TNC Resilient and Connected Appalachians Grant Program

The Nature Conservancy awards grants of up to $100,000 for permanent land protection projects across the Appalachians, including all of the H2O service area in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia.

The Resilient and Connected Appalachians Grant Program (RCAGP), part of TNC's Connectivity, Climate and Communities Fund, provides grants of up to $100,000 for fee acquisition and conservation easement projects that permanently protect resilient, connected lands in the Appalachians. Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia are all eligible, along with fifteen other states from Alabama to Maine. The FY2026 round made $1.1 million available; the prior round awarded $1 million across 15 projects protecting more than 17,000 acres, and the program has provided $2.3 million and protected over 27,000 acres since 2023. Eligible applicants are land trusts and other conservation-mission 501(c)(3) nonprofits, nonprofit academic institutions, federally recognized tribal nations, municipalities, and village, town, and county agencies. Projects must fall within or intersect TNC's Resilient and Connected Network and a mapped Appalachian focal area. Scoring weighs location, resilience, connectivity, collaboration, community benefit, timing, and feasibility, and drinking water source protection is explicitly named as a qualifying community benefit. Eligible costs include purchase price, appraisals, surveys, title work, baselines, stewardship and legal defense funds, community engagement, legal support, staff time, and up to 20 percent indirect. The FY2026 application window ran November 3, 2025 through February 13, 2026; watch for the next round to open in early November. Pennsylvania contact is Mari-Beth DeLucia and West Virginia contact is Isa Bryant.