As climate-related risks continue to escalate, communities, businesses, and farms face rising costs to protect lives, livelihoods, and landscapes. From drought-resistant agriculture to flood-proof infrastructure, building climate resilience has become an urgent yet costly pursuit. While government grants can help bridge financial gaps, the process of securing these funds is often complex and competitive.
To shed light on how to overcome these financial and procedural challenges, we spoke with industry experts whose insights span agricultural innovation, environmental risk management, and grant management. Paige Wyler of Ambrook, Chris Wagoner of The Ferguson Group (TFG), and Ryan Guerrero of AEM each bring unique perspectives on securing government funding and making climate resilience a more achievable goal. Their expertise, as highlighted in video clips that capture their real-time thinking, offers practical strategies to access the billions of dollars available for resilience projects.
In the following sections, we explore:
- Common obstacles that hinder communities and organizations from obtaining crucial funding.
- Expert guidance and best practices for securing climate resilience funding.
Understanding the grant gauntlet: Challenges in securing climate funding
The United States makes billions upon billions of dollars available each year to support climate resilience projects. Unfortunately, many communities, businesses, and farms fail to secure the support they so desperately need. All too often, those who need the funds most are the least able to get them. For example:
- A 2023 study of counties in southeastern coastal states found that counties with more socially vulnerable populations (e.g., lower socioeconomic status, disabled, elderly, etc.) were less likely to receive FEMA Flood Mitigation Assistance than those with less vulnerable populations.
- However, a separate flood inundation study looked at the distribution of flood risk among different properties. Across every flood scenario the study considered, it found that lower-value mobile homes and multi-family housing faced higher flood risks than higher-value single-family homes and commercial properties.
- Together, these studies suggest that while socially vulnerable populations may have an elevated need for funding to mitigate flood risks, they are less likely to receive it.
To help us better understand these kinds of funding disparities, our experts highlighted a variety of underlying challenges that can get in the way of securing climate resilience funding. As it turns out, the ability to deal with these challenges is often diminished when communities, businesses, or farms face resource shortages or difficult economic circumstances. Some of the core challenges include:
- Tight timelines: The windows to apply for federal grants tend to be very small – often as short as 90 days. Even a small delay in pulling together an application could cause an applicant to miss the window. Unless an organization is poised to monitor and apply for grant opportunities as they come up, that organization may not even be aware of an opportunity in time to apply.
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High degree of complexity: A single grant application can contain hundreds of pages of legal language that must be read and understood before committing to the grant's requirements. Many organizations simply aren't prepared to deal with this level of complexity.
- Financial burdens: There are costs tied to securing grant funding, which may not always be covered by the grant itself. For example, there is the staff time required to monitor and apply for grant opportunities. Some grants may also include cost-sharing (i.e., match) stipulations, which require the applicant to pay a portion of the project costs. Lastly, there can be inherent risk in adopting new practices, as may be required by a funding opportunity.
- Ongoing administrative commitments: Even after the initial application is finished, grants require ongoing administrative commitments. Each grant application spells out commitments that the applicant will accept in exchange for the funding. These may include operational commitments, investment commitments, etc. And, there are reporting commitments to demonstrate that the other commitments are being met. These commitments can become major obstacles to keeping funding.
Navigating the gauntlet: Best practices for securing climate funding
According to our experts, there are at least a half dozen best practices that can help you deal with the challenges and increase your chances of success when applying for climate resilience funding. They include:
- Start with what you need. Don’t adopt an activity simply because there is funding for it. You should have a clear idea of what sorts of climate resilience projects your organization would like to undertake before you ever apply for funding.
- Benefit from the experience of others. Other organizations and communities who have been successful in securing grant funding are often willing to share what they've done with others. In addition, local representatives from government agencies are often willing to share important insights that could increase your chances of success.
- Learn from doing. There is no substitute for going through the process of searching and applying for grants. Even if you are not yet a strong applicant, you can learn from the process. Every failed application gives you an opportunity to receive a debrief, which can make your next application that much stronger.
- Know your finances. A strong financial foundation, including readily available financial reporting, is critical for success. It can allow you to take on risks inherent in changing practices, which grant recipients are often required to do. Plus, the ability to quickly access accurate financial reporting and key environmental metrics will ease your ability to comply with ongoing reporting requirements.
- Collaboration is the key to success. Collaborating with nearby organizations with similar goals can reduce the expense and administrative burden of managing a grant while expanding its scope of work. Larger and smaller communities can both benefit from working together because the expanded scope of work brings added benefits for everyone involved.
- Be flexible. While it's important to selectively pursue funding opportunities that align with your priorities, most organizations have multiple priorities that they could benefit from achieving. And there may be more than one course of action capable of helping you reach those priorities. To increase your chances of getting funded, you should be flexible about how you rank and pursue your priorities.
Next steps: A deeper dive into climate resilience funding
Building climate resilience is an essential but costly proposition. Too often, organizations find themselves short on the budgets needed to achieve resilience. Fortunately, as our experts have shared, there are opportunities to bridge the gap with government funding. Their insights remind us that while the funding landscape may be challenging, it’s also rich with opportunities for those prepared to approach it with knowledge and determination.
For those interested in a deeper dive, our recent episode of the Talking With the Experts podcast, How to Secure Funding for Climate Resilience Projects, features extended interviews with the experts whose perspectives shaped this blog. From hands-on grant management tips to real-world stories of resilience-building efforts, the episode explores strategies and practical advice to guide you in securing crucial climate funding.