as connected best practices, training
opportunities, and other resources (Table 1).
Table 1. Supporting resources.

Resource Link
Supporting documents Link
Example documents Link
Wildlife Conservation Professional Series Link
Training Link
Glossary Link
Conservation skills directory Link
Online community Link
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PRINCIPLES
PRINCIPLES
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PRINCIPLES
Overview
The purpose of the Principles is to provide a project team with a set of fundamental
approaches and attitudes to guide them through the grant application process. There are
3 principles:
• Choose wisely to encourage the project team to only apply for grants that match
their conservation strategy.
• Set up for success to help the project team develop a realistic grant application.
• Get yourself noticed to help the project team to create a grant application that stands
out.
The project team should follow all principles to ensure that they produce the best possible
grant application. However, it is up to them to decide how to apply each principle to best
suit their project.
Choose wisely
Purpose
Given the competition for grants, a project team may feel compelled to apply for every grant
opportunity they come across. With this approach, however, they may unintentionally fall
into a cycle of short-term, reactionary thinking that compels them to carry out whatever sort
of work a donor will fund. This could lead to the project team:
• Reducing impact, by carrying out work that is unsuitable for the situation and not at
a large enough scale to make a meaningful difference.
• Increasing fundraising time and budget, because they have to develop a whole new
strategy to match the criteria for every new grant opportunity.
• Increasing management time and budget needed to manage an ever-increasing
assortment of disconnected work.
The purpose of the Choose wisely principle is, therefore, to encourage the project team to
focus on raising funds to support the type of conservation work that they think will have the
most impact for the situation they want to change.
Application
The project team can apply the Choose wisely principle during the Selecting a grant step of
the grant application process. To apply this principle, the project team should ideally only
apply for grants that will help them to implement their existing conservation strategy [10], or
part of it. However, it will be rare for a project team to find a grant that exactly matches their
requirements, as donors will often specify a narrow range of activities that they will provide
grants for, and restrict the scale and type of costs the grant can cover. In such cases, the
project team must decide how much they are willing to compromise to meet the donor
criteria. For example, the project team may consider carrying out lower priority activities in
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PRINCIPLES
order to secure the funds to support the high priority activities. If there is not a suitable grant
available that closely matches with the project team’s conservation needs, then they should
pursue other sources of funding, e.g. private donors.
Set up for success Box 3. Impact.
Purpose Impact is the desired change caused by

the conservation work. Impact is
Carrying out a project to achieve a measured in changes to:
measurable impact (Box 3) often proves
more time-consuming and costly than first • Biodiversity targets: the species or
thought. This is because the project team will habitats that the project is helping to
often have developed their Project plan conserve, e.g., jaguars.
based on an incomplete information base. • Threats: What is directly degrading
the biodiversity targets, e.g., jaguar
Once the work is under way, new poaching.
information and changing conditions may
• Behaviours: What people are doing
mean that they are now likely to achieve less
to drive the threats e.g., people living
than the planned impact [9]. This can lead to
in towns buying jaguar skins.
the project team sending reports to the
• Influences: What is encouraging or
donor that focus on the efforts that the
discouraging people to carry out
project team are putting in rather than the
behaviours, e.g., family members
(less than planned) impact that the project
complimenting household owners on
team is achieving. The project team may
their jaguar skin rugs.
then be forced to ask for repeat funding,
[9]
often from the same donor, to achieve the
impact that they had planned to achieve in the previous grant. Securing a grant with an
unrealistic application, therefore, sets up both the project team and donor for failure. To
avoid this situation, the purpose of the Set up for success principle is to help the project
team set more realistic expectations about what they can achieve with the grant.
Application
To apply the Set up for success principle, the project team should:
• Only set objectives for direct results that are inside project control, and not set
objectives for indirect results that the project contributes to but are not inside project
control [11]. For example, setting an objective of “by 2024, to increase local farmer
support for jaguar conservation by 20%” and not setting an objective related to an
increase in the jaguar population.
• Identify and document risks to the work to help manage donor expectations. For
example, “there is a risk that political instability may delay the survey of wildlife
products in local markets“ [9].
• Increase the schedule for completing activities to enable the project team to adjust
their work to manage risks and issues encountered during the course of their work.
How much the project team should extend the schedule will depend on the level of
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PRINCIPLES
uncertainty surrounding the project. However, a general increase of timeframe by

10-20% may be appropriate for even the simplest project.
• Increase the budget to include a contingency fund that covers the staff time and any
other costs needed to manage unforeseen risks and issues that emerge during the
project. The contingency fund should be a percentage of the main budget total and
should reflect the uncertainty of the conditions that the project will be carried out in.
A 10-20% contingency fund could be considered. However, a contingency fund may
not be an acceptable budget expense for some applications, in which case the
project team can consider adding in additional costs to other items, such as salaries,
to account for the extra work that will be needed to manage situations when things
do not turn out as expected.
Guidance on creating the above type of content can be found in the Creating content section
of this manual. Guidance on setting objectives can be found in the Monitoring and
Evaluation for Wildlife Conservation best practice [11]. Guidance on managing risks and
issues can be found in the Project Management for Wildlife Conservation best practice [9].
In the short-term, applying the Set up for success principle may make the project team’s
application appear less competitive compared to other applications that promise greater
impact with a similar schedule and budget. However, it will help the project team in the
long-term to build their reputation with donors through the way they deliver on the grants
that they do secure, compared to the underachievement of others that submit an unrealistic
application.
Get yourself noticed

Purpose
Grant funding is typically very competitive [2], with many strong applications closely
matching with donor priorities and criteria. The purpose of the Get yourself noticed principle
is to help the project team develop an application that stands out from others, by
transforming their factual content into compelling content, and developing an overall
application that demonstrates professionalism by how it is presented and organised.
Application
To apply the Get yourself noticed principle, the project team will need to refine their
application content so that it is easy for the donor to understand and assess. This can be
achieved by the project team paying careful attention to such things as their use of
terminology and language (see Refining the content). The project team will also have to
create content that presents a compelling rationale, and an overall application that is well-
presented and organised. This can be achieved by the project team making appropriate
use of quotes, figures, and photos (see Enhancing the content), and making sure that all
parts of the application are error-free, well-formatted, named, and organised (see
Preparing the application). It is important to note, however, that following the Get yourself
noticed principle is secondary in importance to developing a strong Project plan to base the
application on.
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SELECTING A GRANT
SELECTING A GRANT
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SELECTING A GRANT
Overview
The first step in the grant application process is for the project team to select a grant that
closely matches the conservation work that they want to carry out, is accessible and
manageable, and is provided by donors that meet with the project team’s ethical
standards. The activities for the Selecting a grant step are shown in Figure 3 and described
below.
Figure 3. Selecting a grant activities.
Identify potential grants

The Grants tracker (see Supporting resources) contains a list of available conservation
grants, as well as links to other databases and websites that the project team can search
through to find grants offered for other types of work (e.g. education) that may still be
applicable for the work they plan to carry out. The project team can also identify potential
grants by:
• Asking colleagues about what grants they are aware of [1].

