Grants for Beekeeping

NOTE: This program runs annually; we begin accepting applications at the start of June every year.

Requests for this Mini Grant Program are accepted on an on-going basis until funds are fully expended for the fiscal year. 

The Chesapeake Bay Trust is a nonprofit grant-making organization dedicated to improving the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers through environmental education, community outreach, and local watershed restoration. Since its inception in 1985, the Trust has awarded $80 million in grants and engaged hundreds of thousands of citizen stewards in projects that have a measurable impact on the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. 

The Trust is supported by the sale of the Maryland Treasure the Chesapeake license plate, donations to the Chesapeake Bay and Endangered Species Fund on the Maryland State income tax form, donations from individuals and corporations, and partnerships with private foundations and federal and state agencies. Ninety percent of the Trust’s expenditures are directed to its Chesapeake Bay restoration and education programs.

Mini Grants for Community Engagement

The Mini Grants Program for Community Engagement is designed to engage Maryland residents in activities that enhance communities, engage residents, and improve natural resources.

Program Goals & Importance of Inclusion

Through this funding opportunity, the Trust seeks to engage new applicants and organizations from a diverse array of communities in small-scale projects that enhance communities, engage residents, and, ultimately, improve natural resources.

One of the Trust’s core values is Inclusion: We feel that a broad range of communities can benefit from healthy natural resources, even if their primary focus is on other issues. Human health, the economy, jobs, community livability, education and our children are all connected with a healthy environment.

As a result, the Trust is investing in grants through this Grant Opportunity primarily to new (for example: communities of color) applicants who have yet to frequently engage with the Trust. Our goals are:

• To provide funding to groups that have traditionally been under-engaged with environmental issues, but who have a project idea that benefits both their communities and natural resources (such as local parks, rural or urban forests, streams, rivers, and other natural spaces)
• To engage residents in community-based restoration and protection
• To provide to applicants who may not be experienced in applying for grants an introduction to the grant lifecycle

The Trust is committed to the advancement of diversity and inclusion in its grant-making and environmental work. As a result, the Trust strongly encourages grant applications directly from underrepresented groups and for projects that increase awareness and participation of communities that are traditionally underrepresented, such as communities of color.

Sample Eligible Projects

The Trust encourages projects that seek to accomplish multiple benefits, such as meeting community goals and improving environmental health. This objective can be met through applications from organizations new to environmental work, groups engaging audiences through on-the-ground work, and new creative partnerships. We are willing to fund elements of projects that may not have a primarily environmental purpose but that have an ultimate connection or potential to improve natural resources.

Example ideal goals of a project proposed through this grant program may be (but are not limited to):

• Educating residents about the connection between their communities and natural resources such as wildlife, local water bodies, local parks, or trees;
• Involving new or under-engaged groups, connecting their goals with the goal to improve or protect natural resources
• Engaging residents in community-based restoration and protection projects and encouraging behavior changes that benefit environmental health;
• Promoting collaborative restoration solutions among multiple partners;
• Encouraging organizations, when pursuing natural resource projects, to engage the communities in which they work.

Eligible projects types include (but are not limited to):

• Projects that capture rain water and improve wildlife habitat such as pollinator habitat plantings and rain gardens;
• Community greening projects, such as tree plantings, which have been shown to beautify communities, improve health via air quality improvement, save money due to energy reduction value of shade, and lead to reduced crime, as well as improve stormwater;
• Community clean-ups that benefit both communities and local waterways;
• Community gardens that combine a water quality practice, lessons about local food, and education about natural resources;
• Projects that combine art with an increased awareness of stormwater issues, such as storm drain stenciling or rain barrel installations;
• Projects that educate and get residents outdoors, which have been shown to improve human health.

Note: Since the number of grants is limited to 15, the grants are awarded in the order of receipt of the contracts (“first come first serve basis”).

Forestry Division

The Division of Forestry promotes the wise use of forest resources by helping landowners, fighting wildfires, providing quality seedlings, monitoring insects and diseases, improving urban forests, managing state forests, protecting water quality and collecting forest inventory data. To prevent wildfires, the Division trains volunteer fire departments, issues burning permits, enforces fire laws and teaches fire safety. The Division also works to promote primary and secondary forest industries of the state to stimulate the state's economy.

