Funding Availability and Constraints

State Wildlife Grants Program

The State Wildlife Grant program (SWG) is a federal assistance program. All grants are cost-share grants and require a match of non-federal funds or reasonable in-kind services.

There are two categories of grants under the SWG program - Planning and Implementation - with different federal cost-share ratios.

Three types of activities qualify as planning actions and are eligible for the planning match (75% Federal/25% State). These include:

Efforts to update, modify, or revise a State's Strategy. This category of planning activity includes the writing, printing, production, and distribution of either the complete Strategy or portions of the Strategy such as online documents, excerpts, or summary publications.
Efforts to collect public opinion information or input, via surveys, polling, public meetings, focus groups, or other methodologies, that will be used to guide State efforts to update, modify, or revise its Strategy.
Processes, such as coordination meetings that build or strengthen collaboration between the State and partners (Federal, State, Tribal, industry, private, and others) as they work to update, modify, or revise their Strategy.

All other activities eligible for funding under the State Wildlife Grants program, such as species monitoring, habitat evaluations, evaluating the effectiveness of conservation actions, program administration, and developing and maintaining systems to record, store, or disseminate information will be considered to be implementation efforts and will receive a maximum reimbursement of 50 percent of total project costs when described in an approved grant document.

An individual grant proposal may contain both planning and implementation activities. In these cases, the State, within its grant proposal, must estimate the proportion of time and/or costs allocated to planning activities and implementation activities. In order to be eligible for the appropriate reimbursement percentage, the State must utilize a cost accounting system that is capable of accounting for costs incurred for each type of activity (i.e., planning versus implementation) separately.

Federal SWG funding is available to fund grants for projects that provide significant benefit to Idaho's (SGCN). Requests up to $30,000 will be accepted and awards generally will not exceed $10,000 per year.
SWG can be awarded for projects up to three years in length, therefore proposals can be accepted for projects that cover one, two or three-year periods. For multi-year projects, the necessary funding for the entire project (not just the first year) should be included in the project proposal.
Projects that provide the greatest return per dollar invested will be favored over those with excessive indirect (overhead) charges.
Expense documentation, receipts, time reporting, and an interim progress report will be required. Fish and Game may conduct additional monitoring of accomplishments, including on-site visits.
All applicants considering in-kind contributions or donations (e.g. cash, services, equipment) must follow federal guidelines on valuing, using, and thoroughly documenting eligible in-kind match. For questions regarding the use of In-kind Match, contact the State Wildlife Grants Coordinator.
Federal funds cannot be used to match SWG funds.
Funds already committed as match for other projects cannot be used to match SWG funds (i.e., no double dipping).
As a condition of accepting federal funds, organizations will be considered sub-grantees of Fish and Game and must agree to adhere to all federal laws and requirements.
All projects must comply with applicable state and federal laws and regulations including, but not limited to, Federal Assistance SWG program requirements, NEPA requirements, state and federal collection permit requirements, and timely submission of financial and project performance reports. If you intend to sub-contract any work that will be funded under the SWG grant program, all sub-contractors must also comply with applicable federal requirements.
Only those costs and in-kind contributions accrued during the grant period will be considered reimbursable. Any work performed or contributions (in-kind, cash, or other donations) expended prior to approval of the grant by USFWS Federal Assistance Division, are ineligible for use as match.
Long-term efforts, though important, will be difficult to fund under this program. Long-term projects may be considered if conservation partners can produce a plan for future funding independent of this funding source and can demonstrate annual deliverables.

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