• Reviewing their past grant applications.
• Reading other organisation’s websites and annual reports.
• Subscribing to donor email notifications.
Make a short list

Using the Grants tab in the Grants tracker, the project team can make a shortlist of
appropriate grants, based on how closely the grant criteria match the:
• Biodiversity area the project team are working to conserve. Some grants may only
be available for work being carried out in specific geographic areas, e.g. the
Mediterranean Sea.
• Biodiversity targets the project team are working to conserve. Some grants will only
be available for work being carried out on a particular species or ecosystem type,
e.g. black rhinoceros or cloud forest.
• Threats the project team wants to reduce. Some grants will only be available for
work being carried out to address a narrow range of threats, e.g. the illegal wildlife
trade or climate change.
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SELECTING A GRANT
• Activities the project team have identified as of high conservation priority. Some
grants may only be available for certain types of conservation work which the donor
has identified as important, e.g. developing new technology or capacity building.
• Timeframe in which the project team will be able to submit their application and
plans to begin work. In some cases, the deadline for submitting applications will be
too soon for the project team to prepare a high-quality application. In other cases,
the timeframe for processing applications and releasing funds may be too long to
enable to project team to begin work when they had planned.
• Eligibility of the project team. Some grants will only be available to certain types of
organisation (e.g. registered charities) or those based in certain regions or countries.
• Accessibility to applicants. Some donors have open calls for applications that any
eligible project team can apply for. Other donors have closed applications, which
only project teams contacted by the donor are able to apply for. Therefore, unless
the donor has requested an application, grants with closed application processes
will be inaccessible for the project team.
• Funding level required. Some grants will not provide enough funds to cover all of the
work the project team want to carry out. In such circumstances, the project team
can still select the grant to cover part of the work, while also looking for additional
grants to fill remaining funding gaps.
• Budget restrictions on fund expenditure. Some grants will not provide funds for
certain budget items or may otherwise insist on a maximum amount or proportion
of the budget that can be spent on each item. For example, a grant may only provide
a certain level of funding to cover salaries, or may not be used for purchasing a
vehicle.
• Administrative capacity of the project team. It is important for the project team to
assess if the effort required to apply for (and subsequently administer) a grant is
worth the amount of funds that the grant will provide. For example, it may take
£1,500 worth of project team time to apply for and then administer a £3,000 grant.
Likewise, larger grants may well have additional administrative processes that the
project team must follow, e.g. financial procedures concerning the purchasing of
equipment.
To make a shortlist of grants based on the above criteria, the project team can review
information from the following sources:
• Summary information on the Grant worksheet.

• Detailed information from donors’ websites and application guidelines.
• Supplementary information found in applications and reports associated with the
grant.
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SELECTING A GRANT
Carry out due diligence

Once the project team have created a shortlist of potential grants, they should then carry
out due diligence (Box 4) on the donors
providing those grants to make sure they Box 4. Due diligence.
meet the project team’s ethical standards.
The project team can collect information on Due diligence is the effort taken to assess
the donor’s ethical standards by reviewing another organisation or individual before
such sources as the donor’s website and agreeing to work together [13].
media reports connected to the donor. The project team can then use the Grants tracker to
capture information on the donor’s ethical standards relating to such areas as:
• Environmental impact with respect to anything the donor does that degrades nature.
• Animal welfare with respect to anything the donor does that harms animals.
• Human rights with respect to anything the donor does that harms people.
• Legality with respect to anything the donor does that is against national laws and
international conventions.
Make a final decision

The project team can now make a final selection of the grants they want to apply for based
on how well the grant matches the selection criteria, and how well the donor matches the
project team’s ethical standards. If the project team selects multiple grants, then they can
prioritise those based on such factors as the application deadline, scale of funding
available, and the relative time required to prepare the application. Now that the project
team have selected the grant they will apply for first, they can move on to the Gathering
information step of the grant application process.
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GATHERING INFORMATION
20
Overview
The project team should now gather all the information they need to create the content for
their grant application. They can use the Application checklist tab of the Grants tracker to
make a note of the content requirements of the grant in question. The sequence of activities
for carrying out this step are shown in Figure 4 and described in detail below.
Figure 4. Gathering information activities.
Collate application guidelines

The application guidelines will normally be presented in a lengthy document interspersed
with additional background text. The project team should, therefore, extract key information
relating to the application guidelines and add this to the Application checklist tab of the
Grant worksheet. They can then use this checklist to inform what other information they
need to gather before starting to draft the application content.
Extract Project plan information

The project team should already have a Project plan in place that includes such elements
as a conservation strategy, monitoring and evaluation approach, team structure, schedule,
risks, and budget [9-11]. The project team should now extract the information from this
Project plan, which will be required to complete each section of the grant application. At
this stage, it is only important to collect the relevant information, and there is no need to
adjust the extracted Project plan content to suit the grant application requirements.
Collect background information

The project team should now collect any additional background information that they will
need later to write the application content. For example, in addition to any information
extracted from the Project plan, the project team can collect information on the biodiversity
area where they will be working, the biological targets they want to conserve, and the
threats to those biological targets that they want to address. Likewise, the project team can
collect information showing why the planned activities are expected to achieve the desired
impact. Sources for such information can include verified studies (e.g. journal papers),
unverified studies (e.g. project reports), and expert opinions [10].
21
Assemble supporting materials

To help create the application content, the project team should now assemble supporting
materials such as:
• Annual reports and website content that capture information relating to the project
team’s overall vision, mission, strategy, and impact objectives.
• Financial reports such as annual accounts.
• Status and donor reports to provide information on what the project team have
achieved in the past [9].
• Previous grant applications to the donor from the project team, their organisation,
or others.
• Policy documents that the project team’s work is guided by, in relation to such areas
as project management, financial procedures, human resources, equal opportunity,
anti-terrorism, health and safety, and ethics.
• Curriculum vitae of project team members.
• Photos that show the biodiversity area, biodiversity targets, threats, stakeholders,
and proposed activities.
• Branding guidelines to inform how the project team will format their application
documents if appropriate.
• Government permissions for carrying out the proposed work.
22
CREATING CONTENT
CREATING CONTENT
23
CREATING CONTENT
Overview
The project team can now use the information they have gathered to create the application
content. This step provides guidelines on how the project team can develop a clear structure
for their grant application and create content for sections that are commonly required.
Although the specific names for the different application sections will vary between grant
applications, the activities for this step can be adapted to develop content that conforms to
any application guidelines. For example, the content created for “impact” in this step may
be used as content in a section labelled “Outcomes”, “Outputs” or “Deliverables” for a grant
application. The activities for the Creating content step are shown in Figure 5 and described
below.
Figure 5. Creating content activities.
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CREATING CONTENT
Develop a structure
Before creating a single word of content, it is important that the project team create a
structure that is easy to follow and presents a compelling rationale for the planned project.
Normally, the application guidelines will list the required section headings, defining the
information that must be provided. However, there is normally room for the project team to
use sub-headings within each section to help create a well-ordered structure. The project
team can also make a list of the points that they want to make under each sub-heading to
ensure a coherent flow of rationale (Box 5). These bullet points can then be removed when
the project team come to create the final section text. Once the project team have created
a structure for each section of the application, they can start to populate this with content.
Box 5. Example headings, sub-headings, and temporary bullet points.
The need
The need to conserve forest owlets

• The forest owlet is only found in the forests of central India.
• The forest owlet is endangered, and its population is declining.
The need to protect the forest owlets of Melghat Tiger Reserve

• Melghat Tiger Reserve is one of the last strongholds of forest owlets.
• The forest owlets are one of only a handful of raptors that are an integral part of
Melghat tiger reserve’s unique ecosystem.
• The forest owlet is integrated into the culture and belief system of local
communities.
• The forest owlet helps to generate income for local communities through tourism
revenue provided by visiting bird enthusiasts.
The need to reduce local hunting of forest owlets

