2027 North American Bluebird Society Grants: Requests for Proposals (RFP)
(Click here to download as a PDF document)
NABS, Inc. is a non-profit education, conservation, and research organization and our mission is “to promote the recovery of bluebirds and other native cavity nesting bird species of North America.” Accordingly, NABS annually offers competitive grants to fund research supporting that mission.
The NABS By-Laws mandate: 1) a Zeleny Fund wherein monies are put aside and are to be used only for the support of grants and, 2) that the Society can award grants in three subject areas: research, conservation, and education. A more comprehensive description of the NABS grants program, including current Requests for Proposals (RFP), and guidance for preparing a grant application can be found at the end of this article and at https://www.nabluebirdsociety.org/grants/.
Larry Zeleny Research Grants. Research Grants are competitive, and applications are invited via this annual RFP (also published on the NABS website). Research grants must be submitted by COB October 31, 2026, and awardees will be notified of their selection by February 1, 2027. NABS is interested in applied research grants e.g., finding more effective ways of defeating nestbox predators, or designing nestboxes that will shield eggs and fledglings better from expected higher temperatures in the nesting season. Proposals addressing more basic research questions e.g., the impacts of changing weather patterns on insect populations, bluebird migration patterns, and breeding success are also on topic. The proposal must explain how the project addresses the NABS mission (stated in the first paragraph above). Research grants are scored by the NABS grants committee which gives award recommendations to the Board of Directors. Any questions about research grants mentioned in the RFP can be addressed by email () prior to an application submission.
John Kujanik Education Grants Support for the development of books, fact sheets, pamphlets, DVDs or other video products, or other kinds of media which can serve the purpose of educating bluebirders and/or the public about bluebirds and bluebirding (as well as other native cavity nesting species) can be submitted to NABS as an education grant. Education grants can be submitted at any time and will be evaluated by the NABS Education Committee which will recommend funding to the Board of Directors (subject to funds available). The proposal must explain how the project addresses the NABS mission (stated in the first paragraph above). Education grants are scored by the NABS grants committee which gives award recommendations to the Board of Directors. Any questions about eeducation grants mentioned in the RFP can be addressed by email () prior to an application submission.
Art Aylesworth Conservation Grants Proposals that deal with broader scale issues related to bluebird recovery might be candidates for a NABS conservation grant. For example, NABS recently participated in the funding of a three-year project to re-introduce Western Bluebirds to an area of North America where they had been extirpated. Another NABS conservation grant dealt with development of artificial nesting cavities for the western subspecies of the Purple Martin. Conservation grants can be submitted at any time and will be evaluated by the NABS Grants Committee which will recommend funding to the Board of Directors (subject to funds available). The proposal must explain how the project addresses the NABS mission (stated in the first paragraph above). Any questions about conservation grants mentioned in the RFP can be addressed by email () prior to an application submission.
Susan Lordi-Marker Challenge Grants One of NABS’ longtime supporters, Susan Lordi-Marker, is generously offering a special opportunity to conduct research and/or develop new conservation methods for bluebirds. As a result, this year we will have Susan Lordi-Marker Challenge Grants. Under this new program a NABS member or Affiliate will be able to submit a proposal for a research or conservation grant to help bluebirds and Susan will provide matching funds for that project. To participate in this new program the researcher would submit a proposal using the same 10-page format described elsewhere in this issue of Bluebird and by doing so they would commit to being responsible for half of the proposed budget. The other half of the required funds would come from a Lordi-Marker matching grant. The number of Lordi-Marker grants is dependent on the project budgets. A total of $4,000 matching funds is available for this grant season. It is important that the proposal directly show how it addresses the NABS mission as stated in the first paragraph above. Research grants are scored by the NABS grants committee which gives award recommendations to the Board of Directors. Any questions about challenge-matching grants mentioned in the RFP can be addressed by email () prior to an application submission.
Some Research Grant Ideas Some additional suggestions for research/data collection efforts that could provide important information useful to NABS as well as for investigators working on the conservation of bluebirds. As environmental threats to bluebird survival continue to grow there is a growing need to assemble and then analyze data about bluebirds from the various continent-wide avian monitoring programs (e.g., data from annual surveys like BBS, eBird, Climate Watch, NestWatch and CBC). These efforts could include not only going to the sources and assembling these databases but also processing/formating the data so it could be used to address NABS questions. The recent article in Bluebird entitled: “Some Thoughts About the Environmental Stressors on Current Bluebird Populations, and How NABS Might Focus its Resources on Programs to Help”,”(Spring 2024, issue 24, number 2) discusses this idea in more detail. Individuals (e.g., students) with skills in data collection and database management are welcome to contact the NABS Grants Committee chair, Bernie Daniel, with questions or details concerning grants in this area: .
Preparation and Submission of NABS Grant Applications.
Guidelines for all types of NABS grants programs are detailed below.
Submission deadlines depend on the kind of grant being submitted. To apply please submit up to a ten (10) page (maximum) proposal package (described below) to Bernie Daniel at
- Cover letter/email (This item need not be included in the 10-page proposal limit).
- Grant proposal (10 pages) to include the following sections:
- Project Title
- Principal Investigator Information: Name, phone, email, mailing address, and affiliation (student applicants please include your faculty advisor/institute official).
- Introduction: Background, supporting information, and justification for the proposal. It is especially important to explain how this project/research addresses the NABS mission.
- Project Description: The hypothesis or question(s) which the project addresses.
- Research Protocol:
- The cavity nesting bird species of interest.
- Methods (e.g., study design, quality assurance, power, & methods of analysis).
- The study location(s).
- Permits (assurance that required permits at state or federal levels are in place).
- Timeline (start/finish for field/lab work, analysis, and final report dates anticipated).
- Literature Cited
- Detailed budget: Include the amount requested from NABS and other sources.
- Letters of Support (2 for student applications, 1 for faculty applications)
- Curriculum vitae (for the principal investigator)
Submission of proposals
Research grant proposals must be submitted by COB October 31,(current year) and awards will be announced by early February of the following year. Education and conservation grants came be submitted at any time. All grants should be submitted via email to: . All items should ideally be combined into a single Adobe (pdf) document. A single MS Word (doc or.docx) document is acceptable (note that MS Word will save as a .pdf). The PI’s last name should appear in a header at the top right corner of each page, and each page should be numbered in the bottom center.
Please note, applications are restricted to a maximum length of ten pages, including letters of recommendation (which can be short and pithy!).
Projects to build, maintain, or upgrade a bluebird trail are not eligible for NABS research grants unless they are established for research purposes. In addition, assurances must be given that any such trails constructed will be adopted by a trail monitor, taken down, or inactivated after the research project has been completed.
Grant recipients are expected to submit a report to NABS summarizing the project results within 90 – 120 days after the completion of the project.
Additional details about the NABS mission and other facts about our Society are given on our website: https://www.nabluebirdsociety.org/.