Conservation Through Research, Grants & Responsible Forest Management

Sustainable Forestry Initiative

The Sustainable Forestry Initiative Inc. (SFI) develops and implements standards of sustainable forestry that can help paper and printing organizations meet their own sustainability goals. SFI is also the only forest certification program in North America that requires participants to support research to improve forest health, productivity, conservation understanding, and sustainable management of forest resources.

If you, or an organization you support, has a conservation or community building project looking for funding, consider applying for a grant from the SFI Conservation and Community Partnerships Grant Program.

SFI is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting sustainable forest management. While they develop and oversee standards for forest management and the forest products supply chain, they are more than the creators of a set of standards — they are a community that stands for future forests.

Across Canada and the United States, 250 million acres (100 million hectares) are certified to the SFI Forest Management Standard. In addition:

• The SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard promotes responsible forest management on all suppliers’ lands.

• The SFI Chain-of-Custody Standard tracks the percentage of fiber from certified forests, certified sourcing and post-consumer recycled content.

• SFI on-product labels identify both certified sourcing and chain-of-custody claims to help consumers make responsible purchasing decisions.

SFI Program Participants Invest in Research

Investing in research is a requirement of the SFI Forest Management Standard and the SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard. Since 1995, SFI Program Participants have directly invested nearly $1.5 billion in forest research. In 2014, nearly 80% of these investments were allocated to conservation-related objectives.

Beyond the research requirements of the SFI Standards, SFI Program Participants engage in conservation projects every day that reflect the diversity of forests across the continent and ensure the protection of conservation attributes that matter to us all.

SFI Conservation and Community Grants — How Everybody can make a Difference

The SFI grant program is an additional way in which SFI fosters partnerships between organizations interested in improving forest management in the United States and Canada, and responsible procurement globally.

Graphic designers and others who influence paper choice can help promote forest sustainability by looking to certification standards when specifying what paper, packaging and other forest products should be used on a project. You can ask for SFI on-product labels as a proof point for responsible forestry. Now you can encourage a not-for-profit or a research organization you know to apply for an SFI grant.

SFI conservation grants vary as dramatically as the forests that they touch. Past projects have included:

• Research to better understand the nutrition requirements of woodland caribou

• Supporting longleaf pine ecosystem restoration in the U.S. South

• Developing best practices for bird habitat management in forests of the northeastern U.S. and Rocky Mountains.

The combination of SFI research dollars and the massive, continental scale at which they operate makes SFI a powerful force for advancing forest conservation.

SFI has also awarded 25 community based grants covering a range of topics including youth initiatives, helping underserved communities, professional development, supporting Tribal and Aboriginal values and promoting the use of products certified to SFI Standards. These community projects support SFI’s core mission to connect communities to forests and to educate the next generation of future forest leaders.

Research to Support Future Forests and the Communities that Depend on them

Grant deadlines, guidelines, rules and project parameters

• Applicants must officially be a tax-exempt, non-profit organization. Colleges, universities and schools, and Tribal or Aboriginal groups qualify. SFI Implementation Committees can serve as the lead organization on community grant projects.

• Conservation projects must include an SFI Program Participant or an SFI Implementation Committee as a project partner. Community projects involving SFI Program Participants or an SFI Implementation Committee will be given special consideration. Additional partners, including government agencies, academic or research institutions, and non-profits and tribal or aboriginal groups will strengthen any grant proposal.

• Conservation projects are not limited to lands certified entirely to SFI Standards. Desirable projects will have implications or benefits that are applicable to other sites, or which may be adaptable to a larger scale.

• Conservation applications which include significant matching resources from other sources will be given the highest consideration. Projects that demonstrate the impact or contribution of lands certified to SFI Standards to conserve attributes of broad interest to the conservation community will be of particular interest.

• Community partnership grants, though smaller, play an important role in fulfilling SFI’s responsibility to communities, through support for forest-based activities, or through demonstration of the value of lands or products certified to SFI Standards.

Apply Today

For information on the application process, please contact SFI Inc. at: [email protected]. SFI grant applications are due by Oct. 2, 2015. Applicants will be notified of the status of their application by the end of 2015, to facilitate planning for the field season in 2016.

Learn more: sfiprogram.org

To receive a printed copy of the SFI 2015 Annual Progress Report: Growing Our Future,  email [email protected].

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Sustainable Forestry Initiative, SFI and SFI Forest Partners are registered trademarks.