MAR Fund Request for Proposals 2025

Expired International · Found: 2026-03-10 21:45

Annual grant program for conservation projects in the Mesoamerican Reef region

Source: https://marfund.org/en/request-for-proposals-2025/

Funding Details

Funder

Mesoamerican Reef Fund (MAR Fund)

Funding Goal

Support conservation and sustainable use of marine and coastal resources in the Mesoamerican Reef (MAR) system, including strengthening resilience of NGOs, protected areas, and coastal communities against natural and anthropogenic events. Three finance windows: (1) Traditional Small Grants for coastal/marine resource management; (2) Reef Rescue Initiative for coral reef restoration/repopulation; (3) Belize Marine Fund for marine resource management in Belize.

Funding Amount

Up to US$30,000 per project (Belize Marine Fund); Traditional Small Grants amounts vary by window; at least 25% match required (up to 30.000 €)

Deadline

2020-10-06 (Fixed)

How to Apply

Proposals submitted via MAR Fund online Small Grants Program system (sgp.marfund.org). Organizations not registered in system must register first. Proposals can also be discussed with project officers before submission (at least 3 weeks prior to deadline).

Target Region

Mesoamerican Reef region: Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras

Contact

Angeline Valentine, BMF Project Officer: avalentine@marfund.org, Tel: (501) 615-9645; Elisa Blanda: eblanda@marfund.org

Official Page

https://www.marfund.org/en/request-for-proposals/

Last Checked

2026-03-15 13:13

Application Checklist

Eligibility

• Applicant must be an NGO, community-based organization, or academic/scientific entity
• Belize Marine Fund applicants must be legally registered in Belize

Project Scope

• Project must be located in the Mesoamerican Reef region (Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, or Honduras)
• Project must address one of the three stated RfP thematic windows

Required Documents

• Proposal format and budget annexes must use templates provided by MAR Fund

Constraints

• At least 25% of total project budget must come from other (non-MAR Fund) sources
• Administrative costs cannot exceed 15% of amount requested
• Maximum project period is 24 months

Summary

The Mesoamerican Reef Fund (MAR Fund) is a private regional environmental fund established to support conservation and sustainable use of natural resources in the Mesoamerican Reef (MAR) ecosystem, covering Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. The 2020 Request for Proposals (12th edition) offered three parallel financing windows targeting different aspects of reef conservation. Thematic scope encompasses: marine protected area management and strengthening, coastal and marine resource management, resilience of coastal communities against natural and anthropogenic events (hurricanes, disease outbreaks, oil spills, pandemics), fish spawning aggregation site management, sewage and solid waste management, coral reef restoration and repopulation, Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease prevention and management, and blue carbon (mangroves, carbon markets). The 2020 RfP had a special resilience focus in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Three finance windows were offered: (1) Traditional Small Grants for general coastal and marine resource management in the MAR region; (2) Reef Rescue Initiative (4th call) focused on science-based restoration, repopulation, and rehabilitation of coral reefs across the MAR, including novel restoration techniques and disease management; (3) Belize Marine Fund (5th call) for marine resources management and conservation specifically in Belize, promoting measurable results, multi-stakeholder coordination, and locally sustainable outcomes. Geographic scope covers the four MAR countries: Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. The Belize Marine Fund window is restricted to Belize only. The Reef Rescue Initiative had no geographic restriction within the MAR. Eligible applicants include NGOs, community-based organizations (including fisher groups), and educational or scientific organizations. For the Belize Marine Fund, applicants must be legally registered in Belize with sound financial management. A minimum 25% matching contribution from other sources is required for all windows. Grant amounts for the Belize Marine Fund are up to US$30,000 per project for a maximum of 24 months. Administrative costs capped at 15% of total requested amount. The deadline for the 2020 edition was October 6, 2020.

Historical Context

Annual RfP programme; this page shows the 12th edition from 2020. Three parallel finance windows have been run since at least 2012. The Reef Rescue Initiative was on its 4th call in 2020. Belize Marine Fund on its 5th call in 2020. The programme is supported by KfW, FFEM, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Oak Foundation, and CCAD.

Why it was added

Round 10 Global South search - GEO7

Sources

• https://www.marfund.org/en/request-for-proposals/
• https://marfund.org/en/small-grants-program/

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