• The forest owlets of Melghat Tiger Reserve are poached for the national trade in
exotic pets.
• The poachers use nets to indiscriminately catch a large number of bird species.
• The need to carry out a behaviour change campaign with local hunters.
• It is already illegal to catch birds within Melghat Tiger Reserve but the authorities
do not have the resources to prevent bird poaching.
• Behaviour change campaigns have proved to be effective in reducing poaching
of wildlife in other landscapes.
25
CREATING CONTENT
Create need content

The project team can describe the need for the conservation work in terms of the:
• Conservation priority: How endangered the biodiversity target is, and how they have
been highlighted as a conservation priority in local, national, or international
conservation plans.
• Donor priority: How protecting the biodiversity target links directly to the donor’s
priorities [14].
• Ecological importance: How the biodiversity targets support the existence of other
wildlife and habitats.
• Cultural importance: Described in terms of how the biodiversity target is part of
human cultural practices and beliefs
at a local, national, or international Box 6. Human well-being.
level [15-16].
• Contribution to human well-being: Human well-being relates to personal
How the protection of the wildlife and security, access to the basic materials for
a good life, health, good social relations,
area of interest contributes to human
and freedom of choice and action [17].
well-being [17] (Box 6).
• Status of biodiversity target: The population size and trend of the biodiversity target.
• Status of threats: The severity and extent of threats to the biodiversity targets [10].
• Current behaviours and influences: How human behaviours and associated
influences are driving the threats [10].
• Activity importance: What activities are needed to improve the current situation.
It may not be possible, appropriate, or useful for the project team to create content for all
the possible needs listed above. Instead, they should focus on highlighting the types of
need that are most compelling and most relevant to donor priorities. An example of need
content is shown in Box 7.
26
CREATING CONTENT
Box 7. Example need content.
The need
The need to save the Indonesian Sawtail

The Indonesian Sawtail is a tropical fish that was only discovered in 2001. This fish is only
found in coastal waters around some Indonesian Islands, where it is threatened by
intensive commercial fishing. Due to its restricted distribution and the high level of threat
from fishing, the Indonesian Sawtail may become extinct only decades after it was first
discovered. Losing this unique species would be tragic for its own sake, but may also
have a negative effect on the marine community of which it is a part. As part of marine
life in the Pacific, conserving the Indonesian Sawtail would also be in line with the priorities
of the Pacific Marine Life Action Foundation.
The need to assess and monitor the Sawtail population size

There are no current population estimates for the Indonesian Sawtail. This information is
needed to assess how vulnerable this species is to extinction, and to monitor the impacts
of threats and conservation activities in the future.
The need for a sustainable market for Indonesian Sawtail

A recent pilot study determined that the Indonesian Sawtail is often captured in fishing
nets, but discarded as waste because there is no demand for eating this fish. However,
the Indonesian Sawtail fishermen have changed their fishing practices in the past to help
maintain populations of fish that they see as commercially important, like Skipjack and
Yellowfin tuna. There is, therefore, a need to create a sustainable market in Indonesian
Sawtail by raising awareness with local people about how it can be cooked. The resulting
increase in demand for Indonesian Sawtail would increase its value and motivate
fishermen to help sustain its populations.
Create impact content

The project team should describe the impact of their work in terms of:
• Direct results: Results that will be directly attributable to the work the project team
carries out [11]. For example, “increasing the commitment of elected politicians to
support the building of new wind farms”.
• Indirect results: Results that the project team’s work will contribute to but that will not
be in their control [11]. For example, “increased building of wind farms”.
• Additional benefits: The expected additional benefits to other wildlife and humans.
For example, “the building of additional wind farms will create extra green jobs”.
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CREATING CONTENT
This content can be captured as text (Box 8) and shown in either a planned change diagram
[11] or logframe (see Enhancing content).”
Box 8. Example content on impact.
By 2028, this project will result in 120 forest guards trained in advanced patrolling
techniques, community engagement, and ethics of law enforcement. These new skills
will help increase the detection and prevention of illegal activities, boost the morale and
confidence of the forest guards, and lead to a strengthening of relations between
national park staff and local communities. These benefits may encourage government
staff administering other protected areas in the country to also acquire such training.
Create monitoring and evaluation content

The project team can show how they will monitor and evaluate their impact by
documenting:
Box 9. Key terms.
• Impact in terms of both the direct and
indirect, results that the project will Objective: The measurable, timebound,
monitor. desired future state of a result.
• Objectives for the direct results being
Tolerance limits: A range of acceptable
monitored [11]. values for an objective.
• Tolerance limits to provide a range of
acceptable values for each objective Indicator: A specific, observable, and
[9,11]. measurable attribute that can be used to
• Indicators to help assess progress show the achievement of an objective.
towards achieving each impact [11].
Monitoring method: The method used to
• Monitoring methods to describe how measure the actual change in biodiversity
information on each indicator will be targets, threats, behaviours, and
collected and analysed [11]. influences.
• Evaluation methods to describe how
Evaluation method: The method used to
the cause-and-effect relationship
better understand what conditions lead to
between project work and impact will the actual change and how project work
be assessed (Box 9). contributed to that change.
The above information can be summarised
[11]
in a table (Table 2) or part of a logframe (see
Enhancing content). Full guidance on creating this type of content is provided in the
connected Monitoring and Evaluation for Wildlife Conservation best practice [11].
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CREATING CONTENT
Table 2. Example monitoring and evaluation content.
Result type Result Objective Tolerance limits Indicator Monitoring method Evaluation method
Direct result Reduced By 2028, littering by 50-90% Number of litter Litter survey Social survey of
littering by tourists has items/km2 tourists
tourists decreased by 70%
Indirect Increased Not applicable Not applicable Number of nesting Nesting beach Dead turtle
result population size females/year/km survey necropsy survey of
of loggerhead of nesting beach plastic ingestion
sea turtles
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Create activity content

The project team should first describe the overall schedule over which the work will be
carried out. The project team should then group related activities into work packages and
describe them [9-10]. The project team should also provide additional content on how the
proposed activities build on previous work, and why they think those activities will prove
successful [14] (Box 10). The project team must also justify the inclusion of each work
package, by showing how they are essential for achieving the desired impact [14]. This can
be achieved by developing a planned change diagram [10] or a logframe (see Enhancing
content).
Box 10. Example activity content.
The work for this project will be carried out over 2 years, starting on the 5th of January
2027 and finishing on the 4th of January 2029. Our work will be organised into the
following work packages and associated activities:
• Wildlife crime awareness campaign: We will conduct a wildlife crime awareness

campaign to increase the public’s awareness of what wildlife crime is and why it is
important for it to stop. This campaign will be delivered as a series of social media
adverts aimed at people living close to local wildlife markets.
• Wildlife crime hotline: We will set up a hotline for members of the public to
anonymously provide information on wildlife crime. This information will be verified
by follow-up investigations and then passed on to the authorities.
This combination of awareness campaign and hotline work packages has proven to be
an effective means of reducing wildlife crime in other countries, such as Thailand and
Ireland. This work also builds on previous efforts by the Stop Wildlife Trade Now Society,
who have identified the main wildlife trade markets in the area.
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CREATING CONTENT
Create stakeholder engagement content

