Every Climbing-Related Grant From Every Climbing Organization We Know Of!

AMERICAN ALPINE CLUB

Live Your Dream Grant

Application period: February 1 – March 31

The Live Your Dream Grant is designed for “every-day adventurers” with an objective, in any climbing discipline, that represents a personal challenge and stretches the outer bounds of the climber’s technical ability.

Cutting Edge Grant

Application period: October 1 – November 31

The Cutting Edge Grant is intended to fund highly experienced and advanced athletes on cutting-edge objectives in climbing and mountaineering.

Mountaineering Fellowship Grant

Application deadlines: April 1 and November 1

The Mountaineering Fellowship Grant funds young climbers—under the age of 25—on climbs that push the limits of their skills and experience.

Jones Backcountry Adventure Grants

Application period: October 1 – November 30

The Jones Backcountry Adventure Grant is designed to fund an adventurous multi-day splitboarding expedition; the grant offers finances to the recipient as well as a splitboard, skins, and backpack. The Jones Live Like Liz Award has the same criteria but is only open to women.

Copp-Dash Inspire Award

Application deadline: TBD (grant under review)

The Copp-Dash Inspire Award is designed for small teams looking to document and share their mountain climbing expeditions in distant regions through multimedia storytelling.

Zack Martin Breaking Barriers Grant

Application deadline: April 15

The Zack Martin Breaking Barriers Grant is a dual-purpose grant designed to fund a primary humanitarian objective and a secondary climbing-related adventure objective.

The McNeill-Nott Award

Application deadline: January 1

The McNeill-Nott Award is for small, lightweight teams of amateur climbers pursuing projects of an exploratory nature, on unclimbed routes or peaks.

Cornerstone Conservation Grant

Application period: June 15 – August 15

The Cornerstone Conservation Grant funds projects by organizations or individuals with the goal of protecting, conserving, and improving climbing resources within the United States.

AAC Research Grants

Application period: November 15 – January 15

AAC Research Grants fund scientific research projects in mountain regions, with the goal of contributing to our knowledge of mountain ecosystems around the world and enriching our understanding of climber impacts on the environment.

AAC/TINCUP Partner In Adventure Grant​

Application period: September 22 – October 29

The Partner in Adventure Grant, created in collaboration with TINCUP Whiskey, will fund educational opportunities from local guide services for you and your partner to take your pursuit to the next level. Open to duos of all experience levels, the grant will award partners up to $1,000 for the educational opportunity of your choice.

ACCESS FUND

Climbing Conservation Grant

Application deadlines: March 1 and August 1

Access Fund Climbing Conservation Grants are given to organizations and individuals pursuing projects that “preserve or enhance climbing access and opportunities and conserve the climbing environment throughout the US.”

Anchor Replacement Fund

Application deadline: September 15

Run jointly by the Access Fund and the American Alpine Club, the Anchor Replacement Fund supports groups in the United States working to replace bolts or fixed anchors on previously established routes, with respect for local history and ethics.

The Jim Ghiselli Scholarship Fund

Application deadline: August 30

The Jim Ghiselli Scholarship Fund provides financial assistance, in the form of travel and lodging funds and free conference entry, to climbing advocates looking to attend the Access Fund’s National Climbing Advocacy Summit in October.

SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION SOCIETY

https://www.ses-explore.org/explorer-awards

Application deadline for all awards: September 11

Sir Charles Blois Explorer Award for Science & Adventure

The Sir Charles Blois Explorer Award is designed to support an individual on a challenging expedition, with the purpose of gaining scientific knowledge or anthropological insight into lesser-known populations.

Gough Explorer Award for Medical Aid & Research

The Gough Explorer Award supports an individual leading an expedition with a primary focus of either medical assistance or related research in a developing region.

Rivers Foundation Explorer Award for Health & Humanities

The Rivers Foundation Explorer Award is granted to the leader of an adventurous expedition which aims to benefit communities in underdeveloped regions of the world.

Elodie Sandford Explorer Award for Amateur Photography

The Elodie Sandford Explorer Award supports an innovative project by an amateur photographer seeking to demonstrate, through photography, either the needs of indigenous people, or the conditions faced by plants and animals, in a remote region.

SES Explorer Award for Inspiration & Scientific Trailblazing

The SES Explorer Award is granted to a “Scientific Trailblazer” embarking on a unique and valuable research expedition.

Neville Shulman Explorer Award for Expedition Filmmaking

The Neville Shulman Explorer Award funds an individual with filmmaking experience, embarking on a scientific or geographical expedition. The Award recipient must produce a short film focusing on the heritage of the region and depicting the expedition journey.

OTHER

GRIT&ROCK First Ascent Expedition Award

Application deadline: January 15

The First Ascent Expedition Award funds female-led expeditions under the categories of Performance, Exploration, and Apprenticeship. Performance Awards go to climbers with demonstrable experience, with difficult, high-altitude objectives. Exploration Awards are for carefully designed, smaller-scale projects involving the exploration of remote areas. Apprenticeship Awards go toward the advancement of alpine skills for climbers looking to gain greater independence and experience.

