Whitley Fund for Nature (Whitley Awards)

Enriched International · Found: 2026-03-10 13:43

Whitley Fund for Nature champions conservation leaders working in their home countries, particularly in the Global South. Flagship Whitley Awards provide project funding of GBP 40,000 to GBP 100,000 alongside public recognition. Projects often integrate community engagement, environmental education, and scientific research for effective conservation.

Source: https://whitleyaward.org

Funding Details

Funder

Whitley Fund for Nature

Funding Goal

Fund conservation leaders working in their home countries, particularly in the Global South, to deliver grassroots wildlife and biodiversity conservation projects. Awards provide project funding alongside public recognition to amplify and scale proven conservation work.

Funding Amount

Whitley Awards: GBP 40,000 to GBP 100,000 per award. Continuation Funding: GBP 1.2 million distributed to 16 conservationists in 2025 round. Whitley Gold Award: amount unspecified, for exceptional previous winners. (40.000 € – 100.000 €)

Deadline

Annual, applications typically open in autumn for the following spring ceremony; 2026 round now closed (ceremony held 29 April 2026) (periodic)

How to Apply

Apply via https://whitleyaward.org/apply-for-conservation-funding/. Separate tracks for Whitley Award (new applicants), Continuation Funding (previous winners), and Whitley Gold Award. Eligibility guidelines and FAQs available on the website. Applications for the 2026 round are now closed.

Target Region

Global South primarily; 84 countries represented across 230 past winners

Contact

Contact form at https://whitleyaward.org/about/contact/

Last Checked

2026-05-07 08:07

Application Checklist

Eligibility

• Applicant must be an individual conservation leader working in their home country
• Projects must be based primarily in the Global South (Africa, Asia, Latin America)
• Continuation Funding available only to previous Whitley Award winners

Project Scope

• Project must demonstrate community engagement and scientific credibility

Required Documents

• Application must be submitted online; 2026 round is now closed

Constraints

• Award is to an individual, not to an organization
• Applications open annually in autumn for the following spring ceremony

Summary

The Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN) is a UK charity that provides laddered funding to conservation leaders working in their home countries, particularly in the Global South. The programme operates through three main mechanisms: the Whitley Award, Continuation Funding, and the Whitley Gold Award. The programme's thematic scope covers all aspects of wildlife and biodiversity conservation: species protection, marine and coastal conservation, terrestrial habitat protection, human-wildlife coexistence, community-based conservation, and scientific research. Past 2026 winners include projects on Galapagos petrel conservation (Ecuador), guitarfish protection in Ghana, Himalayan salamander wetland conservation (India), frog and farmer coexistence (Cameroon), lion-livestock coexistence (Zimbabwe), and riverine bird conservation (India). Eligible activities include field-based conservation, species monitoring and protection, habitat restoration, community engagement, environmental education, and scientific research. Projects must integrate community participation and demonstrate scientific credibility. The geographic scope is primarily the Global South across 84 countries. Projects in Africa, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and South/Southeast Asia are prioritised. UK and other high-income country projects are generally out of scope. Eligible applicants are individual conservation leaders (not organisations) working in their home country in the Global South. This is a personal award to the conservationist rather than an institutional grant. Previous Whitley Award winners may apply for Continuation Funding. Target beneficiaries are local and national conservation communities and the ecosystems they protect, as well as communities that depend on those ecosystems. The Whitley Award provides GBP 40,000 to 100,000 per award. Continuation Funding provides additional grants to scale proven work; in 2025, GBP 1.2 million was awarded to 16 conservationists. The 2026 application round is now closed; the next cycle is expected to open in autumn 2026.

Historical Context

WFN has channelled GBP 26 million to 230 conservation leaders in 84 countries since inception. Annual ceremony held at the Royal Geographical Society, London. Patron is HRH The Princess Royal. Ambassadors include Sir David Attenborough, Kate Humble, and Tom Heap. 2025 Continuation Funding awarded GBP 1.2 million to 16 conservationists. Awards are for individual leaders (not organizations).

Why it was added

International conservation awards supporting community-based environmental education and marine projects

Sources

• https://whitleyaward.org
• https://whitleyaward.org/apply-for-conservation-funding/

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