Nearly any conservation activity will affect or be affected by a range of stakeholders, such
as local communities, government agencies, and other conservation organisations [10]. The
project team, therefore, will need to document how they have consulted with stakeholders
to design the conservation work outlined in the application, and how they will continue to
engage with those stakeholders over the course of the work (Box 11) [8]. Detailed guidance
on how to engage stakeholders is provided in the connected Stakeholder Engagement for
Wildlife Conservation best practice [10].
Box 11. Example stakeholder engagement content.
We carried out a total of 8 focus group discussions and 30 interviews to better understand
the perspectives of the local fishing community with respect to the proposed designation
of a new national park that could potentially restrict the community’s previous fishing
practices. We then engaged 10 fishing community representatives to help identify areas
within the new national park that would be co-managed by local communities and the
park authorities for the purposes of sustaining fishing livelihoods. We will conduct a bi-
annual stakeholder meeting to report on progress, share our experiences, and gather
suggestions about how we can improve our work for the benefit of wildlife and
stakeholders alike.
Create risk content

A risk is anything that may happen that could have a negative effect on the schedule,
budget, and/or impact of the work [9]. The project team can describe current risks that they
are aware of and how they intend to manage those risks (Box 12). Further guidance on
identifying, assessing, and managing risks is provided in the Project Management for
Wildlife Conservation best practice [9].
Box 12. Example risk content.
There is a risk that obtaining government permission for training customs staff to identify
wildlife products will take longer than expected. This would delay the start of the training
work package by up to 6 months. The project team will reduce this risk by arranging
monthly meetings with key government decision-makers to track progress of the
permission application and to quickly respond to any additional information needs.
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CREATING CONTENT
Create budget content

The project team should only budget for costs that are allowable by the donor, but should
try to cover as many of the project costs as possible, including the cost of building the
capacity of the project team to meet the administrative requirements of the grant. The
project team should consider assigning costs under the following budget categories:
• Salaries
• Infrastructure
• Equipment
• Consumables
• Transport
• Accommodation
• Food
• Training
• Legal and professional services
• Insurance
• Bank charges
• Taxes
• Fixed costs
• Administration
• Contingency
Some of the above costs may be grouped under a broader “overhead” category if needed
to simplify the budget content. The project team should then also show any planned income
from such sources as:
• The grant being applied for.

• Grants from other donors.
• Private donations.
• Sales of services.
• Sales of products.
The project team should then allocate the income from different sources to cover all project
costs and differentiate between confirmed and planned income where necessary [1].
Depending on any budget format described in the application guidelines, the project team
may consider organising the budget expenditure and income with respect to budget items,
work packages, or both (Table 3-4) [1].
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Table 3. Example budget organised by category.

Number
Category Item Cost/unit Cost
of units
Project coordinator @£2,000/month £2,000 24 £48,000
Community engagement officer
Salaries £1,800 22 £39,600
@1,800/month
Research officer @£1,500/month £1,500 8 £12,000
Laptop @£400/unit £400 1 £400
Equipment
Rain jackets @£25/person £25 3 £75
Office supplies @£50 flat rate £50 1 £50
Consumables
Food for field trips @£10/person/day £10 120 £1,200
Sub-total £101,325
Contingency @10% of sub-total £10,132.50 1 £10,133
Administration @5% of sub-total £5,066.25 1 £5,066
Total £116,524
Table 4. Example budget organised by work package and category.

Matching funds
Secured funds Funds
from relating to
Work Grassroots Application to this
package Category Cost Foundation Lion Kids fund application
Salaries £30,000 £5,000 £25,000
Project
Equipment £400 £400
management
Consumables £50 £50
Training Salaries £45,000 £25,000 £1,000 £19,000
primary Equipment £75 £75 £0
school
Consumables £600 £400 £100 £100
teachers
Conducting Salaries £24,600 £24,600
attitudes Equipment £600 £600
survey Consumables £0 £0
Sub-total £101,325 £25,475 £6,100 £69,750
Contingency £10,133 £10,133
Administration £5,066 £5,066
Total £116,524 £25,475 £6,100 £84,949
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For some applications, the project team may also need to supply a budget narrative to
further explain or justify the planned expenditure and income (Box 13) [14].
Box 13. Example budget content.
Costs: The total fuel costs of £218.7 is needed for three survey trips to monitor changes
in snare density between seasons. Each survey trip will require 1,344 miles of driving over
rough terrain using an estimated 80 miles/gallon of diesel fuel, at the cost of
£4.34/gallon (equivalent to £72.9/survey trip).
Income: The estimated income of £456 from selling pangolin design t-shirts is equivalent
to selling 38 t-shirts/month through our website. This is a conservative estimate of t-shirt
sales based on previous sales figures ranging from £360-£600/month.
Cost-effectiveness: The overall teacher training cost of £5,600 includes the training of 28
teachers on how to design and deliver classes on environmental issues, and is equivalent
to a cost of £200/teacher. Each teacher will then go on to deliver 2 weeks of such classes
per year, with the cost of their teaching time paid for by the government, and amounting
to £1,100/teacher, equating to a total of £30,800/year for all 28 teachers.
Create sustainability content

Even if this type of information is not explicitly required, the project team can create a
stronger application by explaining what they plan to do after the work supported by the
grant is complete [8,10]. Depending on what they plan to achieve, there may be no need
for the project team to continue or build upon the work outlined in the application, in which
case they can describe the work as a stand-alone effort. If the project team aim to carry out
more activities after the grant funds have been spent, then it is important that they outline
what further impact they want to achieve and how they aim to fund that additional work
(Box 14) [14]. This way, the donor will be assured how the impact achieved through their
grant will not be lost once the grant funds have been spent.
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CREATING CONTENT
Box 14. Example sustainability content.
After this work has been competed, no further lobbying or training activities will be
required. This is because, by the end of the work, Louisiana state law will have been
updated to make it compulsory for shrimp boats to use turtle excluders, and four
government employed marine enforcement officers will be able to provide local shrimp
boat captains with training in the use and attachment of turtle excluder devices. However,
we will require additional funds to continue the monitoring of turtle excluder device use
by shrimp boat captains over the following 3 years. This monitoring is needed to enable
the authorities to assess the effectiveness of their continued training and enforcement
activities. We will seek the funds to support these monitoring activities from the Sea Turtle
Alliance Fund.
Create project team content

The project team can show how and why they will be able to deliver the planned impact by
documenting:
• Roles and responsibilities: Described in terms of what each team member will do
with respect to the work the grant is funding. It may also be important to show how
the project team members will be connected in terms of their line management, in
which case a simple project team structure diagram can be created (see Enhancing
content) [14].
• Ability: Described in terms of the qualifications and skills that enable the project team
to carry out the work effectively [14].
• Experience: Described in terms of how project team members have managed past
grants and conducted similar types of activities (Box 15).
• Learning: Described in terms of both previous successes and failures.
• Relationships: Described in terms of the relationships the project team have built up
with important stakeholders through previous work and collaborations.
• Resources: The project team can mention what resources (infrastructure and
equipment) they have in place to help carry out the planned activities.
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CREATING CONTENT
The project team may also consider supplementing the project team content by adding a
brief description of the organisation they work for, highlighting such characteristics as:
• Organisation type, e.g. registered charity.

