About funders

Current opportunities - current Requests for Proposals and Requests for Bids

Overview of how funding works

Profiles of potential funding organizations

Below are profiles of organizations that PERIODICALLY have funding available for collaborative research. Check current opportunities for any funds currently being offered.

California Sea Grant

California Sea Grant College Program is the largest of the 30 Sea Grant programs and draws on the talents of scientists and engineers at public and private universities throughout the state. It is administered by the University of California and is based at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego .

Through the research it sponsors, the Program contributes to the growing body of knowledge about coastal and marine resources and helps solve contemporary marine-related problems.

Projects are selected on the basis of competitive, peer-reviewed proposals and address a wide range of problems and opportunities. The following pages provide summaries of the new and continuing projects funded in 2003 by California Sea Grant. Further information on any of these projects is available by contacting the California Sea Grant offices or visiting the research pages of this website.

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

Find out about grant opportunities currently available at the Foundation, including the general challenge grant, small grant, and special grant programs, and access application materials.

National Sea Grant Program

The National Sea Grant Program encourages the wise stewardship of our marine resources through research, education, outreach and technology transfer. Sea Grant is a partnership between the nation's universities and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that began in 1966, when the U.S. Congress passed the National Sea Grant College Program Act.

NOAA's Community-Based Restoration Program

The Community-Based Restoration Program's objective is to bring together citizen groups, public and nonprofit organizations, industry, corporations and businesses, youth conservation corps, students, landowners, and local government, state and Federal agencies to restore fishery habitat across Coastal America.  The program partners with national and regional organizations to solicit and co-fund proposals for locally-driven, grass roots restoration projects that address important habitat issues within communities.

NOAA Fisheries Northwest Fisheries Science Center

The Northwest Fisheries Science Center is one of five research centers of NOAA Fisheries (the National Marine Fisheries Service), and is responsible for providing scientific and technical support for the management, conservation, and development of the Pacific Northwest region's anadromous and marine fishery resources. Its multidisciplinary research--involving fisheries science, marine biology and ecology, genetics, biochemistry, molecular biology, oceanography, and aquaculture--is conducted in cooperation with other agencies (federal, state, local, and tribal), universities throughout the world, Pacific Rim and European countries, and in support of international treaties.

NOAA's Undersea Research Program

NOAA's Undersea Research Program (NURP), within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), is a unique national service that provides undersea scientists with tools and expertise that they need to work in the undersea environment. 

Our research programs cover many undersea environments from the shoreline to Each year, the program supports 200 or more undersea research projects related to NOAA's mission as steward of oceanic resources and environments. NURP is:

• Regional programswith access to a broad base of scientific and technical expertise.
• High priority research that is responsive to societal needs.
• Projects selected by an open, fair, and competitive proposal review process
• Provides access to a wide array of underwater technologies including submersibles, remotely operated or autonomous underwater vehicles, underwater laboratories, in situ observatories, and mixed gas diving gear.
• Highly skilled personnel directing safe, successful operations.

Most of NOAA's Undersea Research Program's (NURP) research funding is awarded through the NURP Centers. Each center advertises research announcements annually based on research guidelines ( PDF ; HTML ) provided by NURP headquarters. A peer review process is conducted to select projects for funding. For details on this procedure, contact the center whose geographic region covers the proposed project (NURP Centers).

Oregon Sea Grant

• A network of researchers, using science to probe basic questions about ocean and coastal life and processes.
• A coast-long network of Extension Sea Grant agents and specialists who bring the results of that research to the people and communities who can put it to work.
• A network of communicators, using print, audio, video, and new technologies to inform people about marine and coastal issues.

Headquartered at the Oregon State University campus in Corvallis, Oregon Sea Grant staff work the length of the coast and along the Columbia River, from county offices of the OSU Extension Service, at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport and at the OSU Seafood Lab in Astoria.

Sea Grant also manages the HMSC's Visitor Center.

Through its parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Sea Grant provides competitive research grants to scientists and teams of scientists from institutions of higher education throughout Oregon .

Oregon Sea Grant works closely with its citizen Advisory Council and with other public and nongovernmental organizations to help bring science-based information to all levels of ocean and coastal policymaking.

Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission

Authorized by Congress in 1947, the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission (PSMFC) is one of three interstate commissions dedicated to resolving fishery issues. Representing California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska, the PSMFC serves as a forum for discussion, and works for coastwide consensus to state and federal authorities. PSMFC addresses issues that fall outside state or regional management council jurisdiction, and posts RFPs as funding is made available from NOAA Fisheries and other resource agencies.