Grants for Local Area Apiary Inspectors

Since 1995, the Department of Agriculture has offered grants to local beekeeper associations for the inspection of honeybee colonies. The association grants of $1,470 each. The grant money is used to pay bee inspectors selected by their association who are willing and qualified to inspect honeybee colonies in the geographical area that the association state has made available the sum of $22,050 to be divided into 15 grants. A grant is obtained for an association by completing a grant contract provided by this office and sending it into the Administration and Grants Division at the Ellington Agricultural Center in Nashville.

County or Area Beekeeping Associations interested in applying for one of these Apiary Inspection grants should contact the State Apiarist. A list providing the names and telephone numbers of the local inspectors working under the grants will be available online once the grants are awarded.

The Bullitt Foundation believes that positive environmental impact begins with innovation and partnership. With grant making focused on the Pacific Northwest Emerald Corridor – specifically, the region stretching from Portland, Oregon to Vancouver, British Columbia (bordered by the Cascades on the east) – the Foundation funds projects in these main program areas. 

Regional Ecosystem Health

We will emphasize the links between healthy ecosystems, open space, working lands, and vibrant human communities.

The Regional Ecosystem Health program recognizes that human well-being is dependent on the ecosystem goods and services that nature provides. It addresses issues at the interface of the built environment and the natural world and illuminates the links between healthy ecosystems, open space, working lands, and vibrant human communities. It seeks to advance innovations in regional planning and management of land and water to improve cross-sector coordination and ensure that policy and financial decisions fully account for the value we receive from nature. And, it supports efforts, based on sound science, to restore and protect nature as the basic infrastructure supporting urban resilience and sustainability.

Ecosystem goods and services include more than the raw materials on which our economies and communities are built. They also include the fundamental life support services provided “for free” by nature: purification of air, regulation of water flows, detoxification and decomposition of wastes, regeneration of soil fertility, pollination of food crops, and production and maintenance of biodiversity.

The Regional Ecosystem Health program recognizes that reciprocal financial agreements, market mechanisms, taxes, fees, subsidies, and public education can complement regulation as policy tools. It acknowledges climate change as a major additional stress on ecosystems, and it overlaps substantially and intentionally with the Foundation’s other programs.

Major areas of program engagement include applied urban research and tool development, conservation finance and environmental economics, and ecosystem defense and ecological restoration.

Read more about Regional Ecosystem Health. 

Energy, Climate, and Materials

We will work to eliminate the use of fossil fuels, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and transition from toxic materials to inherently safe ones.

Energy, materials, labor, creativity, and other “factors of production” often can be easily substituted for one another. Insulation can be substituted for natural gas. Sophisticated daylighting can be substituted for electric lights. Electrified transit can be substituted for gasoline. Such choices, when aggregated over time, create the difference between prosperous communities that run on clean energy instead of bleak, inefficient wastelands burdened by toxic pollution.

With more of the world’s population concentrating in dense urban environments, the Energy, Climate & Materials program promotes livable cities conducive to human well-being. A fundamental goal of the Energy, Climate & Materials program is to eliminate the externalized costs that dirty energy and toxic chemicals impose on the natural environment and human health. By reducing the use of fossil fuels it will reduce emissions that cause climate change. By transitioning from toxic materials to inherently safe ones, it will encourage economic growth through technological advancements in materials & chemistry based on sound ecological values.

While many of the technologies essential for creating 21st Century urban sustainability already exist, the catalytic policies, incentives, and mindsets sufficient to ensure that transformation are still nascent. The Emerald Corridor will serve as a laboratory to experiment with bold new approaches. Toward this end, the Energy, Climate & Materials program will focus on Energy and climate, and Green Chemistry, Toxics, and Sustainable Materials. 

Read more about Energy, Climate, and Materials. 

Deep Green Buildings

We will promote huge leaps in the built environment to address the needs and conditions of the 21st century.

Using the Bullitt Center as a touchstone, the Deep Green Buildings program promotes huge leaps—as opposed to incremental shifts—in the built environment. It promotes the construction of commercial and residential buildings that implement designs, materials, and technologies that are most relevant to 21st century needs and conditions, including the impending changes to our region’s climate. Deep Green Buildings emphasizes actual building performance instead of installed measures or attribute checklists. It encourages the development of structures with very long design lives and inherent flexibility to adjust to an uncertain future. It seeks to create broad industry and consumer acceptance of buildings that operate as components in a larger, ecologically resilient and sustainable neighborhood system; are comfortable, productive, healthy, and beautiful; and display the lightest possible environmental footprint. Ultimately, the program works to ensure that the Bullitt Center is the first of many buildings of its kind.

