Acres for America is the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's (NFWF) premier land conservation program and was established to provide urgently needed funding for projects that conserve important large-scale habitats for fish, wildlife, and plants through voluntary land acquisitions and perpetual conservation easements.
In 2005, Acres for America was launched as a partnership between Walmart Stores and NFWF. As a founding partner, Walmart's goal was to offset the footprint of its domestic facilities on at least an acre-by-acre basis – a number then estimated at 100,000 acres – through permanent conservation of important wildlife habitats. The program has now helped to permanently protect more than 2 million acres and connect more than 47 million acres of public and private conservation lands across the country. On October 1, 2024, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation renewed its agreement with Walmart for another 10 years.
This Request for Proposals (RFP) will collect pre-proposals from around the nation, from which NFWF will select a small number of applicants to submit a more detailed full proposal. Prior to submitting a pre-proposal, applicants are strongly encouraged to contact the appropriate NFWF regional office (listed in the Applicant Assistance section of this RFP). The purpose is to give the applicant an opportunity to share project concepts and ideas prior to fully preparing and submitting a pre-proposal.
Deadlines:
- Pre-Proposal Due Date: May 20, 2025
- Invite-Only Full Proposal Due Date: July 9, 2025
Preferential consideration will be given to proposals that can demonstrate their ability to achieve more than one of the program priorities below.
- Conserve critical habitats for birds, fish, plants and wildlife
- Connect existing protected lands to unify wild places and protect critical migration routes
- Provide access for people to enjoy the outdoors
- Ensure the future of local economies that depend on forestry, ranching, wildlife and recreation
- Eligible applicants include non-profit 501(c) organizations, state government agencies, local governments, municipal governments, Tribal governments and organizations, and educational institutions.
- Ineligible applicants include U.S. Federal government agencies, businesses, unincorporated individuals, and international organizations.
Up to $4 million will be available to support projects in 2025. Based on prior year decisions, we anticipate that between four and eight projects will be awarded funds. All grant awards require a minimum 1:1 match of cash or contributed goods and services. Both Federal and non-Federal funds may be considered as match. Please include ALL matching sources no matter the status (intend to apply, application submitted, pledged, received). Due to the competitive nature of this program, successful Acres for America projects typically have matching funds at a 5:1 ratio or greater.