National Geographic Society
/OVERVIEW: Primarily known for its magazines and documentaries, National Geographic is one of the world’s largest scientific and educational organizations and runs several grantmaking programs funded through media income and donations.
IP TAKE: The organization differs from other climate and conservation funders in that it supports individuals rather than organizations. Researchers, conservationists, ecologists, journalists and others may receive Level I (early career) or Level II (established career) funding for a project in one of National Geographic’s five interest areas. Projects that translate to journalistic, film or photographic projects will have a leg up here.
A responsive and supportive funder, National Geographic invests in and works well with grantees.
PROFILE: Founded in 1888 as a society for explorers, National Geographic has grown to the point that its media holdings reach more than 600 million people annually. The society’s Grants and Investment program has made over 15,000 grants since its start in 1888. Today the program supports “individuals working on projects in science, conservation, storytelling, education, and technology” in one of National Geographic’s five state focus areas: ocean, land, wildlife, human histories and cultures and human ingenuity. The program further organizes its grantmaking into two categories. Level I grants support individuals who are “earlier in their career,” while Level II grants support those individuals who are “more established” in their fields.
Grants for the Environment, Climate Change and Clean Energy
National Geographic supports projects for the environment and climate change via its Land and Human Ingenuity grantmaking areas. The Land program names subtopics of interest including terrestrial geoscience, climate science, conservation technology and community-based conservation. The program aims to support projects that “teach us how to connect with our world, how to sustain balance with the land, and how our whole world is tied together by these delicate, living connections” and prioritizes programs that “have dedicated teams focused on robust efforts to improve our understanding of the impacts of climate change.” One recent grantee was Tom Matthews, a climate scientist at Kings College in London who conducted research on severe weather in Nepal. Another recent grant supported Jennifer Chavez Miller, a teacher in New Mexico, who used funding to launch a program to involve students in protecting “New Mexico’s wild places.”
Grants from the Human Ingenuity program support projects that aim to “develop creative, novel, or scalable solutions to global sustainability challenges and projects that highlight breakthrough solutions and innovations.” Subtopics of interest here include applied technology, climate mitigation and adaptation and sustainability. Recent grants have supported Corey Jaskolski’s “cloud-based conservation intelligence platform” and Martin Wikelski, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute who studies the effects of climate change on animal migratory patterns.
Grants for Marine and Freshwater Conservation
A significant portion of National Geographic’s grants support marine and freshwater conservation and research. The Ocean program “aims to explore, understand, and conserve marine and coastal systems” and prioritizes areas of interest including oceanography, ecology and climate change. Salome Buglass, a ecologist at the Charles Darwin Research Station in the Galapagos Islands, received funding for her remote exploration of ecosystems relating to underwater mountain ranges, also known as seamounts. Another grant stemming from the Ocean program supported David Gruber’s “non-invasive” research on aquatic life.
Freshwater conservation grants stem from National Geographic’s Land program, which names freshwater ecology and the protection of lakes and rivers as important areas of focus. Grants from this program have supported Steve Boyes’ Okavango Wilderness Project, which helps to protect the waters of Africa’s Okavango River Delta, and Amy Sacka’s documentation of the Great Lakes.
Grants for Animals and Wildlife
National Geographic’s Wildlife grantmaking supports initiatives for endangered animal populations, the protection of ecosystems and education programs that “encourage people to co-exist more peacefully with local animal populations.” Recently, a grant supported the work of Paula Kahambu, a Kenyan conservationist who works with elephant populations. Another grant went to Mexico’s Rodrico Medellin, a professor at the Institute of Ecology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, who studies the role that bats play in ecosystems and pollination.
Grants for Arts, Culture and Journalism
This funder’s Human Histories and Cultures grantmaking program supports efforts to preserve cultural knowledge and human history to “center communities and inform and inspire global audiences with stories or lessons about humanity.” Areas of recent interest include “stories of survival,” human rights, technological progress and architecture, among many others. One recent grant supported the work of Pablo Abarenga who documents through photography the effect of colonization on traditional Latin American cultures and communities. Another grantee, Tara Roberts, is a fellow of MIT’s Open Documentary Lab. Her work documents discoveries of slave ship wrecks, bringing “empathy, nuance, and complexity” to the history of the slave trade.
It is worth mentioning that many of National Geographic’s grants support photography, documentary film and journalism projects related to the funder’s areas of interest. For example, in Guatemala, Erin Semine Kokdil received funding to produce a feature-length documentary film about “the art of backstrap weaving as practiced by indigenous Maya women in Guatemala.” Other grantees include the photographers Lana Tannier, Malin Fezehai and Lucas Ninno; the filmmaker Alexandra Lenore Ashworth; and journalists Natachi Onwuamaegbu and Meera Subramanian.
Grants for Racial Justice and Indigenous Rights
National Geographic does not name racial justice or Indigenous rights as areas of grantmaking, but a significant number of recent grants have supported “explorers” working in these areas. Anakwa Dwamena, a researcher and journalist, received funding for his work exploring “the discovery, analysis, and preservation of African indigenous knowledge systems, narratives, and ancient ways of seeing and understanding the world through culture and memory.” Another recent grantee, Vivian Giang, is working on a project that addresses respect for Indigenous cultures as communities move toward renewable energy and sustainable practices. And in New York City, National Geographic has supported Dillon Bernard’s Content by Us, “a community of young Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) content creators across the country who connect through community-building opportunities and collaborative multimedia projects.”
Important Grant Details:
National Geogrpahic’s Level I grants are awarded to early career “explorers” in amounts of up to $20,000 for one year, with the exception of technology-focused projects, which may receive funding for up to two years. Level II grants, intended for those who are “more established” in their fields, are awarded in amounts of up to $100,000. Grantees may also participate in National Geogrpahic’s many training, networking, coaching, mentorship opportunities. Funded projects are also often the subject of National Geographic’s media print, television and on-line media outlets.
This funder runs separate application programs for Level I and Level II funding. All applicants must establish an account in National Geographic’s application portal. Most questions are addressed in the society’s support center.
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