2012 Grassroots Communities Mining Mini-Grant Program

The goal of the Mining Mini-grants Program is to support and enhance the capacity building efforts of mining-impacted communities in the U.S. and Canada to assure that mining projects do not adversely affect human, cultural, and the ecological health of communities.

Applications accepted are accepted three times a year: February 1, June 1, and October 1. Applicants will be notified of the funding decision within 3 weeks of the application deadline.

There will be an “emergency” fund for extremely time-sensitive projects that fall between grant cycles (i.e., needs that could not have been anticipated at the time of the last cycle and cannot wait to be addressed until the next cycle). These grants will be very limited and awarded on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of the Mini-Grant Review Committee.

WMAN/IEN Grassroots Communities Mining Mini-grants program criteria:

1. Grassroots community-based organizations, and Tribes or Tribal programs in the U.S. and Canada with any budget level may apply. However, if there are more applicants than funds available, priority will be given to organizations with an organizational or mining-specific project budget under $75,000 U.S.. Priority will also be given to community-based grassrootsgroups affected by mining.
2. We prefer to make grants to organizations with a nonprofit 501(c)3 tax designation, or those working with a fiscal sponsor that has a 501(c)3, however this is not a requirement. We do not, however, write grant checks to individuals.
3. Requests must be project-specific for an immediate need such as legal assistance, organizing and outreach, development of campaign materials, media development, reports, travel, mailings, interns and consultants, etc. to be fulfilled within the next six months on a specific mining campaign. Funds cannot be used for an organization’s general operating funds, staff salaries, rent or telephone bills.
4. Priority will be given to projects that build bridges and community across socio-economic and cultural lines.
5. Applicants may receive one grant per twelve month cycle. However, this limit does not apply to emergency grants.
6. Each grant issued will not exceed $3,000 U.S.
7. Funding recipients must submit a brief report detailing how funds were spent within 6 months of having received funding. Recipients will not be eligible for additional funding until the project has been completed and a project report, or an extension request, is received and accepted by WMAN and IEN.

Any questions? We are happy to help. Please contact either Aimee Boulanger, WMAN Network Coordinator at (360) 969-2028 ~ aboulanger@whidbey.com or Simone Senogles, Indigenous Environmental Network, (218) 751-4967 ~ simone@ienearth.org.

The application (link below) can be emailed to either Aimee Boulanger or to Simone Senogles, or it can be sent by regular mail, postmarked by June 1, 2011, October 1, 2011 or February 1, 2012 respectively, to: IEN attn: Mining Mini-grants, PO Box 485, Bemidji, MN 56619. If you are mailing the application, please call Simone or Aimee to let us know to expect it. Thank you

DOWNLOAD: Application (MS Word)

Learn more about the communities and projects funded by these mini-grants.