A Brief Summary of the Grants Awarded by the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund in September 2013

In the last round of grant giving the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund received more grant applications than ever before. In the 4 months between 1 March 2013 and 30 June 2013, more than 500 grant applications were received and reviewed.

Since its inception in 2008 the number of applications submitted to the Fund has grown steadily. More recent records indicate a nearly 50% increase in the number of applications since December 2011 (see table below).

Acceptance Rates Over Time
	Applications Received	Grants Awarded	Acceptance Rate
Dec. 2011	346	79	23%
May 2012	416	73	18%
Aug. 2012	317	83	26%
Dec. 2012	456	62	14%
May 2013	502	69	14%
August 2013	505	62	12%

In the latest round of funding 62 applications were approved for $558,425. This means than 12% of the applications were approved by our independent advisory board. This acceptance rate is roughly consistent with the previous two grant giving rounds.

Overtime the acceptance rates have declined. The declining acceptance rates are a direct result of the increased number of grant applications received, while available funding has remained relatively constant.

The approved grants had initially requested a total of $839k, while the Fund was able to provide $558k to support the projects. Therefore, the overall funding rate was 66.5 per cent ($558k/$839k), and the average grant size was $9,006. Despite partially funding a majority of the projects, the Fund was able to provide 12 projects with full funding including a project focused on the freshwater sawfish in northern Australia.

More grants were awarded to mammal projects than any other species type. The Fund continued its strong support for birds, reptiles, and other species types including a grant for $15,000 to study the Chilenito - a rare and declining cactus impacted by illegal collection, especially by the extraction of mature individuals. 

$ Amount Awarded by Species Type
Species Type (No. Grants) $Amount
Mammal (25) $345,426
Bird (10) $143,721
Reptile (9) $101,776
Amphibian (6) $56,660
Fish (5) $76,300
Invertebrate (4) $60,080
Plant (2) $30,500
Fungi (1) $25,000

Consistent with all other funding rounds, nearly all are listed as Critically Endangered, Endangered, Data Deficient, or were not listed on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species. One project supported by the Fund will work with the Polynesian tree snail - listed as Extinct in the Wild. The approved grants support species in 40 countries worldwide.

The next deadline for grants is 31 October 2013.