Affiliate Funds
Black Mountain - Swannanoa Valley Endowment Fund Cashiers Community Fund The Fund For Haywood County Highlands Community Fund The McDowell Endowment The Fund for Mitchell County Rutherford County Endowment Transylvania Endowment The Yancey Fund
Women for Women
Browse Affiliates Funds
Black Mountain - Swannanoa Valley Endowment Fund Cashiers Community Fund The Fund For Haywood County Highlands Community Fund The McDowell Endowment The Fund for Mitchell County Rutherford County Endowment Transylvania Endowment The Yancey Fund
mountain fog

Protecting Natural Systems

Our goal is to preserve and cultivate WNC’s sense of place by investing in environmental projects and programs that protect or enhance the health of the region's natural systems.

Review the list of the latest grants in this focus area.

About

Young Naturalists workday at the WNC Nature Center. Photo courtesy of WNC Nature Center.
Natural Resources Focus Area

Friends of the WNC Nature Center

  • Region: WNC
  • Grant Amount: $35,000
  • Fiscal Year: 2025
  • About: to purchase native pollinator plants for the new, immersive butterfly garden at the Western North Carolina Nature Center.

The Pisgah Conservancy

  • Region: Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, McDowell, Madison, Rutherford, Transylvania, Yancey
  • Grant Amount: $60,000
  • Fiscal Year: 2025
  • About: to fund a crew leader for the Invasive Plant Management Crew, fully dedicated to working in Pisgah National Forest.

American Rivers

  • Region: WNC
  • Grant Amount: $150,000 over two years
  • Fiscal Year: 2025
  • About: to build a queue of ready-to-fund dam removal projects leading to design and implementation stages of river restoration efforts.

 

Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation

  • Region: WNC
  • Grant Amount: $50,000
  • Fiscal Year: 2025
  • About: to support collaborative efforts to analyze land connected to the biologically-rich Blue Ridge Parkway to help prioritize landowner outreach and voluntary land conservation.

Camp Grier

  • Region: McDowell
  • Grant Amount: $44,000
  • Fiscal Year: 2025
  • About: to build out a Salesforce customer relationship management system necessary to manage volunteers, donors, customers, and partners and thereby increase constituent engagement and stewardship of public lands in WNC.

Foothills Conservancy 

  • Region: Burke, McDowell, and Rutherford
  • Grant Amount: $8,500
  • Fiscal Year: 2025
  • About: to engage Metamorphic Consulting in strategic planning.

 

MountainTrue

  • Region: WNC
  • Grant Amount: $8,500
  • Fiscal Year: 2025
  • About: to engage Into Relationship for Management Training

Haywood Waterways Association

  • Region: Haywood
  • Grant Amount: $8,500
  • Fiscal Year: 2025
  • About: to engage Taproot Consulting for strategic planning.

Mainspring Conservation Trust

  • Region: Clay, Cherokee, Graham, Swain, Jackson, and Macon
  • Grant Amount: $8,500
  • Fiscal Year: 2025
  • About: to engage Solid Ground Consulting for strategic planning.

MountainTrue (as fiscal sponsor)

  • Region: Jackson
  • Grant Amount: $51,00
  • Fiscal Year: 2025
  • About: to support development of a Long-Term Conservation Plan for Jackson County’s District 4, which includes six Townships: Caney Fork, Canada, River, Mountain, Hamburg, and Cashiers.