Supporting Watershed-Wide Research, Policy, and Practice

What We Fund


We consider opportunities to:

  • Fund scientific research and analysis to provide information on surface water quality and watershed health.
  • Support media, communications, and organizing to inform key audiences on best practices for watershed protection.
  • Advance policies and practices that accelerate, strengthen or expand public and private watershed protection.

Our goal is to better understand the baseline data, progress over time, emerging threats, policies, and practices that can advance sustainable public funding and robust regulatory protection for clean water and healthy watersheds, with an emphasis on protection of forested headwaters and reduction of agricultural run-off and polluted stormwater. To accomplish this, we consider funding for:

  • Research, baseline mapping, and data analysis that will be made publicly accessible and can inform programs and policy options used to advance targeted research and advocacy.
  • Research on and analysis of innovative policies and practices with the potential to significantly affect water quality and watershed health.
  • Science and data-driven monitoring programs to inform action on behalf of the watershed.
  • Science and data-driven public and policymaker education efforts about campaigns, including targeted advocacy for effective federal, state, and regional policies and funding sources that promote protection or restoration of watershed resources.

What We Do Not Fund

  • Work that is not grounded in credible science or other relevant data.
  • Work with primary impact outside of the Delaware watershed.

Funding will not be considered to any organization that discriminates on the basis of race, ethnicity, creed, gender, or sexual orientation in policy or practice.

Evaluating Proposals and Grants

How do we select grantees?

Selections are based on the potential for a proposed project to significantly impact the essential conditions necessary for clean water in the Delaware River watershed, as well as an applicant’s capacity to implement the proposed work, secure desired results, measure change and progress, and contribute to collaborative or cooperative efforts with other key stakeholders.

How do we measure success?

We assess the success of the watershed-wide strategy in the near-term by monitoring progress toward the adoption and implementation of policies and practices that enhance regulatory protections for clean water, enforce pollution limits towards water quality restoration, and secure sustainable public and private funding sources capable of bringing improved practices to scale.

 

Protecting and Restoring Targeted Sub-Watersheds

What We Fund

We consider opportunities to:

  • Develop and implement conservation and restoration models.
  • Provide capital for land acquisition to promote conservation and protect water quality.
  • Provide capital for stream and upland restoration and green stormwater infrastructure to restore water quality.

In 2013, the Foundation launched the Delaware River Watershed Initiative, a long-term effort which aligns the work of 65 partnering organizations within targeted sub-watersheds to address local water quality stressors and monitor pollution levels.

The Foundation also supports stormwater restoration efforts within the sub-watersheds of the City of Philadelphia's combined sewer service area. 

Funding may be used for:

  • The implementation of innovative, transformative, or model conservation and restoration projects.
  • Fee or easement acquisition of priority watershed lands.
  • Research, analysis, and communications about threats and successes in targeted sub-watersheds and their relevance to the Delaware River watershed.
  • Technical assistance for and coordination of local stakeholders, including landowners, municipalities, and watershed associations to advance plan implementation.
  • Data collection and monitoring of relevant water quality indicators to assess progress (or lack of progress) and refine interventions to more effectively restore or preserve water quality.

To further enhance successful interventions, the Foundation also considers opportunities to fund science-based outreach and advocacy campaigns supported by targeted communications strategies. The Foundation will consider funding for strategies that focus on increasing support for watershed protection and restoration, highlighting innovative practices and effective implementations, and driving replication of successful sub-watershed work locally and across the Delaware River watershed.

What We Do Not Fund

  • Work that is not targeted to specific sub-watersheds.
  • Work that is not designed to respond to specific local stressors.
  • Work that is not grounded in credible science or other relevant data.
  • Work with primary impact outside of the targeted sub-watersheds identified above.
  • Work that is not aligned with basin-wide improvements.

Funding will not be considered to any organization that discriminates on the basis of race, ethnicity, creed, gender, or sexual orientation in policy or practice.

 

Evaluating Proposals and Grants

How do we select grantees?

Funding for the Delaware River Watershed Initiative is supported through a structured, invitation-only process. In some select cases the Foundation may support complementary work outside of these efforts.

How do we measure success?

Grantees are responsible for tracking output metrics including acres of land protected, acres of agricultural land restored, miles of stream hydrology restored (including streambanks, wetlands, floodplains) and acres of Green Stormwater Infrastructure installed. The Foundation funds grantees with expertise in monitoring and data collection to provide technical assistance with gathering and assessing water quality data in the targeted sub-watersheds.

 

 

Increasing Engagement with Waterways

What We Fund

Under this strategy, we support efforts to:

Ensure equitable public access to rivers and streams, particularly those that are recovering from more than a century of impairment and where historically there have been physical or other barriers to access. Funding is provided for:

  • The Circuit Trails, Greater Philadelphia's 800-mile regional trail network (325+ miles currently built). More than half of the Circuit Trails parallel or cross rivers, streams or canals, providing significant opportunities for visual and physical access to waterways.
  • Strategically located docks and boat ramps designed for kayaks, canoes, and other human-powered small craft. Most docks we fund are accessible via the Circuit Trails.

Engage a diverse array of people in experiential environmental learning and outdoor recreation on waterways and trails, particularly people who have been left out of the conservation movement, including communities of color. This funding area includes support for:

  • The Alliance for Watershed Education (AWE), a network of 23 environmental education and outdoor recreation centers on waterways and Circuit Trails or trails that connect to the Circuit.
  • Experiential programs, offered by AWE centers and others, that make use of trails and rivers and directly reach community members with information about the watershed.

What We Do Not Fund

  • Work with primary impact outside of the Delaware River watershed.
  • Environmental education or outdoor recreation programs not tied to watershed protection.
  • Environmental education that does not have a significant outdoor, experiential component.
  • General operating support, except as it supports targeted constituency building initiatives.

Funding will not be considered to any organization that discriminates on the basis of race, ethnicity, creed, gender, or sexual orientation in policy or practice.

 

Evaluating Proposals and Grants

How do we select grantees?

We select projects based on place-based and other criteria including:

  • Potential to increase access to previously degraded urban rivers, especially where it supports increased and more equitable access for local communities or people who have had limited access, such as communities of color.
  • Potential to grow, strengthen, or diversify constituency for protection of the Delaware River watershed.
  • For Circuit Trails projects, potential to complete gaps in the approved trail network, enhance connections between trails and adjacent waterways, diversify and increase the use of the network, or support for its completion.
  • For trails that are not within the Circuit, but connect to it: potential to enhance connections between those trails and the Circuit Trails and adjacent waterways, diversify and increase the use of trails, or increase support for their completion.
  • For programs, potential to diversify and increase use of outdoor spaces, environmental centers, and waterways, and to deepen knowledge about the Delaware River watershed, sense of connection to it, or sense of responsibility to protect it.
  • Organization and project commitment to principles of equity and inclusion.

How do we measure success?

Grantees are responsible for tracking the number of people who participate in their programs and their attitudes, knowledge, or behavioral intentions related to the Delaware River watershed. Where appropriate, grantees may also collect voluntary demographic data about who attends programs to help them be more inclusive in future programming. We also track the number of miles of Circuit Trails constructed, funding secured to advance the trails, and ongoing user data on the Circuit Trails to gauge community use and access to trails and nearby waterways.