Read more about Deep Green Buildings. 

Resilient Cities, Healthy Communities

We will work to ensure Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver, BC metro areas are equitable, resilient, healthy, and beautiful places to live.

The Resilient Cities, Healthy Communities program works at the intersection of human and environmental well-being. Its purpose is to ensure the Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver, BC metro regions are equitable, resilient, healthy, and beautiful places to live. It promotes cities and neighborhoods where human-powered transportation is commonplace; public transit is fast and reliable; urban green space is abundant and accessible to all; housing is green and affordable; infrastructure is resilient and resource efficient; healthy food is available; and the sense of community is strong. Equity, inclusion, and diversity are guiding principles for the program.

With every effort to advance these goals, the Resilient Cities, Healthy Communities program seeks to learn from nature. Today, no cities are built around ecological principles or powered by nature’s knowledge, but some practitioners are starting to observe nature, learn how organisms function, and apply these lessons to solve human challenges.

Read more about Resilient Cities, Healthy Communities. 

NOTE: Proposals may be submitted in response to specific initiatives, following the published deadlines in the RFP. Proposals submitted outside these specific initiative windows will be reviewed by Science Advisors at least quarterly (Feb, May, August, November) and by the Board at its next regular meeting. Please allow at least 3 months for review process. 

Project Apis m.'s mission Is to fund and direct research to enhance the health and vitality of honey bee colonies while improving crop production.

FAQ's & Research Proposal Guidelines for Applicants

Since its inception in 2006, Project Apis m. has infused over $6 million into bee research and programs in the USA and Canada, including more than 100 projects involving research institutions throughout North America. We have brought new technologies to honey bee health research, discovered new pathogens, developed Best Management Practices programs, and are supporting long-term stock improvement. We are recipients of grants from the North Dakota Department of Agriculture, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), and USDA-APHIS. Project Apis m. is the largest non-governmental, non-profit bee research funding organization in North America.

Thank you for your interest in submitting a research proposal to Project Apis m. We are funded largely by beekeepers and farmers, and dedicated to enhancing the health of honey bees, thereby improving crop production. Proposals are expected to clearly state how they fulfill our mission. Proposals and the review process are kept confidential. We offer the following frequently asked questions to help you submit a research proposal to Project Apis m. for project funding. 

Proposals are reviewed by the executive director, scientific advisory board, ad-hoc reviewers, and a board of directors. Projects must clearly meet the criteria outlined in the Request for Proposals or address PAm’s mission. Please note proposals must be scientifically sound (i.e., short format USDA or NSF grants without all the extra forms). Funding decisions are primarily based on an overall evaluation, which includes the following review criteria:

• Focus on solving problems facing the beekeeping industry in either the short or long term.
• Relevance to bee health, nutrition, productivity, crop pollination                                        
• Likelihood of obtaining practical/usable results for the beekeeping industry
• Project strengths and weaknesses    
• Inclusion of unique strategies, sustainable solutions, or establishment of knowledge that will lead to sustainable solutions in the long-term                                       
• Use of adequate experimental approaches, inclusion of logically linked experiments and project feasibility
• Identification of risks and adequate solutions (e.g., potential pitfalls and solutions)
• Likelihood of success (PIs credibility, record of success, experience with techniques, etc.)
• Adequate indication that PI(s) will communicate their findings to commercial beekeepers.
• Economical and adequate budget for proposed research

What type of research projects does Project Apis m. fund?

• pests and disease prevention and control,
• honey bee nutrition,
• impacts of pesticides on bees, and
• long-term honey bee stock improvement.

We are looking for projects that fill the gaps in honey bee research, and benefit honey bees and agriculture in the USA and Canada. The reviewers will ask questions that ensure the commercial beekeeping community will benefit from the research and its application. For example, PAm seeks research projects that will:

• Enhance the economic viability of pollination businesses.
• Provide practical solutions for managed colonies.
• Yield results that can be efficiently transferred into field practice.
• Provide an excellent rate of return for beekeepers and farmers.

How much does PAm fund?

PAm funding is dependent on the project and the goals. We have funded from $5,000 – $200,000. Typically, proposals are in the range from $20,000 to $40,000. As you might imagine, the higher the funding request, the more scrutiny administered in the proposal review. We offer several initiative RFPs, in addition to accepting proposals outside those periods, and do our best to coordinate funding with other industry sources to partner and avoid duplication.  