• Extent of work, e.g. the number of countries it works in.
• Impact achieved, e.g. the number of km2 of marine areas that are better managed
as a result of its work.
Box 15. Example project team content
The project manager for this work, Elena Ramos, has 8 years’ experience carrying out
research and conservation work in the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve. Under Elena’s
leadership, the project team have effectively delivered work under 8 grants, including 2
from the Manatee Conservation Fund. Over this time, Elena has also built strong
relationships with important stakeholders for the proposed work, including local
community leaders, fishing boat captains, and jet ski hire staff.
Create summary content

For some applications, the project team will need to provide a summary of the application
content. In order to have all the information required, the project team should always write
the summary after all the other application content has been drafted. To create a summary,
the project team must reproduce key points from each section, arranged in the same
sequence as the application sections, and using the exact same section headings and
terms. The project team may or may not have to adjust these key points to create a succinct
and coherent summary. To make the summary easier to read, the project team should not
include citations (Box 16). If needed, the project team can use and adapt the summary to
also create a letter of enquiry or an application cover letter.
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CREATING CONTENT
Box 16. Example summary content.
Need: The Javan slow loris is critically endangered due to habitat loss, killing for use in
traditional medicine, and capture for sale as an exotic pet. The Javan slow loris is present
in the Dieng Mountains of Java, but their current population has not been assessed. Such
research is needed to help assess the effectiveness of ongoing conservation efforts. While
the local exotic pet trade in Javan slow loris has been assessed, it is also necessary to
carry out a behaviour change campaign to reduce the demand of these animals through
this trade.
Impact: The main objectives of this work will be by 2026 (1) to increase the understanding
in conservation organisations and government agencies about the current status of the
Javan slow loris population in the Dieng Mountains, and (2) to reduce the purchasing of
Javan slow loris as exotic pets by 15%, compared to 2018 levels.
Monitoring and evaluation: Progress towards achieving these objectives will be

assessed through collecting and analysing information on (1) the number of conservation
organisations and government agencies confirming that they have received and read the
Javan slow loris population status report, and (2) the number of households reporting
purchasing Javan slow loris.
Activities: This project will be carried out over 3 years, starting a month after we have
secured the required funds. The work will be split into research and behaviour change
work packages. For the research work, we will conduct a population survey using
acoustic sensors to detect the calls of the Javan slow loris. We will use these sensors to
survey a sample of 2 km2 grid cells distributed across all major habitat types of the Dieng
Mountains. For the behaviour change work, we will spread the demand reduction
messages through radio adverts, posters, and speeches by local leaders.
Stakeholder engagement: Four students from Teuku Umar University have agreed to be
volunteer data collectors for the Javan slow loris population survey, and permission for
this survey has been approved by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry. A total of 23
local purchasers of Javan slow loris and 5 shopkeepers involved in the exotic pet trade
have been consulted to help design the behaviour change campaign.
Budget: The total budget for this work is £73,500. A total of £35,000 has already been
secured as match funding from a private donor and the remaining £38,500 is requested
in this grant application.
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ENHANCING CONTENT
ENHANCING CONTENT
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ENHANCING CONTENT
Overview
The project team should now enhance the content they have created by adding in
compelling content and well-presented information to help make their application stand
out. The activities for this step are shown in Figure 6 and described below.
Figure 6. Enhancing content activities.
Add quotes and anecdotes

The project team can include compelling content such as quotes and anecdotes to bring
the content to life and show the importance of the work. The project team can use quotes
and anecdotes to greatest effect by enhancing the content relating to:
• Need to show how different stakeholders agree with the need to resolve the issues
the work will address.
• Impact to show how different stakeholders support the proposed changes.
• Activities to show how different stakeholders endorse the proposed work, and that
the work will help achieve the desired impact.
• Project team to show how others endorse the skills, experience, and professionalism
of project team staff.
• Stakeholder engagement to show that stakeholders feel included in the grant
application process (Box 17).
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ENHANCING CONTENT
Box 17 Example quotes and anecdotes.
Need: “If we knew the best places to build wildlife corridors over roads, we would do it”.
Director of government infrastructure planning.
Impact: “Having a real say in how the National Park is managed will give us a chance to
help save the forest that feeds our families”. Bambuti elder.
Activities: Through a previous pilot project, a former bird hunter had set up a private bird
sanctuary on his farm and stopped hunting birds altogether.
Project team: Freshwater Alliance Fund listed The Lake Titicana protection squad as a
high performing grantee for 4 years in a row.
Stakeholder engagement: 18 (90%) of the local mayors that we consulted said that they
would do everything in their power to support the work in their towns.
Create boxes
The project team should add in boxes where appropriate to highlight important information
that they want to bring to the donor’s attention, e.g. quotes or definitions of terms (Box 18).
Box 18. Cattle farmer survey results.
41% of cattle farmers said that they would shift to organic farming practices if the new
food label increased consumer demand for organically produced beef.
59% of cattle farmers said that they would shift to organic farming practices if they
received the proposed 10% organic farming subsidy.
Create tables
The project team should see where additional tables can be used to help display linked
information that cannot be succinctly included in the main text. For example, information
about planned indicator values split up across years would be easier to understand if
presented in a table rather than in text (Table 5).
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ENHANCING CONTENT
Table 5. Example table showing planned indicator values.

Objective Indicator Planned indicator values
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Total
By year 3, 300 beach Number of 50 100 150 300
supervisors have been people passing
trained in organising the beach clean-
annual beach clean- up supervisor
ups in their areas assessment
Create a logframe
A logframe is a special type of table that shows how activities are linked to impact and how
the progress of the work will be monitored [8,18]. There are a wide range of logframe
formats and associated terminologies used in grant applications [6,18], but an example of
how different elements are linked together in a typical logframe is shown in Figure 7 [6,8].
An explanation of what the project team need to include in each part of the logframe is
provided in Table 6 [6].
Figure 7. Linkage between elements of a typical logframe.
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ENHANCING CONTENT
Table 6. Explanation of what to include in each part of a logframe.

Objectives Indicators Means of verification Assumptions
Goal Document what target List the sources of List key factors that
Detail the indirect indicator values will information that will must happen for the
result that the be used to track be used to verify that listed impact to be
direct result will progress towards the listed impact has achieved as planned.
contribute to. achieving the listed been achieved.
impact. Note when
each target indicator
value will be reached.
Purpose Document what target List the sources of List key factors that
Detail the direct indicator values will information that will must happen for the
result of the be used to track be used to verify that listed direct result to be
activities and progress towards the listed direct result achieved as planned.
outputs. achieving the listed has been achieved.
direct result. Note
when each target
indicator value will be
reached.
Outputs Document what target List the sources of List key factors that
List what will be indicator values will information that will must happen for the
created/produced be used to track be used to verify the listed outputs to be
by the activities. progress towards creation of the listed created as planned.
creating the listed outputs.
outputs. Note when
Activities Document what target List the sources of List key factors that
List the activities indicator values will information that will must happen for the
that will be be used to track be used to verify the listed activities to be
carried out to progress towards completion of the completed as planned.
produce the completing the listed activities
outputs. activities. Note when
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ENHANCING CONTENT
The project team should only ever use a logframe, however, to summarise a project plan,
rather than using it as a framework to generate a Project plan in the first place. This is
because a logframe is not able to show all linkages between activities and impact [18]. The
project team should, therefore, have already created an overall Project plan or similar
document before creating a logframe [10]. The conservation strategy, and monitoring and
evaluation sections of the Project plan should then be used to create content for the
appropriate part of the logframe table (Table 7). In this case, the project team will have to
rewrite the risks from the project plan so that they are turned into a positive description of
what would happen if the risk did not occur. An example of a completed logframe is
provided in Table 8.
Table 7. Source of content from Project plan sections for creating content for each part
of a logframe.
Goal Monitoring and Monitoring and Risks*
Conservation strategy evaluation evaluation
Purpose Monitoring and Monitoring and Risks*

Conservation strategy evaluation evaluation
Outputs Monitoring and Monitoring and Risks*

Conservation strategy evaluation approach evaluation
Activities Workplan Status reports Risks*

Conservation strategy Technical deliverables
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ENHANCING CONTENT
Table 8. Example logframe content.

