Grant Awards and Expectations

• MOU with list of grant activities, deliverables, and expectations will be signed by the awardee organization and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to initiate the funding cycle and payment.
• MOU will cover one year (start date decided by applicant between 5/1 and 9/1) and awarded funds should be used within this year period. Extensions may be considered for unanticipated events.
• For $5K grants, a portion of the funds will be released upon signing of the MOU with the remainder released upon receipt of the final report.
• For $25K grants, a portion of the funds will be released upon signing of the MOU and at 6 months, with the remainder released upon receipt of the final report.

• Grant recipients are required to submit brief, quarterly progress reports as well as a final report describing the project objectives, methods, results and outcomes, conservation impacts, measures of success, and fiscal expenditures at the end of the year grant period.

• Bird data associated with funded projects must be entered in eBird. If the property has public access, awardee could consider creating an eBird hotspot enabling multiple birders to enter data at the same shared location empowering the birding community to collect bird data on behalf of the awardee land trust.

• The Cornell Lab and its sponsors reserve the right to feature the funded projects and use photographs and other media on their websites, in Land Trust Initiative materials, and on social media.

If you have questions, please contact:
Sara Barker, Cornell Land Trust Bird Conservation Initiative Program Leader, sb65@cornell.edu