RFP: Project Apis m. and the National Honey Board ​are requesting research proposals to support ​and enhance honey bee health. 

Background

U.S. Honey yield per colony is decreasing while colony losses are increasing, as many crops dependent on pollination services continue to expand. Winter honey bee colony losses in the United States were reported at 37.7% during 2019. Colony losses are often attributed to pathogens, parasites, pesticides, hive management (queen mating, genetics, maintenance), climate, and available nutrition. United States honey yield per colony averaged 54.4 pounds in 2018, down 2% from 55.5 pounds in 2017. (www.nass.usda.gov) Sustainable beekeeping is dependent on maximizing outputs (colony health, colony numbers, pollination contracts, honey production, profitability) while minimizing the inputs (time, money, personnel). A sustainable beekeeping industry contributes to a more sustainable agricultural landscape through a stable supply of bees for crop pollination. Therefore, PAm is requesting research proposals that focus on enhancing the health, survival and productivity of honey bee colonies, which provide practical and tangible solutions to the beekeeping industry.

The funding sponsor for these proposals is the National Honey Board (NHB), with Project Apis m. (PAm) administering the proposal, accountability and funding process. The NHB funds, collected by a federal research and promotion program ($0.015/lb), for Production Research, were approximately $347,000 in 2019. PAm administers several other initiatives with funding from many sources, including corporate sponsors, private donations and grants. Past proposals received and funded by PAm and NHB reflect a similar focus on supporting the industry.

The National Honey Board is an industry-funded agriculture promotion group that works to educate consumers about the benefits and uses for honey and honey products through research, marketing and promotional programs. Project Apis m. is the largest nongovernmental, non-profit honey bee research organization in the USA. Established by beekeepers and almond growers in 2006, PAm has infused over $8 million into bee research to provide growers with healthier bees resulting in better pollination and increased crop yields.

Priority Areas for Funding

With this call for research proposals, PAm is requesting proposals for research addressing honey bee health, nutrition and productivity. Priority will be given to proposals which aim to produce solutions to industry problems. Current specific areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Addressing practices for sustainable profitability of beekeeping and the provision of pollination services to agriculture
• Innovations to control and manage AFB, EFB, nosema, varroa and viruses
• Studying and developing innovative management techniques including: indoor overwintering; supplemental forage impacts on pollinators, resource management, and landscape carrying capacity; cropping system management.
• addressing gaps in honey bee complete nutrition
• pollination and colony density economics, including stocking rates, land use and landscape level comparisons, transportation and inspection impacts
• cover crop efficacy and management studies including seed composition, implementation, establishment, termination, soil benefits, pest/pathogen/beneficial insect use, frost, irrigation, etc.

Other projects will be considered, and research outside the U.S. is possible (all application materials must be in English). The goal of this research is to help producers maintain colony health and honey production. Most proposals will likely be of one-year duration. If multi-year projects are considered, it is with the understanding that funding for subsequent years would be contingent on performance and National Honey Board budget availability beyond 2020. The amount of funds available for a particular proposal will depend on the number and merit of successful proposals. 

NOTE: Traditional Bee Grant and Renewal Bee Grant have different deadlines. See the website for details.

Traditional Bee Grant

The Traditional Bee Grant allows for K-12 schools or non-profit organizations that serve any grades K-12 to start a new or enhance an existing bee program hosting live bees on their campus.

About the Program

A choice of a monetary or equipment grant intended to support schools in bringing live bees to their campus or grow their already existing educational hive program.

Grant Options

Monetary Grant: $1,500 monetary grant

Equipment Grant: Indoor Observation Hive

Equipment Grant: Traditional Langstroth Hive

RENEWAL BEE GRANT

The Renewal Bee Grant allows for K-12 schools or non-profit organizations that have previously received a Bee Grant to receive support to grow their programs.

About the Program

A $500 monetary grant intended to boost or support existing educational bee programs. Applicant must have received a Traditional Bee Grant from Whole Kids Foundation in 2019 or earlier to be eligible. Live bees are not required to apply for this grant.

Also included with grant award:

One-on-one Program Consultation with The Bee Cause Project for program development, technical support, and beekeeper guidance (if applicable).

Educator Resource Pack to provide the strategies and tools needed to grow a strong Bee Program. This includes core compliant lessons, activities, distance learning experiences, Bee Program budgeting and planning tools, community engagement opportunities, and more.