Goal
1. Authorities 1. Number of arrests 1. Government 1. Authorities have
arrest more of poachers and records of arrests sufficient
poachers and illegal woodcutters motivation, skills,
illegal increase by 20% and resources to
woodcutters compared to 2021 effectively act on
levels the wildlife crime
information that
they receive
Purpose
1. Local villagers 1. By end of year 3, 1. Wildlife crime 1. Local villagers
provide calls to the wildlife hotline status report feel confident that
information on crime hotline produce they can provide
wildlife crime 10 items/month of wildlife crime
using the hotline actionable information without
intelligence that are risking their own
then provided to the personal safety
authorities
Outputs
1. Local villagers 1. By end of year 3, 1 and 2. Attitudes 1. Campaign
motivated to 25% of local people in survey report, messages connect
provide selected villages documenting to core values of
information to report being more interview results from local people
authorities on motivated than before a sample of 30
wildlife crime to provide wildlife villagers from each of
crime information to the 8 selected villages
the authorities
2. Local villagers 2. By end of year 2, 2. Wildlife crime

understand how 40% of local people in hotline radio
to provide wildlife selected villages adverts are heard
crime report that they are by 40% or more
information aware of the wildlife local people living
crime reporting in selected villages
hotline
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ENHANCING CONTENT

Activities
1. Carrying out a 1.1 By end of year 1, 1.1 Campaign posters 1. Local landowners
community campaign messages permit poster
campaign that are finalised with boards to be
encourages input from the local temporarily placed
villagers to community on their land.
provide
information on 1.2 By end of year 2, 1.2 Locations of all
wildlife poaching the poster campaign posters documented
to the authorities is carried out in 4 in annual report
selected villages
1.3 By end of year 3, 1.3 Locations of all

the poster campaign posters documented
is carried out in in annual report
remaining 4 selected
villages
2. Developing a 2.1 By end of year 1, 2.1 Description in 2. Advertising

local intelligence the wildlife crime annual report of wildlife crime
network reporting process has wildlife crime reporting hotline on
been finalised. reporting process local radio stations
complies with
2.2 By end of year 2, 2.2 Description in government
the wildlife crime annual report of standards for
hotline and database wildlife crime hotline advertising
has been set up and database status
2.3 By end of year 3, 2.3. Description in

the series of radio annual report of
items advertising status of radio
wildlife crime hotline adverts for wildlife
has been aired crime hotline
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ENHANCING CONTENT
Create figures
A figure is any photo or graphic used to present information in an engaging and easy to
understand way. A bad figure can take up valuable space that could otherwise be used for
compelling text, whereas a well thought-out graphic can enhance the application by
emphasising a point, explaining complex or lengthy information, and improving the overall
appearance of the document. For any figure, it is important that:
• Text is legible and ideally the same size and font as the text used in the main content.
• Colours provide contrast so that the graphic elements will be easy to distinguish,
including by those that have colour vision deficiency.
• Blank space is minimised to reduce the overall space taken up by the figure.
• A key is included whenever needed to identify figure items.
• Resolution is sufficient for the figure to be clear, without making the overall
application difficult to share due to a large file size.
Types of figures that are commonly included in an application include:
Charts: Charts are an effective way to show the status or trend of something relating to the
content. For example, the project team could use a pie chart to show the number of people
from different stakeholder groups that supported the increase in fines for wildlife crimes.
An example chart is shown in Figure 8.
Figure 8. Example chart.
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ENHANCING CONTENT
Photos: Photos can be used to effectively show such things as the place where the work
will take place, the biodiversity targets, the threats to those targets, or the proposed
activities that will be carried out (Figure 9). The project team should make sure any photo
they use is labelled correctly and credited where necessary.
Figure 9. Example photo.
Diagrams: For grant applications, diagrams will most commonly be used to show the work
schedule (Figure 10) [9], project team structure (Figure 11) [9], a current situation diagram
(Figure 12), or a planned change diagram (Figure 13) [10]. Guidance on how to create current
situation and planned change diagrams is provided in the connected Strategy Development
for Wildlife Conservation best practice [10].
Activity Month
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Removing invasive
species
Constructing the
boundary fence
Enhancing the
visitor centre
Figure 10. Example schedule diagram.
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ENHANCING CONTENT
Figure 11. Example project team structure.
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ENHANCING CONTENT
Figure 12. Example current situation diagram.
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ENHANCING CONTENT
Figure 13. Example planned change diagram.
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ENHANCING CONTENT
Maps: The project team can use maps to show geographic information, e.g. the location,
shape, size, and important features of the area that the work will affect. All maps should
have a north arrow, scale, and key, and only show the features that are relevant to the
application content (Figure 14).
Figure 14. Example map.
Create a title
The project team should create a title for the grant application that emphasises why the
proposed work is important. To create such a title, the project team should focus on what
they will achieve (their impact) rather than what work they will carry out (their activities) (Box
19).
Box 19. Example titles emphasizing activities or impact.
Activity-focused title: Conducting training workshops in identifying illegal wildlife

products for border guards.
Impact-focused title: Empowering border guards to reduce the cross-border trade in

illegal wildlife products.
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REFINING CONTENT
REFINING CONTENT
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REFINING CONTENT
Overview
If an application is badly written, it is less likely to be successful. The funder will find it more
difficult to understand the rationale for the project, and it will also indicate to the donor that
reports and other outputs from the project may be of a similar poor quality. The project
team should, therefore, spend time refining the content so that it provides a well-written,
easy-to-understand case for support. The activities for this step are shown in Figure 15 and
described below.
Figure 15. Refining content activities.
Remove repetition
Repetition of content is when the same point is made multiple times, either in the same or
different sections of the application. The only place where there should be some repetition
is in the summary. Otherwise, any repetition will create a badly organised and confusing
application, and the repeated content will take up valuable space in which other important
points could have otherwise been made to strengthen the application. The project team
should, therefore, remove repetition in the content wherever possible (Box 20). It should be
noted, however, that repetition is not the same as using different sources of information to
support an important point (see Evidence statements).
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REFINING CONTENT
Box 20. Example content before and after repetitive text has been removed.
Content with repetition: About 40% of government ministers support new legislation that
would prevent the future building of fossil fuel power stations. That means about 60% of
ministers still do not support the legislation. The fact that a majority of ministers do not
support the new legislation means that it is unlikely to be made into law.
Content with repetition removed. About 60% of ministers do not currently support a
proposed new law that would prevent the future building of fossil fuel power stations.
Shorten sentences
The project team should break up longer sentences into shorter sentences wherever
possible, to make it easier for the donor to understand the points being made (Box 21).
Box 21. Example content with long and short sentences.
Long sentence: The importance of community involvement in Palawan montane squirrel

conservation cannot be underestimated because 50-70% of their population are found
on community-owned land outside protected areas, which means that the survival of the
species within community areas depends of the attitudes and behaviours of the people
living there.
Short sentences: The importance of community involvement in Palawan montane

squirrel conservation cannot be underestimated. Of the remaining Palawan montane
squirrels, 50-70% are found on community-owned land outside protected areas. The
survival of the species within community areas, therefore, depends on the attitudes and
behaviours of the people living there.
54
REFINING CONTENT
Minimise adjectives and adverbs

