Impact Funding Resources
National Geographic is where education meets exploration. A pillar of our mission since our founding, education shapes how we engage with each other and our surroundings and inspires educators and learners to illuminate and protect the wonder of our world.
At NGS we fund bold, innovative, and transformative work. We believe that while science provides us with the facts, solutions and data we need to better understand the world around us, and storytelling provides the emotional connection that inspires us to care about the world, education prepares us with the knowledge, skills and tools to take action to protect the planet.
At NGS we fund bold, innovative, and transformative work. We believe that while science provides us with the facts, solutions and data we need to better understand the world around us, and storytelling provides the emotional connection that inspires us to care about the world, education prepares us with the knowledge, skills and tools to take action to protect the planet.
End Date19 Nov 2025 Funding AmountUpto USD 100k Funding Resource TypeGrant
Funding ProviderNational Geographic Society
Grant
National Geographic Society
At NGS we fund bold, innovative, and transformative work. We believe that while science provides us with the facts, solutions and data we need to better understand the world around us, and storytelling provides the emotional connection that inspires us to care about the world, education prepares us with the knowledge, skills and tools to take action to protect the planet.
FAQ
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wPfth-50dd-sqS-uB3dRT15aQGvz4MFtzh9H5au8-k4/edit?tab=t.0
Through our grants program we are looking for education projects that:
• Advance knowledge about how to spark curiosity and inspire learners of all ages to care for and protect our world
• Pilot new, or scale proven, educational solutions
• Enable learners to acquire new knowledge, skills, behaviors, and attitudes that help them care for and protect our world
• Use interdisciplinary approaches
What We Aim to Fund with this Call
This funding opportunity supports projects or research that enacts the future today. We aim to support projects that cultivate in learners of any age the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to take action in ways that benefit the planet and its people.
Proposals may contain one or both elements of the following:
• Project: a pilot of a new learning solution, or scaling of a learning solution with some evidence of effectiveness, to a new geography or population of learners;
• Research: Measurement of the effectiveness of educational innovations that develop learners of all ages’ skills, attitudes, and knowledge needed to design a future for our planet that benefits people and nature.
Competitive Proposals
Competitive proposals should describe:
• The future that you are planning toward.
• Educational projects or research that leverage novel approaches, with potential for scale and impact, and ideas that span disciplinary, political, geographic, or cultural boundaries.
• The community of learners you intend to reach.
• The learning solution intended to develop capabilities in learners.
• The skills, attitudes, and knowledge your project intends to cultivate in learners in order to design a future for our planet that leads to healthier outcomes for people and nature to live and thrive.
• Anticipated outcomes including the intended impact(s) on the learners in addition to any impact(s) on the environment, planet, or people. Impacts should describe the knowledge, attitudes or skills to develop solutions that mutually benefit humans, ecosystems and the planet, and contribute to the knowledge base of how we develop knowledge, attitudes, and skills in people.
• Relevant inclusive methodologies employed in project or research design
Projects do not need to use technology in order to be competitive, but may use technology as a tool to achieve learning goals. All topics related to our focus areas – Ocean, Land, Wildlife, Human Histories and Cultures, Planetary Health, and Space – are encouraged and will be considered.
Who Should Apply
This highly competitive opportunity is open to applicants over the age of 18. Funding may be awarded in either a Level I or Level II grant. Please note that individuals who are National Geographic Explorers must apply for Level II funding.
The lead applicant must show evidence of experience using education as part of a deliberate strategy to achieve goals, and experience implementing education programs for learners of any age (note: this may be in a classroom setting or any other formal or informal place of learning). Academic degrees and/or credentials are NOT required.
Eligibility
- Project must align to the Education primary focus
- Project must align to at least one of National Geographic’s six focus areas: Ocean, Land, Wildlife, Human Histories and Cultures, Planetary Health, Space
- Candidate must not be a current National Geographic staff member
- Candidate must be over the age of 18
- Additional information on eligibility is available in our online application system.
