Grant guidelines

Grants go to projects that advance the PADI Blueprint for Ocean Action and PADI AWARE's mission to drive local action for global ocean conservation. Proposals should sit in one of these four areas. Coral reef and climate work sits inside Marine Habitat Restoration.

• Marine Protected Areas
• Vulnerable Marine Species
• Marine Habitat Restoration
• Marine Debris

Community Grants support the development and delivery of grassroots conservation projects and outcome-driven activity. They cover equipment and consumables, communications, travel, and project-related administrative costs. Capital expenditure and contributions towards fixed assets are not funded.

• Open to non-profit ocean conservation organisations and PADI Dive Centres.
• Maximum grant is $10,000 USD. Requests above that may be disqualified from review.
• All non-profit organisations must have an operating budget of less than $1 million USD, and must submit a recent financial statement confirming it.

Every proposal is assessed against the same five points.

• Alignment with the PADI AWARE Project Guidelines
• Ability to meet the project goal and objectives
• Clearly defined needs and plans with measurable outcomes
• Organisational capacity and experience
• Local partners, project feasibility, and budget

Applications are reviewed independently by the Community Grant review panel and members of the PADI AWARE Board of Directors.

Start with the Eligibility Quiz. If your organisation meets the requirements you will be emailed a link to the full application.

That link is specific to your organisation and the project you described in the quiz. Please do not share it.

The application must be completed in full and submitted online with a Project Budget, using the link provided. Applications are not accepted by email.

The step by step How To Guide walks through the whole process.

Successful applicants receive an email notification and a Funding Agreement.

The Funding Agreement must be signed by an authorised representative of the organisation and returned within the stated time frame.

Grantees must provide bank details matching the name of their organisation for the wire transfer. Funds are not sent to individual bank accounts.

Every grantee provides a Project Report on the outcomes of the funded project at the end of the funding cycle. This is part of the funding agreement.

The PADI AWARE Grants Department emails instructions and the report link ahead of the due date. The report is due within one month of the project ending. Your Funding Agreement carries the specific dates.

Completing the Project Report is required for any future funding eligibility.