The project team should be careful not to
Box 22. Adjectives and adverbs.
overuse adjectives and adverbs (Box 22) in
the content, as their effect may decrease with
Adjectives: Words that describe a
repetition, or the points being made may characteristic of something, e.g. “large” or
seem exaggerated. Whenever the project “important”.
team uses an adjective, either with or without
an adverb, the overall statement should be Adverbs: Words used to modify or
backed up with a justification of the adjective describe other words such as adjectives,
e.g. “very” or “extremely”.
and adverb use. For example, the project
team should explain why they think something is “extremely urgent” (Box 23).
Box 23. Example of excessive and appropriate use of adjectives and adverbs.
Excessive use of adjectives: Funds are very urgently needed to support the crucial work
of conducting important research into the movement patterns of young two-towed sloths.
Appropriate use of adjectives and adverbs: It is important to include community

representatives in the design of the co-management approach to ensure that the design
is in line with the community’s social structure and development needs.
Minimise acronyms
Box 24. Acronyms.
Acronyms (Box 24) are sometimes useful to
help the project team reduce text by An acronym is an abbreviation formed
shortening an otherwise lengthy name. For from the initial letters of other words e.g.
example, using “IUBSC” instead of “the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable,
Realistic, Timebound)
International Union for the Building of
Shopping Centres”. Acronyms can, however, make the content more difficult to follow if the
donor is not familiar with those acronyms (Box 25) [8]. The project team should, therefore,
only use acronyms that they are confident will be familiar to the donor because of their
common use, or otherwise when they think it is essential for helping the flow of the content
by reducing the reproduction of long names throughout the content.
If the project team does use acronyms, then it is important that they spell the names out in
full the first time they are used, after which the acronyms should be used in all subsequent
instances. If the project team needs to use many (>10) acronyms, they can consider adding
a list of acronyms at the start of the application.
55
REFINING CONTENT
Box 25. Content with and without acronyms.
Content with acronyms: The DC have 15 trained CI officers to implement the new WTE
law, but have no access to the WT application that would enable them to collect WT data.
Content without acronyms: The Department of Customs have 15 trained Customs

Inspection officers to implement the new wildlife trade law, but have no access to the
application that would enable them to collect wildlife trade data.
Replace jargon
Experienced project teams may have picked up and absorbed a huge amount of
conservation jargon (Box 26) through their education, work, and professional interactions.
While all these terms may make sense to the
Box 26. Jargon.
project team, they may not be understood,
or may be interpreted differently by those Jargon is specialist terminology used by a
reviewing the application. If the project team group that is difficult for others to
use such jargon in an application, they will understand, e.g. agricultural
create content that is difficult to understand intensification.
and hide the otherwise strong points they are trying to make. To make sure that the
application is easy to understand, any terminology the project team uses in the content
must be consistent, as simple as possible, and either self-explanatory or defined where
necessary (Box 27).
Box 27. Example content with jargon.
The Golden lip fern of the Western Ghats ecoregion is an endangered lycopod that has,
through allopatric speciation, developed unique alleles that distinguish it from its nearest
clade. The negative trajectory of the population during the Anthropocene Epoch can be
directly attributed to the interactive, persistent effects of current land‐management
agricultural strategies. A multi-disciplined, collaborative, holistic approach using social
science informed by conservation psychology is, therefore, needed to remove drivers of
this threat and encourage the uptake of green infrastructure initiatives.
56
REFINING CONTENT
Use donor’s language

The most important terminology and phrases for the project team to use in their application
are those used by the donor. Using the donor’s language will demonstrate that the project
team understand the donor’s approach and value what the donor wants to achieve through
the grant. The closer that the project team can match the content to the donor’s language,
the easier it will be for the donor to understand and assess the application.
The project team should pay particular attention to using the donor’s language in the
impact, monitoring and evaluation, and budget sections, because the use of other terms in
those sections may disqualify the application (Box 28). The project team can use the Grant
worksheet to make a list of the key terminology and phrases that the donor uses in its grant
guidelines, annual reports, and website, and then infuse those into the content at all
appropriate places. The project team should also be sure to use the same spelling used in
the application guidelines, e.g. using North American spelling for a North American grant
application.
Box 28. Example content using project team and donor language.
Content using project team language: The work will contribute to an increase in the
capacity of marine inspection officers enforcing laws relating to the disposal of sewage
sludge by cruise ships at sea. The work will include activities to both train and equip those
officers.
Content using donor language: This main outcome of this project will be to help increase
the capacity of marine inspection officers enforcing laws relating to the disposal of
sewage sludge by cruise ships at sea. The project inputs will be the training and
equipping of those officers.
Apply the active tense

To create a clear, confident, and consistent style of content, the project team should apply
the active tense wherever possible [1,8]. The active tense is when the subject of the sentence
carries out the action of the sentence. This is different to the passive tense, in which the
subject has an action done to them by someone or something else (Box 29).
Box 29. Example content applying passive and active tense.
Active tense: The village mayor supported the ban on cattle grazing within the
community forest.
Passive tense: The ban on cattle grazing within the community forest was supported by
the village mayor.
57
REFINING CONTENT
Evidence statements
The project team should refer to a source of evidence that supports the point they are
making. To provide evidence that the statement is true, the project team can cite peer-
reviewed papers, reports, and media articles. To save space and avoid breaking up the
flow of the content, the project team should cite sources using numbers in the content,
rather than author names and dates (Box 30). Unless stipulated in the application
guidelines, it should not matter how the references are then listed, as long as they are
presented in the same way, i.e. each reference should have the same sequence of
information.
Box 30. Example citing of evidence to support a statement.
Over 70% of park rangers agreed that they would be able to arrest more poachers if they
had better equipment35.
58
PREPARING THE APPLICATION
59
Overview
Now that the project team have created, enhanced, and refined the content of the main
application document, they should now prepare the full application so that it is ready to
process. This involves preparing supporting documents, formatting documents, naming
documents, and making final checks (Figure 16).
Figure 16. Preparing the application activities.
Prepare supporting documents

In addition to the main application document, the project team may also have to supply a
range of supporting documents such as:
• Agreements like contracts, memorandums of understanding, and letters of

commitment.
• Government permissions needed to authorise activities or permit international
transfers of grant funds.
• Curricula vitae of key project team members. If some project team members have
yet to be recruited, then an overview of their desired attributes and qualifications
can be included instead [14].
• Policy documents relating to such things as financial and human resources
processes.
Wherever possible, the project team should tailor all supporting documents so that they are
focused on providing only the information required for the application. For example, the
project team can tailor curricula vitae so that they emphasise relevant attributes. Likewise,
the project team should avoid preparing supporting documents that have not been
requested by the donor.
Format documents
The format (arrangement and presentation) of the application indicates to the donor how
much care they can expect from the project team in creating high-quality documents such
as donor reports. The project team should, therefore, standardise the font, colours, and
spacing throughout all documents submitted as part of the application.
60
Name documents
The project team should now name all of the application documents in a standardised way
that captures information about who has created the document, when the document was
created, the contents of the document, and the current version of the document [9]. If there
is a specified or logical sequence that the documents should be ordered in, then the project
team should start each document name with a number to indicate its sequence with
respect to the other application documents (Box 31).
Box 31. Example document names.
01 GreenFutures 2021 International Primate Fund – Application v1

02 GreenFutures 2021 International Primate Fund – Staff profiles v1
03 GreenFutures 2021 International Primate Fund – Audited accounts v1
Make final checks

The project team should now conduct final checks to ensure that the application:
• Is compliant with all donor criteria.