Millet Expedition Project

Application deadline: September 30

The Millet Expedition Project supports unique and ambitious adventures and expeditions in varied disciplines.

The Next Challenge Expedition Grant

Application deadline: TBD

The Next Challenge Expedition Grant funds independently organized and original adventures involving “some form of physical exertion,” such as climbing, cycling, swimming, or running.

Mazamas Alpine Adventure Grant

Application deadline: TBD

The Mazamas Alpine Adventure Grant is designed to support unique and adventurous mountaineering expeditions by experienced climbers.

Mugs Stump Award

Currently suspended

The Mugs Stump Award is granted to teams with cutting-edge and exploratory alpine objectives, intended to be climbed in a light, leave-no-trace style.

The Adventure Fund

Application deadline: March 1

The Adventure Fund emphasizes creativity in its applicant guidelines: it funds innovative outdoor adventures.

KOA Get Out There Grant

Application deadline: TBD

The KOA Get Out There Grant funds unique outdoor adventures.

Horizon Lectures Adventure Fund

Applications reviewed on a rolling basis

The Adventure Fund goes toward adventurous, independently organized expeditions. Grant recipients are required to share the story of their trip in a 25-minute talk to the Horizon Lectures audience in Oxfordshire.

BBC Journey of a Lifetime Award

Application deadline: November 10

The Journey of a Lifetime Award supports an individual or small team on an original journey with funds and radio broadcasting training; recipients record their adventure for a BBC Radio 4 documentary.

Kyle Dempster Solo Adventure Award

Application period: January 15 – March 15

The Kyle Dempster Solo Adventure Award is designed for American travelers embarking on solo outdoor expeditions, with a focus on leave-no-trace ethics and on sharing stories.

Inge Perkins Scholarship

Application deadline: October 15

The Inge Perkins Scholarship funds a female climber, in middle school or high school in the greater Gallatin Valley area, in her pursuit of improving her climbing and of contributing to the community.

American Climber Science Program

Application deadlines: varied

The American Climber Science Program brings together climbers, scientists, and volunteers to conduct research and conservation projects in remote mountain ranges, working toward promoting knowledge about and sustainability of those environments. Note: participants are expected to pay for trek expenses.

National Geographic Grants

Application deadlines: varied

National Geographic offers grants in the categories of Requests for Proposals, Exploration, and Early Career, for project leaders of varying experience levels. These grants go toward projects in the areas of conservation, education, research, storytelling, or technology. The Requests for Proposals grant seeks project proposals that align with one of a set of predetermined missions, listed on the grants page.

The North Face Explore Fund

Application period: February 25 – April 2

The Explore Fund supports nonprofit organizations in the United States with a focus on protecting the environment and increasing awareness of and participation in the outdoors.

Explorers Club Student Grants

Application deadline: November 5

The Explorers Club offers grants for exploration and field research projects by high school students, undergraduates, graduate students, and immediate post-docs.

Timmissartok Foundation Grant

Applications accepted year-round

The Timmissartok Foundation provides funding to “individuals seeking adventure in foreign lands – all nationalities, all ages.”

American Alpine Institute Guide Like Liz Scholarship

Applications accepted year-round

The Guide Like Liz Scholarship provides funding for women over the age of 18, who want to work in the mountains, to take alpine guiding courses at the American Alpine Institute.

Mount Everest Foundation

Application deadlines are 31st January for expeditions talking place after mid-April of that current year, and the 30th September for those expeditions taking place after mid-November the same year and before the end of the following year. These dates are strictly observed.

The Mount Everest Foundation funds expeditions to unclimbed peaks and unexplored areas for expeditions with at least one UK or New Zealand citizen. This has involved funding the expeditions of a number of American and Canadian expeditions in the recent past whose teams have included some British or NZ participants.

LITERARY/FILM

Banff Centre Mountain and Wilderness Writing Residency

Application deadline: July 31

The Mountain and Wilderness Writing residency puts up nine writers working on mountain or wilderness narratives, in any genre (fiction or nonfiction), in the Banff Centre’s Leighton Artists Studios. During the residency, the writers attend twice-weekly workshops and individual consultations with faculty editors in the process of intensively editing their works. Note: participants are expected to pay for the residency, although up to financial aid is available to cover up to 70% of the cost.

Jan Michalski Foundation Residency

Application deadline: September 15

The Jan Michalski Foundation selects writers to live in “treehouses” at the foot of the Jura Mountains in Switzerland. Writers are provided with travel expenses, breakfast, lunch, and a monthly stipend. A proportion of the selected projects will focus on nature writing.

Mountainfilm Commitment Grant

Application deadline: August 12

Mountainfilm provides grants between $1,000 and $5,000 to filmmakers, photographers, and artists with a previous Mountainfilm connection, with proposals for projects that are “intended to inspire audiences to create a better world,” which will have “positive and tangible effects on specific and vital issues.”