Collaboration Support Program

Overview

The Collaboration Support Program (CSP) was developed with support from the Ford and Surdna Foundations to provide flexible funding to sustain existing place-based collaborative efforts as well as incentive to take necessary risks to innovate and move the field of collaboration forward.

The Collaboration Support Program provides two types of small grants:

1) Capacity Grants: Up to $5,000 is available for organizational development needs in collaborative efforts. Capacity grant funds can be used for a wide range of tools including but not limited to: training, consultants, community outreach, group facilitation, program development, nonprofit management skill-building, and communications.

2) Innovation Grants: Up to $10,000 is available for expenses related to the implementation of new ideas or strategies that will move the field of collaboration forward and that have the potential to be transferred to other collaborative efforts across the country. All expenses must clearly support the organization's effort to implement the proposed idea or strategy. Examples of CSP activities in this category may include, but are not limited to: the development of multi-party monitoring plans, new organizational and governance strategies for making collaboration more successful and effective, new outreach strategies to expand the representation of additional stakeholders, and new strategies for effectively working with the U.S. Forest Service. Applicants must be able to demonstrate how CSP funds will move the field of collaboration forward as well as the new strategy's transferability to other efforts and regions. Successful applicants will be required to describe how they plan to share the results and provide a short "thought piece" with the final report, describing the impact of their strategy, how the results differed from what was expected (if applicable), and the idea or strategy's application to other collaborative efforts.

Interested in learning more about the Collaboration Support Program? Read the entire Collaboration Support Program RFP.

Find more resources on collaboration, community-based stewardship and organizational development.

You may also be interested in our Community Assistance Program or Mid-Capacity Assistance Program .

Col·lab·o·ra·tion: A voluntary process through which a broad array of interests--some of which may be in conflict--enter into civil dialogue to collectively consider possibilities for improving the management of natural resources for the benefit of both the environment and the surrounding communities. Collaboration is different from a partnership, in that collaboration involves a diverse and comprehensive array of stakeholders; a partnership is likely to engage a few parties that are interested in working together on a specific project (adapted from David D. Chrislip, 2002).