• Provides all the requested information.
• Aligns with the guidelines of this best practice.
• Is free of errors.
These checks can be done by the project team reviewing the application and comparing it
with the Application checklist tab of the Grant worksheet. Further guidance on the process
of creating and managing documents is provided in the connected Project Management
for Wildlife best practice [9].
61
PROCESSING THE APPLICATION
62
Overview
The application is now ready for the project team to process. The activities for processing
the application are shown in Figure 17 and described below.
Figure 17. Activities for processing the application.
Submit application
The project team must submit the application before the deadline, and exactly in
accordance with the procedure documented in the application guidelines. Each donor will
have their own way of accepting submissions. Some may require the application to be
emailed to a point of contact in the donor team, while others may have their own online
submission platform. The project team can use the Grants tracker to record this submission.
Confirm submission
Some donors will quickly inform the project team when they have received their application.
If the project team have not received confirmation that their application has been received
within 1 week of submission, then they should contact the donor.
Track submission
The project team can use the Grants tracker to note the date when a decision will be
reached on their application. If the project team have not received the result on their
application 1 week after the decision due date, they should contact the donor.
63
Respond to result
When the donor communicates the result of the application, it is important that the project
team acknowledge that result, whatever it may be. If the application was not successful,
then the project team should thank the donor for considering their application and ask for
feedback to learn why the application was declined. The project team can either ask for
general feedback or for the detailed evaluation notes and any associated scores provided
by each reviewer. This feedback information will enable the project team to create stronger
applications in the future [1].
If the application was successful, then the project team should thank the donor for their
support, complete any additional paperwork associated with the grant (e.g. contracts), and
confirm the receipt of funds to the donor. While this is the end of the grant application
process, it is not the end of what the project team must do to maintain and strengthen their
relationship with the donor. Guidance on carrying out donor engagement activities can be
found in the connected Stakeholder Engagement for Wildlife Conservation best practice [10].
64
REFERENCES
REFERENCES
65
REFERENCES
1. BirdLife International. 2012. Institutional Fundraising for Conservation Projects, Nairobi,

Kenya. BirdLife International, Africa Partnership Secretariat.
2. Sanders, M. J., Miller, L., Bhagwat, S. A., and Rogers, A. 2019. Conservation
conversations: A typology of barriers to conservation success. Oryx, pp.1-10.
3. Lucas, J., Gora, E., and Alonso, A. 2017. A view of the global conservation job market
and how to succeed in it. Conservation Biology, 31, pp.1223-1231.
4. Blickley, J. L., Deiner, K., Garbach, K., Lacher, I., Meek, M. H., Porensky, L. M., Wilkerson,
M. L., Winford, E. M., and Schwartz, M. W. 2013. Graduate student's guide to necessary
skills for non-academic conservation careers. Conservation Biology, 27, pp.24-34.
5. Carlson, M. and O'Neal-McElrath, T. 2008. Winning grants step by step (Vol. 4). John
Wiley and Sons.
6. Dearden, P., Jones, S., and Sartorius, R. 2002. Tools for development: A handbook for
those engaged in development activity. Londres, Royaume-Uni: Department for
International Development.
7. Hoefer, R. 2017. Funded!: Successful Grantwriting for Your Nonprofit. Oxford University
Press.
8. Smith, N. B. and Works, E. G. 2006. The Complete Book of Grant Writing. Sourcebooks,
Inc.
9. WildTeam. 2021. Project Management for Wildlife Conservation v4. Wildlife

Conservation Professional Series. WildTeam, Cornwall, UK.
10. WildTeam. 2021. Strategy Development for Wildlife Conservation v2. Wildlife
11. WildTeam. 2021. Monitoring and Evaluation for Wildlife Conservation v1. Wildlife
12. WildTeam. 2021. Stakeholder Engagement for Wildlife Conservation v1. Wildlife
13. Flyvbjerg, B. 2013. Quality control and due diligence in project management: Getting
decisions right by taking the outside view. International Journal of Project
Management, 31, pp.760-774.
66
REFERENCES
14. Ward, D. 2008. Writing grant proposals that win. Third edition. Jones and Bartlett
publishers. Sudbury, Massachusetts.
15. Garibaldi, A. and Turner, N. 2004. Cultural keystone species: implications for ecological
conservation and restoration. Ecology and society, 9.
16. Mills, L. S., Soulé, M. E., and Doak, D. F. 1993. The keystone-species concept in ecology
and conservation. BioScience, 43, pp.219-224Alcamo, J. 2003. Ecosystems and human
well-being: a framework for assessment. Island Press, Washington, DC, USA.
17. Alcamo, J. 2003. Ecosystems and human well-being: a framework for assessment.
Island Press, Washington, DC, USA.
18. Margoluis, R., Stem, C., Swaminathan, V., Brown, M., Johnson, A., Placci, G., Salafsky,
N., and Tilders, I. 2013. Results chains: a tool for conservation action design,
management, and evaluation. Ecology and Society, 18.
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REFERENCES
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GRANT WRITING FOR WILDLIFE CONSERVATION

Alessandro Badalotti, International Union for the Conservation of Nature

Creative commons license

Under the following terms:

Develop a structure ....................................................................................................... 25

Prepare supporting documents .................................................................................... 60

Application Box 1. Wildlife Conservation

Figure 1. Use of best practices in project phases.

• Selecting a grant that matches project team criteria.

Figure 2. Grant application process steps.

Table 1. Supporting resources.

Set up for success Box 3. Impact.

Purpose Impact is the desired change caused by

uncertainty surrounding the project. However, a general increase of timeframe by

Get yourself noticed

Figure 3. Selecting a grant activities.

Identify potential grants

• Asking colleagues about what grants they are aware of [1].

Make a short list

• Summary information on the Grant worksheet.

Carry out due diligence

Make a final decision

Figure 4. Gathering information activities.

Collate application guidelines

Extract Project plan information

Collect background information

Assemble supporting materials

Figure 5. Creating content activities.

Box 5. Example headings, sub-headings, and temporary bullet points.

The need to conserve forest owlets

The need to protect the forest owlets of Melghat Tiger Reserve

The need to reduce local hunting of forest owlets

Create need content

Box 7. Example need content.

The need to save the Indonesian Sawtail

The need to assess and monitor the Sawtail population size

The need for a sustainable market for Indonesian Sawtail

Create impact content

Box 8. Example content on impact.

Create monitoring and evaluation content

Table 2. Example monitoring and evaluation content.

Create activity content

Box 10. Example activity content.

• Wildlife crime awareness campaign: We will conduct a wildlife crime awareness

Create stakeholder engagement content

Box 11. Example stakeholder engagement content.

Create risk content

Box 12. Example risk content.

Create budget content

• The grant being applied for.

Table 3. Example budget organised by category.

Table 4. Example budget organised by work package and category.

Box 13. Example budget content.

Create sustainability content

Box 14. Example sustainability content.

Create project team content

• Organisation type, e.g. registered charity.

Box 15. Example project team content

Create summary content

Box 16. Example summary content.

Monitoring and evaluation: Progress towards achieving these objectives will be

Figure 6. Enhancing content activities.

Add quotes and anecdotes